Hi, Fivers:
Our Fall Contest is closed, with more than 120 flirty entries. Thanks to all who entered. Top ten will be announced sometime in December, with winner to follow.
Reading double this month, fall contest and our regular monthly submissions, I appreciate more than ever how much a writer must open themself to get even the tiniest 100-word bit of their life down on (virtual) paper. I’m constantly in awe, constantly cheering you on from my couch (because my dog complains if I sit at my desk), and constantly grateful I get to do this work.
Keep it coming, writers. We love a long submissions queue and our November readers are ready.
Susanna and the Team at Five Minutes
Goodbye October
Thank you again to our October readers, Marie Anderson, Rebecca Gummere, Brenda Kienan, Fenny H. Lin, Gail Mackenzie-Smith, Jennifer Stark, Linda Wolff, and Matt Yost. They scored nearly 90 pieces! (Our editorial staff is almost done with September processing. Next we’re going to get contest pieces processed and out to that reading team, who we’ll thank when we announce our winners, and then we’ll move to October’s regular submissions.)
Hello November
Susan Condon (“Saviour”) is a 2024 Irish Writers Centre National Mentoring Programme winner. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Dublin City University. Awards include first prize in the Jonathan Swift Award. Publications include Frazzled Lit, Washing Windows IV, Boyne Berries, Flash Fiction Magazine (USA), Flash Flood Journal, and My Weekly (UK).
Sarah Frederick (“Well Done”) grew up between a cow pasture and a cotton field in North Alabama. The fields are long gone now, but the stories are still there. Sarah was recently shortlisted in Southeast Review's Ned Stuckey-French Nonfiction Contest and published in Five Minutes. She is currently writing a memoir.
Lina Lau (“Watering Plants”) is a green tea drinker and writer from Toronto, Canada. Her work can be found in River Teeth, Hippocampus, X-R-A-Y, Emerge Literary Journal, and elsewhere. She owns too many notebooks and writes mostly creative non-fiction flash during the in-between moments of work and motherhood.
M.R. Mandell (“Not My Doctor”, “Mom’s Girl”) (she/her) is a poet based in Los Angeles. You can find her words in The McNeese Review, Weekly Humorist, Maudlin House, Stanchion, HAD, and others. She is the author of Don’t Worry About Me (Bottlecap Press) and The Last Girl, forthcoming 2025 (Finishing Line Press).
Alex Rost ("Frustrations") likes a little slice of life. X: @arost154
Yashaswini Sharma (“Set the Scene”) is a writer, filmmaker, and artist currently based in Lithuania.
Shoshauna Shy (“Fifth Birthday”, “Segue”) loves how micro-memoir, flash fiction, and poetry cut to the chase, and she bounces between all three of them. She’s an editor for 101 Words, and has had work recently included in the Fish Flash Fiction, Brilliant Flash Fiction, and the Bath Flash Fiction awards anthologies. She lives with her husband in Madison, Wisconsin.
Claire Stegman is a trans-woman in high school. She started reading when she was young and realized she enjoyed being able to think about the deeper meaning behind words. She enjoys a lot of nature and especially birds. She likes being able to help people and learning new things with them. Claire is our November/December editorial intern.
John Yohe (“Summer”) was born in Puerto Rico and has worked as a wildland firefighter, wilderness ranger, and fire lookout. Best of the Net nominee x2. Notable Essay List for Best American Essays 2021, 2022, and 2023. www.johnyohe.weebly.com X: @thejohnyohe
As always, Founding Reader Bobbi Lerman, Managing Editor Maria S. Picone, and Editor Susanna Baird are reading.
