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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction

@inshortlit.bsky.social
128 followers 46 following 46 posts

An indie lit mag for flash nonfiction 📸 Publishing flash of 1,000 words or fewer; micros of 400 or fewer; and short-shorts 100 or fewer ⚡️ inshortjournal.com

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Reposted by In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction
Dawn Tasaka Steffler @dawnsteffler.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Thank you so much to EIC Steph Liberatore and *all* the staff at @inshortlit.bsky.social for this incredible nomination. This is an essay very close to my heart, and it's an honor to have it recognized like this. inshortjournal.com/dawn-tasaka-...
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
Congrats to all our Best American Essays nominees!! Check out all their pieces at inshortjournal.com!
Best American Essays Nominees 

Kyoko Mori, “What We Wore Together”
Ira Sukrungruang, “Boy + Gun”
Dawn Taska Steffler, “Bra Shopping”
Brian McGuigan, “Crack”
Sue William Silverman, “The Long Road Out of Eden”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
@brandihandley24.bsky.social
Man Sized Boots by Brandi Handley

The interruption of searching for some “man-sized boots” while the narrator deconstructs this performance is exceptional. The freedom or “audacity” women want to lay claim to against reality. Handley’s introspection of this tension is done with care and a little bit of humor.

Sneak Peek: “At Red Racks, a local thrift store chain, the shoes and boots line the tops of the racks of used clothing. They’re not organized by size or style or any other discernible pattern of arrangement. But it doesn’t matter. I’m only interested in what they look like at a glance.”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Farmhouse Elegy by Molly Wazeck

What remains unsaid in this piece is all you can think about when you finish. The visual of the fire and the mental hospital being the tension Wadzeck balances on while navigating our way through the piece.

Sneak Peek: “K and I dig holes, at least three feet deep, holes to fill with dead chickens, reciting names if we recognize what remains of their charred, limp bodies.”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
@amygcb.bsky.social
When I am six, I speak in tongues by Amy Cipolla Barnes

Barnes pulls readers into the body of a young child who is forced into a sort of religious scheme. The intersection between identity, religion, family, and language is blended seamlessly; the objective correlative of the mother’s belt against the teacher’s belt ties this piece together. 

Sneak Peek: “because my Mama wants me to. I’m standing on a dining room chair. She’s coaching me in a loud voice because I haven’t been listening closely enough.”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
My Hair was Never Mine to Cut by Vani Aadhya

This piece focuses on the exploration of a mother’s love and viewing it from the persepctive of smothering and transforming it into longing. What we used to view as a milestone or a form of freedom becomes a disconnect we can never mend.

Sneak Peek: “My mother treated my hair like a boon—something gifted by the gods to tie us together.”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
@shoshanaraywrites.bsky.social
Drowning by Shoshana Ray

The shift in this piece from the carefree nature of childhood to reality is like whiplash. The mom’s words echo and remain with you long after the final line. 

Sneak Peek: “We weren’t taught how to swim but learned through osmosis. Watch your older cousins, watch your siblings, watch the adults, and you’ll figure it out. ”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Crack by Brian McGuigan 

McGuigan writes with an intensity that sneaks up on you. The balance between the voice of innocence and the voice of experience in this piece also creates a powerful punch with the final line. 

Sneak Peek: “I remember when crack took over our block.“
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
The Long Road Out of Eden by Sue William Silverman

This piece feels like sinking into a body of water and watching the ripples. Silverman introduces each detail into the scene with such care that by the end you have a complete picture different from where you began. The possibilities of the “almost perfect strawberry” no longer matter by the end of the piece.

