Allison K Williams

My CNF was published today by Sudden Flash. This was born in a workshop with @dintywmoore.bsky.social and @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social and revised in @smokelong.bsky.social Fitness.

yoursuddenflash.blogspot.com/2025/07/grie... Sudden Flash: Grief is a Steep Hill to Climb

No Expiration on Dreams: How I Published My Debut Novel at Seventy-Seven By Trish McDonald “Don’t you realize everything has an expiration date?” A literary agent asked me this question as I stood in front of a panel of publishing executives. It was 2020 and I had enter…

I'm thrilled for the author who triumphed in this competition, appalled at the lazyass publisher who expected her to be as expert at marketing as writing. Just what was the publisher going to add? @dintywmoore.bsky.social brevity.wordpress.com/2025/07/03/n... #writingcommunity #skywriters

What does our democracy need now? The sense of community I felt at a Capitol vigil for the Hortmans gave me insight and hope for our democracy.

www.minnpost.com/community-vo... Thanks, @minnpostbsky.social, for posing this question to readers and for publishing my essay. @susanlee.bsky.social @asantana70.bsky.social @chriswarcraft.bsky.social @jbendery.bsky.social @nplusonemag.com @hcrichardson.bsky.social @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social

Let’s make hot commie summer national, guys

The Archive Challenge — Win $400! - SmokeLong Quarterly How often do you read the literary journals you submit your work to? Flash has been around for centuries but as “flash” only for around 23 years, when James Thomas’s wife suggested the term. Lots of o...

This challenge starts June 25th. Read the archives of a favorite flash journal and get your name in the hat to win $400. www.smokelong.com/the-archive-...

Dear Writer, Don’t Bite Dear Writer/Artist/Creative Person of Some Type— We have been admiring your writing/painting/non-specific creative thing for a while/some time/the length of time it takes to do a Google search now …

"First comes the joyful feeling: Finally! My time has come! Then comes the sinking feeling: Wait. This doesn’t even mention the title of my book. Could they even have read it in a week?" ~ @sheilasquill.bsky.social
brevity.wordpress.com/2025/06/25/d...

Please take a break from reading war coverage to read this perfect gem of a #summer essay by Lindsey Pharr in the current Brevity @dintywmoore.bsky.social mag.

You'll thank me later.

brevitymag.com/current-issu...

#WritingCommunity

Just want to chime in and agree with all the people that have been saying that it is not stupid or frivolous to make art even though it feels like the world is going crazy right now.

On the contrary, it's books and movies and music and art that gets us through the hard times – so we need it now.

Hey, it's here! My new book comes out today. Hope you like it. ❤

Copaganda and Me Maris Kreizman writes about the way police are mythologized in popular culture in this excerpt from her book 'I Want to Burn This Place Down'

Rolling Stone has excerpted an essay from my forthcoming book. It's about what happens when you get all of your info about the world from the TV (cops are heroes!), and then go out into the world and see for yourself. www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

Volcano People by Richard Mirabella Our sister went to help the people who came out of the volcano. She told us she was going to leave at the 4th of July picnic, while we sat around eating corn, our hands fatty with butter, silk in our ...

This story by @rpmirabella.bsky.social is so gorgeous and strange and sad, I loved it. That last line! hexliterary.com?p=2727

What if Substack Became the WordPress of Ten Years Ago? What if publishing had (finally) become simple again? Here’s what Substack made me realize after 10 years on WordPress.

I’ve been writing for years. But lately, I needed more simplicity. I tried Substack. A different energy, a different pace. Two tools, two ways of showing up online.

📖 metahussard.substack.com/p/what-if-su...

What space do you write from these days? #substack #wordpress #writing

But the people without privilege who are benefitting can’t talk about it, because having a thick skin is also a privilege.

Thanks for engaging with resources and thought - it’s been interesting to see writers I love and respect show up with obscenities in my inbox, another harm I’ll credit to AI.

to writers having any support or guidance beyond friends, teachers ($$) or good ol’ gumption. They aren’t writing a book with AI (and neither am I), but it’s helping them focus their work enough to move forward. Maybe they don’t deserve to have that—maybe the harm is too great.

