Hi, Fivers:
Question! Those of you publishing newsletters: Where do you publish, and are you happy? Looking for a different set up than this clunker of a newsletter. Email susanna@fiveminutelit.com with your amazing solutions. And read forward for all the good stuff.
Susanna and the editorial team at Five Minutes
Salem Lit Fest: 7 Spots Left
New Englanders, join us and Molecule, a lit mag devoted to even shorter pieces (50 words max), on September 6 (most likely time is 10) and read your micro! To participate, email susanna@fiveminutelit.com.
Send your high schoolers to The Hallway
Same guidelines as Five Minutes, except you can only submit if you’re in high school or your country’s equivalent. Submit up to three times per month via Five Minute’s Submittable page.
Goodbye June
Thank you again to our June readers Cassandra Caverhill, Debbie Feit, Molly Freedenberg, Sharon Goldberg, Héctor Hernández, Jack Lazonde, and Anna Oh. They read and scored 68 pieces this month! (Our editors are still processing April scores.)
Hello July
Marie Anderson (“Suburban Sins”) is a Chicago-area married mother of three millennials. Her work has appeared in dozens of publications, most recently (2025) in The Raven’s Muse, The Bloomin’ Onion, and Fiction on the Web. Since 2009 she has led and learned from a writing critique group who meets at a public library in La Grange, Illinois.
Writings by Lisa K. Buchanan (“Not Just Yet”) appear in CRAFT, The Citron Review, and elsewhere. Foes: fellow bus passengers with shoulder bags near my nose. Friends: people not preceding me in line for chocolate sorbet. Heroes: public librarians. Current favorite novellas: The Employees (Olga Ravn); Address Unknown (Kathrine Kressmann Taylor). www.lisakbuchanan.com.
Victor Carreão is an English Language Arts teacher in Brazil. He likes learning about languages, reading, writing, and stargazing. He has recently finished his PhD in Linguistics.
Steph Lay (“Not a Prayer”, “Off the Menu”) is an English writer, psychology researcher, and aspiring parapsychologist. Previously published at Five Minutes and MKLitFest, she shares her eerie stories at cityofsecrets.blog. Bluesky: @stephlay.bsky.social Instagram: @stephanie.lay
Shama (“The Stranger”) has work featured in Gyroscope Review, ONE ART, The Pierian, and elsewhere. She writes from an old dusty corner of the earth while pondering the sky.
Sheryl Stein (“Scarring”), a music-obsessed mom living with a disability, has written for The Washington Post, Gargoyle, and Six-Minute Momoir, among others. Stein blogged about music, parenting, social issues, and dealing with a rare disease for over a decade. A three-time Jeopardy! champion, she’s still trying to make fetch happen. www.sherylstein.com
Wes Thornett is a junior at Clark University and is spending his summer working at the Salem Witch Museum and buying too many clothes.
Founding Reader Bobbi Lerman, Consulting Editor Maria S. Picone, and Susanna Baird are also reading.
High Fives
Congratulations …
— to Kathy Lynn Carroll for publishing “Dandelion” with Blink-Ink
— to Beth Kanter for publishing “The Jig Is Up or Ever After Hills Like White Elephants” with Fictive Dream
— to Lisa K. Buchanan for publishing “From the Customer Love Department” with Roi Fainéant Press
— to Mark Hendrickson for publishing “Small Town Boy” with Short Reads
— to Gail Mackenzie-Smith for publishing “ENOUGH: A Timeline of Harassment” with The Rumpus
— to Héctor Hernández for publishing “Make it Rain” with CafeLitMagazine
— to Jeff Kennedy for publishing “Cat Nap” with 365 Tomorrows
— to Nancy Huggett for publishing “What Remains” with The Forge
— to Rob Fromberg for publishing The Serial Stowaway with Trunk of My Car Cooperative and for being awarded the Edna Ferber Fiction Book Award for Gee, That Was Fun: 7 Days of Mayhem, 1983
— to Patti Jo Amerein for publishing “Heap” with River Teeth’s Beautiful Things
— to Linnea Peterson for publishing “Doctor Roulette” with FLARE
— to Lina Lau for publishing “We Forge” with Gooseberry Pie
— to Amita Basu for publishing At Play and Other Stories with Bridge House Press
— to Arianna Smith for publishing “Progress” with Assignment Literary Magazine
— to Maria S. Picone for publishing Adoptee Song with Game Over Books
— to Jeff Kennedy for publishing “A Memory of Sox” with Friday Flash Fiction and “Nuptials” in Suddenly, and Without Warning
Head to our Contributor Updates page to share your good news. If we missed shouting out a piece of your good news, please remind us.
Submissions Spotlight: Boudin
Boudin is the “spicy online cousin” of The McNeese Review, and accepts themed submissions of CNF, fiction, poetry, and visual art. They are currently accepting submissions on the September theme of kaleidoscope; October’s focus is horror (including CNF) on the theme of time. To submit, go here.
Visit past Spotlights for more inspo. Know a journal Newsletter Editor Kate should highlight? Email susanna@fiveminutelit.com, subject line “Submissions Spotlight Idea.” Must publish nonfiction.
Prompts
Inspired by our June pieces.
detonation • faucet • LGBTQ • mill town • Frankenstein • cramp • no going back now • hear • behemoth • empty box • after work • IV • ant • conference room • can’t tell the difference • rehab
Lines & Links
If you don’t want to miss a piece, sign up for our Weekly Digest. Email susanna@fiveminutelit.com, subject line: Digest. Every first line from May below!
Her fist exploded against my shoulder, then receded with the promise of another detonation, another physical aberration from the usual verbal, mental, and emotional landmines. — “Enough” by Jennifer A. Weigand
I can't turn on my faucet. — “Do It Yourself” by Ashni Patel
We missed the 2008 window when LGBTQ couples could marry; it quickly closed. — “My Marriage” by Susan Davis
I found his obituary fifty years after I left our mill town for college. — “A Dead Bully” by Marc Audet
Summers spent at the lake included trips into town, which was filled with colorful cafes and sprightly stores stacked like a children's library full of vibrant books. — “Frankenstein” by V. Leigh
A cramp grips my lower abdomen. — “Silent Love” by Ashwini Shenoy
I wait with bated breath when the head crowns; there’s no going back now. — “A Small Step” by Kanwar Plaha
Yeller doesn’t come out often but when he does, I can hear him coming. — “Yeller” by Ann-Christine Vevera
Ahead, a wide road of surging behemoths. — “The Crossing” by Arthur Neong
I had only been looking for an empty box. — “Upendings” by Maria Hypponen
After work, my toddler and I perform our daily ritual. — “Sticky Mail” by Héctor Hernández
The clock ticks as my IV drips, interrupted by the whirs of an inflating blood pressure cuff. — “IV Strangers” by Jessica Dye
I'm an ant, or smaller, like a dot. — “Nought” by Anuradha Dev
Every time Chad walks past the conference room he yells to me, “Amber is out to lunch!” — “Amber Alert!” by Courtney Pounds
I can't tell the difference between poplar and beech but I do know they both burn and that's all that I need for them to do. — “Feed the Fire” by William Berg
I started rehab the same week my husband had to be out of town for his new job. — “I Called Her” by Jen Machajewski