Sneak Peek: “One late afternoon after work, as a college intern on Capitol Hill, I sit on a sunny porch in a house off Wisconsin Avenue with an older woman, a friend of my parents.“
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Looking back on Issue 3!! Today we are reviewing Flash (1000 words or fewer). Read the full pieces at the link in our bio!
In Short Issue Three Flash
Includes: lessons from mothers, powerful final lines, things left unsaid, all 1000 words or less
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Reposted by In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction
Deb Fenwick @debfenwrites.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
So honored to be included in the inaugural issue of a journal that uplifts flash nonfiction and receive the recognition from Best American Essays. Thanks, In Short!
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Congrats to contributor, @debfenwrites.bsky.social, whose “Escape Route,” from Issue 1 was listed as Notable in Best American Essays ‘25! Congrats, Deb 🎉🎉 Read it here: inshortjournal.com/deb-fenwick/
inshortjournal.com
Deb Fenwick
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
📢 ONE MONTH left to submit! We close for submissions on Nov. 30 or whenever we reach our 300-sub cap in each category. Send us your: ✔️flash cnf (< 1,000 words) ✔️micros (< 400) ✔️short-shorts (< 100) We can’t wait to read your work 🖤 inshortjournal.com/in-short-hom...
inshortjournal.com
Submissions
In Short is an independent literary journal for flash nonfiction at every length. We publish creative nonfiction of 1,000 words or fewer, micros of 400 words or fewer, and short-shorts of 100 words or...
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Reposted by In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction
Darby Price @darbyprice.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
It’s spooky season so perhaps you’d enjoy my piece about the Rapture and organ donations 😀🫀
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
The Telstar by Clifford Thompson
This piece grips you with every sentence and never lets you go. Thompson's style and word choice really brings the energy of the piece together and leaves you with a final punch in the last line! 
Sneak peek: "Spring of 1980, I seventeen, clop-clopping past squat gray buildings in Northwest DC in my hard black shoes, trench coat, tie, Afro."
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Erasure by Timothy C Smith
This piece explores what tries to remain unsaid and buried and unearths it with care and gentleness. The last few lines will make you want to reread the entire piece with Annie's name in mind. 
Sneak Peek: "She had a name. A sultry July afternoon, the grass slowly turning from jade green to dried hay."
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Night Walk by Elizabeth Rose
This piece drops you into a pool of release restless, searching for a moment of calm only to take it away. When he sentences get longer and the calm recedes, readers miss the freedom and quiet the sky can only give and grieve its loss with the narrator. 
Sneak peek: "I am aware of the risk, that when I use my fingers to wipe my eyes, I may unintentionally extract one of my good long eyelashes."
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
@darbyprice.bsky.social
[Terrible is the Punishment of the Lord] by Darby Price
Price creates such a poetic and intense moment with only 214 words. The scene and the rhetorical questions in the piece force readers to wonder about reclaimed with her. 
Sneak peak: "Terrible is the punishment of the Lord for those who believe in such things."
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
@mehpoeting.bsky.social
The Quiet Part by Matthew E. Henry

The form Henry uses to break up this one-sided conversation forces readers to pause and think after each mini mic drop. The tension that builds to the final line feels like a bucket of ice water being poured over your head. 
Sneak Peak: "Excuse me? Excuse me. I'm so sorry to interrupt your conversation, but are you Matthew E. Henry, the poet?..."
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Looking back on Issue 3!! Today we are reviewing the Micros (400 words or fewer). Read the full piece at Inshortjournal.com!
In Short Issue 3
Themes: Superhero punches, terrible conversations, grief, all 400 words or fewer
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Want a submissions secret? 🤫 We get way fewer short-short and micro submissions than flash, so if you want to increase your chances, why not give one of those a try? Here’s a short-short from Issue 3 we love by @ezhang77.bsky.social inshortjournal.com/elena-zhang-2/
inshortjournal.com
Elena Zhang
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Happy #FlashFriday! Today’s feature is “Man-Sized Boots” by @brandihandley24.bsky.social . We love its structure, its lines. And boy did it resonate: t.co/TZ13lROCKy
t.co
https://inshortjournal.com/brandi-handley/
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
And order Darby’s debut lyric memoir, All the Lands We Inherit, here: bookshop.org/p/books/all-...
bookshop.org
All the Lands We Inherit
Check out All the Lands We Inherit - <p><em>All the Lands We Inherit</em> is a searing, heartbreaking, and formally inventive debut memoir about family, legacy, and identity. The story centers around ...
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Love seeing our contributors IRL! @darbyprice.bsky.social read from her new collection—including [Terrible is the punishment of the Lord] from Issue 3 of In Short!—at the 804 Lit Salon in DC last weekend. Read it here: t.co/qKZMNdJPpH
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
@melissahung.bsky.social
"Border Crossings, Macau to Hong Kong, 1957" by Melissa Hung

With one sentence we are forced to experience the fear and uncertainty of the narrator. We wonder how she got there and where she will go. More importantly we dream of her mother with her by the end of the piece.

Sneak Peek: “How long did she wait in that old apartment by the window...”
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
The Seamstress of Buenos Aires by Donald A. Ranard

With just a little more than 50 words, Ranard includes readers into this small moment of shared love and loss. The final line leaving us sitting in that shared moment of acknowledgement. 

Sneak Peek: “How many children do you have? she asked. “
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Shadow Animals By Michelle La Vone

Every time you read through the piece a new word or phrase reveals itself and adds meaning to the piece. The objective correlative in the piece being the shadows on the wall also packs a punch when you finish reading! 

Sneak Peek: “My childhood room is frankincense, steady puffs of steam. “
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
As we gear up for Issue 4 of In Short we are going to take a look back at the past issues; starting with the Short-Shorts of Issue 3! Read full pieces as inshortjournal.com
In Short Issue 3

Themes: motherhood, loss, immigration, all 100 words or fewer

Short-Shorts
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Did you know that we publish 100-word CNF? We call them “short-shorts”! And today’s feature is @melissahung.bsky.social’s “Border Crossings, Macau to Hong Kong, 1957.” We love its long, breathless sentence with an ending that cuts like a 🔪 inshortjournal.com/melissa-hung/
inshortjournal.com
Melissa Hung
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Graphic of Editorial Intern: Megan Cobb

What do you love about Flash Nonfiction?
I love a good hermit-crab essay! Taking on a new shell to explore yourself is incredibly revealing and cathartic.

