November 15, 2025

Baltimore Review News: I waited until after the Baltimore Writers’ Conference to post this week. Such a pleasure to be back at Towson University for this conference, and to have face-to-face time with other writers and publishers! Baltimore Review had a table there, along with Yellow Arrow Publishing, Mason Jar Press, Hopkins Review, and other local publishers. Tables were fairly quiet during session times, and many of us took the opportunity to drop in on the sessions. I enjoyed Dora Malech’s poetry session—a discussion of sonnets (her own sonnets are wonderful). During the check-in time before the keynote, the 15-minute times between sessions, lunch, and some time at the end of the day, conference attendees stopped by our tables to chat and sometimes buy copies of books. And I assisted with some poetry “quick critiques” and hope that I provided some useful feedback.

Next event: The Eastern Shore Writers Association Holiday Book Festival on December 13 at Cult Classic Brewing. Sounds like a great venue, right?

I sent off our PEN Dau nomination and took our Pushcart nominations packet to the post office. Next up: nominating works for Best Small Fictions.

Another batch of BR staff member meetings is in the works. One down, five more to go. A steady flow through the Submittable queue now, with our November 30 deadline approaching.

On a personal note: I’ve enjoyed a couple of generative writing sessions through SmokeLong’s Promptember events, and I’ve been getting feedback on my work in a couple of critique groups. These groups are so important to me for many reasons. Accountability, generative, feedback, support, learning from fellow writers, and the joy of being in a community of people who love what I love. I also want to set more time aside for pleasure reading—novels—armchair and cup- of-tea reading. Maybe I need snow days to put me in the mood. Just kidding!