High Fives
Congratulations …
— to Amanda A. Gibson for publishing “Holes” in JMWW
—to Jenn McKee for publishing “Is 'Toxic Femininity' at Least Partly to Blame for Sleep Apnea's Underdiagnosis in Women?” with Well+Good
— to Maria Robinson for publishing “Thoughts on Bloodletting” with Electric Literature
— to Dan Farkas for publishing “500 Monkeys” with The Prompt
— to Jim DeFilippi for publishing “Savant Malignant” in CrimeBits, “Ameliorate” with Molecule, and Tough Guys Don’t Eat Muzzle with Brown Fedora Books
— to Anne Anthony for publishing “Riding the Rails” with Please See Me and “How to Remove Blood Stains from a Gently Used Wedding Dress” with Flash Fiction Magazine
— to Marie Anderson for publishing “Lucky Break” with Third Wednesday
— to Rashmi Bhopi for reading “Stripes” at the International Literature Festival Utrecht
— to Shoshauna Shy for publishing “Now I Know Why There's This Big a Crowd at My Funeral” with New World Writing Quarterly
— to Kathy Curto for publishing “The Perpetual Question Through The Lens Of Il Geranio: Who Do You Think You Are?” in And There Were Red Geraniums Everywhere
— to Brian Benson for publishing “Are You Okay” with Pithead Chapel
— to Charlotte Crowder whose “Fidelity” landed on the shortlist for Raw Earth Ink’s nonfiction award
— to Kristen Henderson for publishing “October 8, 2014” with Past Ten
— to Swetha Amit for publishing “Selling Hotdogs” with BULL
— to Thaddeus Rutkowski (belatedly) for publishing Safe Colors: A Novel in Short Fictions with New Meridian Arts
— To Mark Hendrickson for publishing “Never, Never, the Ouija Board” with The McNeese Review
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.
Opportunities
Flash Nonfiction: Generative Class. Zoom webinar, November 10, 2024 , 2:00 PM (EST). Participants will learn tips for creating strong flash nonfiction pieces. Participants will look at examples of flash nonfiction and what editors look for in pieces. To register for the event click here in order to pay $20 for the webinar or $40 for webinar and critique, before clicking here to register for the meeting.
Editorial Intern: Know a high school or college student who loves to write and read? We’d love to have them join our reading team for a month. Email susanna@fiveminutelit.com.
Are you running a contest, reading for another journal, offering a class? Let our newsletter readers know here. Email susanna@fiveminutelit.com with the subject line “Opportunities.”
Submissions Spotlight: In a Flash
In a Flash publishes 500-word-max creative nonfiction. Every month they publish pieces centered around a theme. Co-edited by five people, In a Flash looks for fun and interesting pieces previously unpublished. To submit send your piece to InAFlashLitMag@gmail.com.
Have a journal you think our Newsletter Editor Kate should highlight? Email susanna@fiveminutelit.com, subject line “Submissions Spotlight Idea.” Must publish nonfiction.
Prompts
Inspired by our October pieces.
eyes closed • refuse • greet • ice pack • drink with me • pancakes • keep me company • arms spread wide • jeweler • miles • psychiatrist • rainforest • in the kitchen • on duty • fire alarm • stick • elevator
Lines & Links
Every first line from October:
Let’s go on vacation, Opa muses, eyes closed. — “Daydreams” by Michelle La Vone
The resident refuses to keep his shirt on but can’t take it off himself. — “The Resident” by Molly Lindsey
Dude greets me as his Brother in Christ. — “Bus to T or C” by David Cameron
Speeding away from the campground to the nearest hospital, I'm riding on my mother’s lap in the back of the family Volkswagen with my hands pressed between two ice packs from the cooler. — “Assimilation” by Jennifer Stark
“Drink with me.” — “White Flag” by Gretchen Clark
In a room that smells a mix of joy, grief, and cafeteria pancakes, your birth mother makes her offering. — “The Heist” by Laura Barr
When my father passed, I wanted someone to keep me company. — “Tiny Love Story” by Thaddeus Rutkowski
He is older, stronger, and straddles me, holding my arms spread wide. — “My Uncle’s Game” by Jean Buie
The jeweler says they’ve done what they can, handing me the princess cut diamond soldered to a band I chose seven years ago. — “Worn Love” by Sarah Hare
I journey 8,500 miles to meet you. — “Reunited” by LuLu Grant
“You will never hold a job again,” the psychiatrist said. — “Turning Point” by Howard Dart Humeston
In a small ceremony witnessed by immediate family and select closest friends, my daughter got married in a beachside rainforest in Australia, her new husband’s home country. — “Something Blue” by Helene Kiser
My parents argued in the kitchen. — “Fish Beats Rock” by Samantha Rice
The night Mom is put on hospice, I am on duty and she needs anxiety medicine. — “DNR*” by Nicole Peattie
The fire alarm and the man in flames, both screaming. — “Skill Issue” by Antony Püttschneider
You’ve got one stick, one match. — “Valentine’s Day” by Noah Lee
The elevator door opened to chaos. — “Crash Cart” by Lisa Conquet
Subscribe
To receive our monthly newsletter, Five Minutes More, email susanna@fiveminutelit.com with subject line: Newsletter.