A piece from In Short that you love?
"Bra Shopping" by Dawn Tasaka Steffler, Issue 2

Favorite Author? 
Anne Rice
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Graphic of Editorial Intern: Drew Hunter

What do you love about flash nonfiction?
"You don't need an extraordinary life or story to make an amazing piece! It's very accessible to a variety of readers and writers."

A Piece from In Short that you love?
"The Telstar," By Clifford Thompson, Issue 5.

Favorite Author?
R.F. Kuang and James Baldwin
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Meet the In Short team! For more information about how to join our team and more of our members please visit our website.
Graphic of Editor-in-Chief: Steph Liberatore

What do you love about flash nonfiction?
"I Love flash's accessibility. It gave me a writing career when a writing career felt impossible."

A Piece from In Short that you love?
"Impossible to choose just one! Deb Fenwick's "Escape Route" in Issue 1 is the first piece we ever accepted. And I still remember the way it hit me: like a beautiful punch in the gut."

Favorite Author?
"Tie between Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Melissa Febos"
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Thank you for letting us know! I'll make sure Alt text is added on all posts in the future.
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
We love your work, Sean! Best of luck and thank you for sharing with us 😊
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
@seanbwparker5000.bsky.social's "Artists at Work" worked wonders with linework and composition.
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Camellia Paul's artworks "Silvester" and "Callypigeon" absolutely stunned us.
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
Clifford Thompson's "The Telstar" knocked us out like a telepunch. inshortjournal.com/clifford-tho...
inshortjournal.com
Clifford Thompson
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
@mehpoeting.bsky.social's "The Quiet Part" wowed us with everything left unsaid. inshortjournal.com/matthew-e-he...
inshortjournal.com
Matthew E Henry
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
We're so excited to announce our nominees for the 2026 Best of the Net anthology! Stay tuned for a look into these great works 📸
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
We are officially open for submissions through November 30th!! What are you going to send? 📸
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
ONE WEEK! Send us your: ✔️Flash cnf (1,000 words or fewer) ✔️Micros (400 or fewer) ✔️Short-shorts (100 or fewer) Submissions open Sept. 30-Nov. 30. Art Credit: Camellia Paul
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Find more of his work at www.mehpoeting.com/about
mehpoeting.com
About — MEHPoeting
Matthew E. Henry (MEH )
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Today’s featured piece from Issue 3 is @mehpoeting.bsky.social's micro, “The Quiet Part.” This one had us from the title, and the structure, the use of the |, and all the things the narrator doesn’t have to say aloud, had us 👀 Read it here: inshortjournal.com/matthew-e-he...
inshortjournal.com
Matthew E Henry
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
And order your own copy of Selected Misdemeanors, just out from @univnebpress.bsky.social here: bookshop.org/p/books/sele...
bookshop.org
Selected Misdemeanors: Essays at the Mercy of the Reader
Essays at the Mercy of the Reader
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Today’s featured piece is Sue Silverman's “The Long Road Out of Eden.” We love the worm in the narrator’s strawberry, the perfect objective correlative. Read Sue’s piece, an excerpt from her new book Selected Misdemeanors here: inshortjournal.com/sue-william-...
inshortjournal.com
Sue William Silverman
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Starting today, we are sharing one piece from Issue 3 we love & why to help you get your subs ready! Today’s featured piece is “Crack” by Brian McGuigan. We read this flash out loud in my 456 class and then sat in stunned silence a while after. inshortjournal.com/brian-mcguig...
inshortjournal.com
Brian McGuigan
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Reposted by In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction
Dr. Matthew E. Henry (MEH) @mehpoeting.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
"The Quiet Part," a bit of micro creative nonfiction, was just published in the latest from @inshortlit.bsky.social inshortjournal.com/matthew-e-he...
inshortjournal.com
Matthew E Henry
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Thank you for sharing The Quiet Part with our readers, Matthew. Gotta love experimental form!!📸
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Reposted by In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction
Darby Price @darbyprice.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
It’s Saturday & there’s a new issue of @inshortlit.bsky.social, which means that you can now read this micro piece about how my mom didn’t want to be an organ donor because of the Rapture. Thanks to Steph Liberatore for giving this piece the best home! 🙏 inshortjournal.com/darby-price/
inshortjournal.com
Darby Price
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In Short: A Journal of Flash Nonfiction @inshortlit.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
We LOVE [Terrible is the punishment of the Lord] Darby! Thank you so much for sharing your work with our lovely readers 📸
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