Writers who needed a rough draft of their synopsis. Or who knew their work was full of repetition but couldn’t find it. Who asked for lists of questions to answer in their own stories. And who are terrified to speak, because the loudest members of the literary community are violently opposed

Hi J - appreciate your thoughtful take. About privilege - I’m getting publicly excoriated (yay strong feelings!) but privately, I’m hearing from writers with ADHD and cognitive/focus challenges who find an endlessly patient brainstorming partner helpful.

That’s actually not true - I mentioned Jane’s class because I’m taking it next week and she’s done a lot of research here. Respect to you and Justin - appreciate the thoughtful argument!

So pleased to see Brevity among such luminaries!

Improve Your Memoir by Thinking Like a Photographer By Grace Hwang Lynch My father handed me a black plastic USB drive in an old bill envelope with a glassine window. It was smaller than my finger and looked like one of the many useful things a retired...

For Brevity Magazine, I wrote about a UBS drive of photos and how they changed my writing brevity.wordpress.com/2023/10/31/p...

Paraphrasing for brevity: Misinformation evokes more outrage than real news, and users are more willing to share outrage-evoking misinformation without reading it first. SCIENCE magazine 2024. MORAL: when you feel outraged, scrutinize!

Writing with AI: The Power of the Smarmy First Draft Explore how AI can enhance your writing process, transforming rough drafts into polished works with creative insights and structural guidance.

"AI is an opportunity disguised as a problem. AI helps with mechanics—research, structural suggestions, brainstorming — & I’m free to do the work only a human can do: finding emotional truth and making unexpected connections." ~ @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social
brevity.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/w...

"The real artistry comes in revision: the writer striving to make everything count. Working the lines over and over to bring the work into shapeliness, while also seeking to make the whole thing seem effortless. As if it was all just breathed out in a sigh." ~ Richard Bausch

"AI is pattern recognition and pattern repetition, not intelligence. Don't fear AI. Organic and artful intelligence will always win out!” ~ @jaswinderbolina.bsky.social

Thank you for a great workshop interrogating #Cliches @ #CraftTalks @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social

I’m on Literary Agent #3. Ask Me Anything. By Allison K Williams Brevity’s Editor-in-Chief considers his options for a new literary agent “Eeeeee! Eeeeee! Eeeeee!” were my measured and intelligent words upon scheduling The Call. For t…

"When I started agent-seeking, I was a desperate supplicant grateful for attention. Three agents later, I’m not afraid. What do you want to know about literary agents and submissions? Ask me anything." ~ @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social
brevity.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/a...

I’m on Literary Agent #3. Ask Me Anything. By Allison K Williams Brevity’s Editor-in-Chief considers his options for a new literary agent “Eeeeee! Eeeeee! Eeeeee!” were my measured and intelligent words upon scheduling The Call. For t…

The long game of getting a literary agent - and how to approach it with confidence @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social at @dintywmoore.bsky.social brevity.wordpress.com/2025/06/12/a... #writinglife #writingcommunity #writingtips #authorlife #publishing #skywriters

Join @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social & me this weekend for Ultimate Revision--a virtual intensive June 21-22. Sessions on Crafting Great Opening Sentences, Where Your Story Begins, and the Invisible Magnetic River. Up your craft while staying true to your own writing voice. rebirthyourwriting.com

😂😂😂

Embracing Writing Prompts: Unlocking Creative Potential Explore the complex relationship between writers and prompts, and discover how limitations can spark creativity and deeper expression.

Some writers secretly hate prompts, but in today's Brevity Blog roundup, @allisonkwilliams.bsky.social shows how prompts can work wonders. "The right prompts, at the right time, can bring us past our own reluctance to write more deeply, more freely, and right now."
ift.tt/JxjM6Ce

Reporting live from the stall with Hair-Trigger Autoflush Repeatedly Misting Your Bottom During The Business. Any comments,@ceej.online?

Think about what you’d enjoy doing if you had total control of the schedule. Plan some of those things. And arrange a sitter for one afternoon so you have some free time!