Marie Goyette

A package from Pushcart Press addressed to me sitting on my kitchen island

A copy of Pushcart Prize L: Best of the Small Presses on my kitchen island

My copy of Pushcart Prize L, open to page 401 on which my story “Freefall” from StoryQuarterly appears. A business card from Bill Henderson lies on page 400 with the note: Marie—thank you! BH”

BEST MAIL DAY EVER. Pushcart Prize L will be released on 12/2 if you want to pick up a copy. (Seriously, is this real life?)

Left Field It’s the bottom of the sixth inning and I’m sweating in my beach chair. My son’s team is losing, and I’m cursing the obnoxious opposing team with their excitable coaches in tight pants. Calm down,...

"I’m on my feet before I can stop myself, the sorrow shifting instantly to rage. I overturn my chair and face the shouting parent. I yell, 'Hey!' Just a single bark, but the volume is surprising."

from Kristen Moraine's story, "Left Field," in our Sept/Oct issue:

I never imagined I’d see the day that I could say I’ve won a Pushcart Prize. Enormous thanks to @storyquarterly.bsky.social for their amazing support and championing of this story 🤩

The amazing Maggie Smith is on the fiftieth episode of This Mama Is Lit! 😍 Check it out!

Huge congrats to @susanperabo.bsky.social and Edith-Nicole Cameron on the nomination of their stunning stories! 👏👏

Poetry Ars Poetica Kate Lewis Chapel of Bones Caedra Scott-Flaherty Colonoscopy Sally Anderson Boström Our Children Nicole Desjardins Gowdy Menorrhagia Claudia Kessel On a day so bright the snow is blue, Chantelle Lynn

Our Best of the Net nominees for poetry!

Caedra Scott-Flaherty
@katehasthoughts.bsky.social
Sally Anderson Boström
Nicole Desjardins Gowdy
Claudia Kessel
Chantelle Lynn

Creative Nonfiction Fault Lines Laura Mullen Slicing Peppers Jill Finnessy

Our Best of the Net nominees for creative nonfiction:

Laura Mullen and Jill Finnessy!

literarymama.com/articles/dep...

literarymama.com/articles/dep...

Left Field It’s the bottom of the sixth inning and I’m sweating in my beach chair. My son’s team is losing, and I’m cursing the obnoxious opposing team with their excitable coaches in tight pants. Calm down,...

"As Cam rounds the bases and makes it home, I tell myself over and over: he’s okay, he’s okay, he’ll be okay." Read "Left Field," a beautiful story by Kristen Moraine, in the Sept/Oct issue of @literarymama.bsky.social literarymama.com/articles/dep...

September/October 2025 Literary Mama

The stunning September/October issue of @literarymama.bsky.social is out today. Senior Editor @rudribhattpatel.bsky.social suggests we “read and reflect on what these mother-writers are all showing us: different ways to carry hope for our children.” ❤️ literarymama.com/issues/septe...

I love that you’ve been there, too! It was a pretty amazing experience 😍

A yellow Adirondack chair sits in a grassy field, trees and mountains in the distance

Bread Loaf is everything I hoped and more ❤️

Photo taken with a macro lens of two fat Monarch caterpillars on a swamp milkweed leaf

Cute chonks on some milkweed

Fighting Wind Mom married Hurricane Gerald because he was strong. Passionate. Because he was too big for the car, too big for the house, too big for an office job. Mom married Hurricane Gerald because she loved the...

Want more weirdness? I have some! "Mom married Hurricane Gerald because he was strong. Passionate. Because he was too big for the car, too big for the house, too big for an office job. Mom married Hurricane Gerald because she loved the lazy swirl of his clouds..."

literarymama.com/articles/dep...

Basho It was five months into her pregnancy when her doctor presented her with an ultrasound image that revealed a complex story. A competition between her fetus and a rapidly growing tumor right next to hi...

