Rachel Abbey McCafferty

Man, as soon as the leaves and temperature start dropping, my brain just starts whispering “go ahead, it’s time for soft vocals and delicate guitar and the most gorgeously heartbreaking lyrics: It’s Elliott Smith time.”

I think the true generational divide is what you consider classic Green Day.

The theme is "LUCK". In honor of the lucky number SEVEN, the call opens at 7pm EDT on October 7th. Submissions capped at 154 total works: 77 works of "prose" and 77 works of "poetry". POETRY GUIDELINES: Up to 500 words in 77 lines total (titles not included); submit any number of poems as long as totals don't go over this cap. PROSE GUIDELINES: No more than 500 words per piece. Form is an illusion, so if the form is strange or some hybrid of prose and poetry, we especially want to see it! We encourage writers with such work to flip a coin to decide which category to submit under. Tanya Žilinskas will curate the "prose" submissions, J. L. Yocum will curate the "poetry". All submissions will receive a response within 24 hours

Upcoming submission call!

Theme "LUCK"

In honor of the lucky number SEVEN, the call opens at 7pm EDT on October 7th.

Submissions capped at 154 total works: 77 works of "prose" and 77 works of "poetry"

guest eds: @tanyazilinskas.com will curate "prose" & @jlyocum.com willcurate the "poetry"

The Molotov Cocktail Her Name Was Laika by Abigail Williams The hand that touched my nose smelt of cat and biscuits and a little of the ducks who had surrendered their feathers to its glove. It touched my nose softly. …

Oof. I missed this @molotovlitzine.bsky.social Flash Monster winner from @abbywilliams.bsky.social last year. Heartbreaking and gorgeous. themolotovcocktail.com/vol-15/flash...

I’ve done it* again.

*Started a new Flash Monster draft for @molotovlitzine.bsky.social’s contest close to the deadline after working on a completely different story for a few weeks.

Any Halloween flash calls this month?

Yet another Monday that should be a Friday, but still not.

I mean, horror *is* my go-to genre, but I’m always looking for books to add to the TBR list.

Horror for Beginners: A Guide to Horror Reading Based on Your Go-To Genre Sadie Hartmann (known as Mother Horror on social media) is the co-owner of the monthly, curated, horror fiction subscription company Night Worms and...

Such a fun list to kick off October from @sadiehartmann.bsky.social. www.goodreads.com/blog/show/30...

Today feels like a Monday that should be a Friday but alas, it’s Tuesday.

Sometimes, the internet is terrible. Other times, it invites you along on an exciting adventure.

“Is this you?

I suppose it is, but not the same me from this time last year. I feel more like a tree that’s dropped all its leaves, branches mostly unchanged, new growth just beginning to flush.”

@jadjosey.bsky.social | @havehashad.com

www.havehashad.com/hadposts/rep...

It’s fine that I am in a write-for-five-minutes-at-a-time phase of life. I just want to finish my Flash Monster piece, figure out this ska kid flash, put together a tiny apocalypse chap, complete the second draft of my eco-horror novel and and and

September sub window: OPEN 🪟

Today’s writing assignment:

I love that description. Nostalgia’s the best.

This was my immediate guess when I saw the first post (I haven’t seen the movie and I’m not sure if I should, considering how much I loved the book)!

Do you know how hard it is to write an earnest flash about being a ska kid in the early 2000s? Do you?

People really should be careful about the music they listen to as a kid because now nasally vocals and horn sections make me intensely nostalgic.

Happy birthday! Thank you for all the stories and the scares and the hope and the joy you’ve given us Constant Readers over the years.

maybe the real novel is all the short stories we wrote along the way

The further back you go, the people are less people and more ghosts, just smudges of smoke in the corners. This is what it's like to be haunted, you think. This is what it's like: everyone you loved a long time ago, gathered in your childhood basement forever.

ICYMI: I wrote a story about nostalgia and parties and the gorgeous wild unseriousness of this life and how sad and good it all is, and it has (almost) nothing to do with politics at all and I do really hope you read it because I wrote it for you ashortstorylong.substack.com/p/your-life-...

It’s true. Join us.

I can already tell this is one of those stories that worked its way into my heart and brain. It’s so good.

Remember when you were little and you looked at someone and you were like, “you’re cool, let’s be friends?”

It’s literally that. Sincerity and genuine interest are where it’s at.

Don’t play it cool, and don’t devalue yourself.

Just be a person.

It’s that time* again.

*time to have a headache, which reminds me of the short story Harrison Bergeron, which I think of every time I get a particularly distracting headache, which means I’ve reflected on that particular short story approximately 72,000 times since the 9th or 10th grade. Maybe 8th.

'I'm Trying So Hard But Everything's Still Going Wrong!' Keep following your passion wherever it leads.

Sharing for anyone who needs this reminder to embrace your passions.

“Joy is believing that it all adds up, that it all matters, that your dumb, small, deluded thing is the reason you’re alive.” — @heatherhav.bsky.social

Oo good to know on both! I’ll definitely check that out.

Now I’m just super interested in both what story this was and in what ~discourse~ I managed to miss.

I had to share it to release the desire to send the follow-up thank you note in question lol