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 other names were among the runners-up, including the smoke-long story. Since 2002, a lot has happened in our flash community. We’ve grown. We’ve developed a way of thinking about the form.
But again, I’m asking the question: do you read the literary journals you submit your work to? There are now a few literary journals older than 10 years that publish flash. I’m asking because I regularly look back at the SmokeLong archives with awe. I try to read one or two issues each month to remind myself what SmokeLong is. These stories have made SmokeLong SmokeLong. How can we move forward without an understanding of what brought us here?
So here’s the challenge:
On social media, we want flash writers to commit to reading a journal’s archives for two weeks. This journal must be older than 10 years, and the narratives shared need to be flash or flash-length prose poetry. We love the new guys, but this one is for the old-timers! Every day, we would like you to share up to 4 narratives that you love from the same journal. Include a very brief tagline telling why and please tag SmokeLong (@smokelong) so that we know you’ve posted. This challenge will run for two weeks (June 25 – July 9). The winner, chosen randomly from those who’ve posted daily, will win $400. And the rest of us will have won so much more.
On your marks!
Christopher
The core workshop of SmokeLong Fitness is all in writing, so you can take part from anywhere at anytime. We are excited about creating a supportive, consistent and structured environment for flash writers to work on their craft in a community. We are thrilled and proud to say that our workshop participants have won, placed, or been listed in every major flash competition. Community works.