"Now she wanted that son even more than she had months ago. And she remained convinced he could prevail... his heart was strong, the doctor had said. The heart of a sekitori, the top-level wrestlers who possess the strength and endurance to win." Read a moving piece by @notsureaboutthat.bsky.social

Fighting Wind Mom married Hurricane Gerald because he was strong. Passionate. Because he was too big for the car, too big for the house, too big for an office job. Mom married Hurricane Gerald because she loved the...

"Mom married Hurricane Gerald because he was powerful. He can protect us, she said, scrubbing a pot in the sink. I said, I can protect you, and she laughed until she cried and had to redo her mascara before Hurricane Gerald came home." Read the haunting "Fighting Wind" by @sagetyrtle.bsky.social

IT'S HERE! This is such an amazing issue! 🥰

So excited to receive this beauty in the mail today, and so honored to be named runner-up in Meridian’s 2025 Short Prose Prize. 😍 Visit readmeridian.org to read this gorgeous issue

Photo taken at an aquarium of the underside of some type of sea creature (a type of stingray, maybe?). What looks like eyes and a mouth give it a distinctly unamused expression

12 is out of town visiting relatives. They went to an aquarium yesterday, where she took this amazingly hilarious pic (of a what? I don’t know). Now she uses it to express her disapproval

Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.

My tri-color corgi in the backseat of my car, gazing longingly, tongue protruding, at a Starbucks pup cup in my daughter’s hand

Post-vet pup cup. Adorbs pic by 12

OMG 🤬

If that’s what they do to a United States Senator with a question, imagine what they can do to any American that dares to speak up. We will hold this administration accountable.

ID: graphic with books drawn alongside top and bottom of square. Title text: 5 Book Recs by Deafblind authors. Bulleted list: Haben, memoir by Haben Girma Being Seen, memoir by Elsa Sjunneson Life at my fingertips, memoir by Robert Smithdas How to Communicate, poetry by John Lee Clark Swishing, children's lit by Victoria Monroe

We interrupt the American house of horrors to remind you thay June is DeafBlind awareness month. Here are some of my recommendations of writing by DeafBlind folks for your #DeafShelf!

cc @snarkbat.bsky.social @habengirma.bsky.social

"Solid writing advice" —my dogs

Just fantastic storytelling, too. Loved this book

Me: [distraught that Costco has discontinued my favorite non-dairy milk]

12: “Soy for your loss.”

This kid 😂

Better Off Summer ends abruptly. The tarns have finally warmed. Ari and I laze in the backyard beneath the protracted sunlight, relishing the bite in the air, the plump tomatoes tumbling off the vine. An open bo...

"My fantasy of subverting the patriarchy by raising a tender and empathic young man would be more difficult to realize than I thought. If he didn’t give, would he just take and take?"

from "Better Off," a story by Claire Fantus, in our May/June issue

Better Off Summer ends abruptly. The tarns have finally warmed. Ari and I laze in the backyard beneath the protracted sunlight, relishing the bite in the air, the plump tomatoes tumbling off the vine. An open bo...

"I am cheek-to-cheek now with Ari gazing at this insect: we are like new mothers, paralyzed by the awe and terror of this adorable but feeble thing, now our responsibility." Read "Better Off" by Claire Fantus in the May/June issue of @literarymama.bsky.social literarymama.com/articles/dep...

Breath When the large poodle tried to lick her son’s hand, he cried, “It’s warm! Mama! Dog breath is warm! Not cold like yours!” Mama paused. Her son thought she was frozen inside. She smiled awkwardly at...

"Theirs could ignite harmonicas both in and out, making music in layers.

One breath could extinguish a candle with a wish; another could feed the campfire."

Frm "Breath" by Jessica Claire Haney. May/June @literarymama.bsky.social

literarymama.com/articles/dep...

May/June 2025 Literary Mama

The May/June issue of @literarymama.bsky.social is out today, and it is SO GOOD. 😍 I’m especially proud of the two gorgeous pieces of fiction [high-fives @elizajaneconway.bsky.social]. Go read it! literarymama.com/issues/may-j...