Want to know more about my new course? Want a video sneak peek? Want a fun little thing you can try to create emotional distance from your work?
Find out more about "The Editorial Funnel" here: prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/p/the-editor...
@mattkendrick.bsky.social
Writer | editor | teacher | joyful Ninja Turtle | chronically ill Words: Craft Literary, Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, Wigleaf Top 50 Website: https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/ Craft newsletter: https://prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/
Want to know more about my new course? Want a video sneak peek? Want a fun little thing you can try to create emotional distance from your work?
Find out more about "The Editorial Funnel" here: prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/p/the-editor...
"She nods. Heβs told her this before, how flying is safer than driving. That planes can easily survive the loss of an engine"
Love how this one from @thewritelifeliz.bsky.social builds from beginning to end. Great exploration of fear and how it grows inside us.
This month's #FromTheCoursesMouth includes wonderful-sounding stuff from @stillsquirrel.bsky.social @sagetyrtle.bsky.social @pleomorphic2.bsky.social @taniahershman.bsky.social @jmgatford.bsky.social @tenpennydreams.bsky.social
fromthecoursesmouth.substack.com/p/mar-apr-26...
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28.02.2026 12:48 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
"Skitzy texts me to meet her up at the old tent and to bring a chocolate cake and a pregnancy test"
Ooft - @emilyrinkema.bsky.social is soo good! Love how this one builds but leaves the reader without a full sense of resolution.
"But the voice knew his name and the exact depth and shape of Uncleβs navel"
Wonderfully off-kilter writgin from @woodenmormyrid.bsky.social in @tinymolecules.bsky.social
www.tinymolecules.com/issues/issue...
"She says we probably wouldnβt know, being so young, but when you fall in love [...] well, then you imagine your future will be bright"
So much bubbling away beneath this evocative piece from @annelouisepepper.bsky.social in @tinymolecules.bsky.social
www.tinymolecules.com/issues/issue...
"to make a rabbit, she said, you melt down squares of pure-cacao despair"
A piece full of starling images from @patrickthomashenry.bsky.social; wonderful thematic cohesion and originiality of character
www.tinymolecules.com/issues/issue...
Thanks to everyone who came along and made it such a special event! Available at all the usual places.
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Not-Finished...
Barnes and Noble: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/not-finish...
Foyles: www.foyles.co.uk/book/not-fin...
Waterstones: www.waterstones.com/book/not-fin...
I'm very late to post about this, but it was such a joy to host the online book launch for @tracieadams.bsky.social's wonderufl book "Not Finished Yet" last weekend. Wonderful readings from @claudiamonpere.bsky.social @bethanyjarmul.bsky.social @lmbayley.bsky.social @barlowadams.bsky.social
27.02.2026 09:40 β π 9 π 5 π¬ 3 π 0
"Me, she pulls into the kitchen where Paati and Amma are grinding coconut, sharp cumin, sweet and earthy coriander, pungent chili"
Rich, evocative, atmospheric - wonderful sense of character, occasion and place - brilliance as always from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social
"Laura fishes rubber bands out of drawers and steals them from counters of the stores. She likes the faded ones best, likes how they stretch"
A wonderful sense of propulsion to this piece from @pamavoledo.bsky.social in @templeinacity.bsky.social
templeinacity.com/micro-fictio...
"Edith tried to stay calm, despite the hitch of the girlβs sobs and the insults flung as casually as firecrackers"
Powerful writing from @madeleinewrite.bsky.social, packed full of emotion: templeinacity.com/flash-fictio...
"The folder shut like a door. After I looked up the word againβits roots, how it travels through deserts, papers, throats."
So much truth / message swirling around in this great micro from @brandonmcneice.bsky.social
100wordstory.org/returned/
"Years ago, a teacher explained that extremophiles are the only microorganisms that can survive the marsh"
Brilliantly layered CNF from @emhall47.bsky.social - so much said in such a tiny space
"Thereβs a cemetery under my house where Iβve buried all the old versions of me that didnβt work out"
Startling micro from @chelseastickle.bsky.social; so much to unpack here:
100wordstory.org/only-perfect...
Apologies - it's been a long week!!
21.02.2026 21:04 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
"a low pressure skirts the coastline / transforms into a nor'easter / bombs out with a bomb thrown"
Rhythmically insistent poem from @mrdecember.bsky.social; love the groups of three in here and the shifts from staccato single word fragments to longer sentences
"And saying weβll be late for the next thing is not an answer to the yellow question, so we might have to look up shades of yellow on the phone just to check"
A masterclass in continuous emotional build from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social; the way each sentence, each paragraph ramps things up π₯
"Doors slam, lights extinguish, and the street swallows them whole. By morning, only silence remains."
Love the atmospheric build of this micro from @fadingbetty.bsky.social in @ettereview.bsky.social
"those who [...] walk backwards slowly each morning to the elevator the chair and desk to present face present teeth present the daily stagecraft of the unspoken echoing within"
Wonderful word-smithery from @mattjakubowski.bsky.social - two richly creative micros
Too short to quote, but this one has a real punch to it. Great to discover a new-to-me poet.
21.02.2026 16:50 β π 1 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0Wonderful to see this out in the world, Karen! Congratulations!
21.02.2026 16:44 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
"The sting of his leaving has almost scabbed over now, crusted layers of hurt sloughing from shiny pink skin underneath"
Oof - love the way @cake-girl.bsky.social embraces such temporal fracturing in this wonderful CNF; the patchwork effect building through time in such a clever way
"One must judge the lichen by the moss; one must judge the moss by the lichen"
Charmers indeed! So much to ponder and unpick in these brilliantly original micros from @yukondawn.bsky.social
"The closest I came to a time machine was at a library in downtown Pittsburgh, where the inside of every book smelled like rain"
What a wonderful opening sentence from @nataliemarino.bsky.social in @ettereview.bsky.social - such a beautiful piece:
www.ettereview.com/winter2026/m...
Yes - just the one - but I will be requiring a whole evening of Claudia reading stories when I see you in July!!! (just warning you in advance π)
21.02.2026 10:21 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0So excited to hear you read as well. See you tomorrow!!
20.02.2026 21:12 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0
Definitely flashy superstars!! It's going to be so much fun.
Maybe not quite "as long as you like" (I'll need to go to bed at some point!!) but time to hang out after the initial hour and have a natter about your brilliant book.
See you Saturday - can't wait!
Happening on Saturday. Join me as I host the launch for @tracieadams.bsky.social's wonderful book "Not Finished Yet"
We'll have readings from some flashy superstars. We'll have a Q&A with Tracie. And we've got some brilliant "door prizes" to give away!
Sat 7-8pm GMT
forms.gle/G9PJpt5vvzXd...