November 6, 2025

Baltimore Review News: One of our prose readers organized a Zoom meeting for the group this past week. A few of us dropped in as our schedules allowed, and we read fiction submissions in 20-30 minute spurts. Scheduled times really do help us work through the queue, and it’s good to discuss what we’re reading. I’ll have to schedule another batch of meetings soon. I know that we’ll have many contest submissions to read.

A couple of issues we noticed in many of the fiction submissions: Lack of narrative lift-off within the first couple of pages. There are paragraphs of exposition, description, a character expressing sad feelings—the story simply doesn’t launch. Nothing is happening. The description may be interesting, but it’s not enough. And sometimes, the writer fails to orient the reader within a paragraph or two. We should know pretty soon what kind of story it’s going to be, who it’s going to be about, where and when it’s taking place, and what sort of tension is going to get the narrative ball rolling. Otherwise, we’re lost, bobbing about in space.

The period for Best Microfiction nominations opened, and I submitted our five. Fingers crossed. I’ll send off a PEN Dau nomination soon.

On a personal note: I had a micro published in Tiny Molecules, so I’m super pleased about that. I’m feeling more productive lately. Also gathering my share of decline responses. But knowing how many submissions many journals get, and how tricky it can be to find the perfect fit, I don’t let that bother me. Eventually my stories and poems find the right home—or I send them back to the drawing board.