In its third year, The March Micro Marathon will be, as usual, a prompt-a-day whirlwind for 24 days. You’ll exchange drafts of micro fiction, non-fiction, and prose poetry in small groups and gather for a series of online events (all recorded for participants unable to attend live).
The last two years of The March Micro Marathon have produced hundreds of published micros. We’re always thrilled to hear how generative the marathon has been.
Book The March Micro Marathon 2026
We’ll be inviting participants to join the workshop around a week before the peer-review workshop begins on March 2. The first webinar is on February 28th (an honorary addition to March). The peer-review workshop will run March 2-25; then you’ll have another week to edit before having the opportunity to enter the competitions of The March Micro Marathon with cash prizes. Then, if that weren’t enough, you’ll be invited to stick around through the end of April in SmokeLong Fitness.
We hope you’ll join us as we draft thousands of new micros together. If you’re passionate about workshopping, we’d love to write with you.
The first 30 participants external to SmokeLong Fitness to book will pay $20 less! Participants of SmokeLong Fitness will receive a discount code in the workshop!
Book The March Micro Marathon 2026
March Micro Marathon webinars and events
February 28th – High-Intensity Interval Training for Flash Writers: Microfiction Edition, 2026 with Ingrid Jendrzejewski
Time: TBA
Duration: 90 minutes
Microfiction is an extreme sport requiring a special sort of strength and conditioning. In this workshop, we’ll develop our sprint-length story skills through prompts, exercises and challenges designed to kickstart creativity and help you build your microfiction muscles. Bring a pen and plenty of paper – and don’t forget your water bottle!
Writers of all backgrounds and experience levels are warmly welcome. These prompts, exercises and challenges are brand new and micro-focused, so whether this is your first or fifth Smokelong Fitness HIIT session, you’ll find something new. Come along, roll up your sleeves, and trust the process!
Ingrid Jendrzejewski received a BFA in Creative Writing and BA in English Literature at the University of Evansville before going on to earn a BA and MSci in Natural Sciences (Physics) at the University of Cambridge. She has worked on text input tools that use probabilistic predictive language models and also as a developer for a popular mmorpg, where she wrote and coded a number of quests, minigames and in-game events. Ingrid currently serves as Co-Director of National Flash Fiction Day and Editor in Chief of FlashBack Fiction. She has published hundreds of shortform pieces and her short collection Things I Dream About When I’m Not Sleeping was a runner up for BFFA’s first Novella-in-Flash competition. You can find her at ingridj.com and on Twitter @LunchOnTuesday.
March 14th – First Micro Open Mic x 2!
Come and test-run the micros you’ve been writing in a fun, casual, and supportive environment. Sign up to read once you’re in the workshop. On this day we’ll offer two time slots so that as many participants as possible will have the opportunity to attend.
Open Mic 1
Time: 10am NYC
Duration: 90 minutes
Open Mic 2
Time: 7pm NYC
Duration: 90 minutes
TBA (March 21st or 22nd) – Plot and the Micro with Kim Chinquee
Time: TBA
Duration: 90 minutes
How does plot function in Microfiction? How can elements (character, setting, voice, language–and what’s left out!) inform? This 90-minute webinar will be a close study/workshop of the craft and form.
Kim Chinquee grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, served in the medical field in the Air Force, and is often referred to as the “queen” of flash fiction. She’s the author of eleven books and has published widely in journals and anthologies including The Nation, Ploughshares, NOON, StoryQuarterly, Denver Quarterly, Fiction, Story, Notre Dame Review, Conjunctions, and others. She is the recipient of three Pushcart Prizes and a Henfield Prize, serves as Editor of New World Writing Quarterly, Chief Editor of Elm Leaves Journal (ELJ), nonfiction editor of Midwest Review, and prose poetry editor of Pithead Chapel. She’s a competitive triathlete, a certified USA Triathlon Official, an associate professor at Buffalo State University, and lives with her three dogs in Western New York.
Second Micro Open Mic x 2 and Farewell (also x 2)
Come and test-run the micros you’ve been writing in a fun, casual, and supportive environment. Sign up to read once you’re in the workshop. On this day we’ll offer two time slots so that as many participants as possible will have the opportunity to attend. We’ll also be giving away a few books!
Open Mic 1
Time: Noon NYC
Duration: 90 minutes
Open Mic 2
Time: 6pm NYC
Duration: 90 minutes
