Matt Kendrick
@mattkendrick.bsky.social
Writer | editor | teacher | joyful Ninja Turtle | chronically ill
Words: Craft Literary, Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, Wigleaf Top 50
Website: https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/
Craft newsletter: https://prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/
Words: Craft Literary, Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, Wigleaf Top 50
Website: https://www.mattkendrick.co.uk/
Craft newsletter: https://prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com/
Pinned
My last workshop of the year is a silly safari through humorous techniques. Feels like we all need a bit of levity after the year we've had. We'll look at daffynitions, spoonerisms, comic triples and much more.
Tues 2nd Dec 7pm GMT
OR Sat 6th Dec 9am GMT
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...
Tues 2nd Dec 7pm GMT
OR Sat 6th Dec 9am GMT
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...
"Maybe, in a lot of ways, the world has always felt like it’s ending"
Brilliant weaving together of narrative elements in this gem from @christinaltudor.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social; wonderful writing
www.smokelong.com/stories/judy...
Brilliant weaving together of narrative elements in this gem from @christinaltudor.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social; wonderful writing
www.smokelong.com/stories/judy...
Judy Blume Didn't Prepare Me for the Apocalypse - SmokeLong Quarterly
Judy Blume prepared me for first periods and first loves—not these rising muddy waters filling the streets like an open mouth beneath the sepia-tone sky tinged gray like food that’s rotted before you ...
www.smokelong.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:23 PM
"Maybe, in a lot of ways, the world has always felt like it’s ending"
Brilliant weaving together of narrative elements in this gem from @christinaltudor.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social; wonderful writing
www.smokelong.com/stories/judy...
Brilliant weaving together of narrative elements in this gem from @christinaltudor.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social; wonderful writing
www.smokelong.com/stories/judy...
"This should end the conversation, though you might feel like a jerk for not expanding on your answer"
Brilliant piece from @colettelh.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social showing how a found form can be infused with so much emotional exploration
www.smokelong.com/stories/how-...
Brilliant piece from @colettelh.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social showing how a found form can be infused with so much emotional exploration
www.smokelong.com/stories/how-...
How to Respond When Your Hairdresser Asks if You Have Any Children - SmokeLong Quarterly
No. This should end the conversation, though you might feel like a jerk for not expanding on your answer. It can come across as harsh and rude, and you don’t want to make her uncomfortable. You can so...
www.smokelong.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:18 PM
"This should end the conversation, though you might feel like a jerk for not expanding on your answer"
Brilliant piece from @colettelh.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social showing how a found form can be infused with so much emotional exploration
www.smokelong.com/stories/how-...
Brilliant piece from @colettelh.bsky.social in @smokelong.bsky.social showing how a found form can be infused with so much emotional exploration
www.smokelong.com/stories/how-...
Just seen from the editorial to the latest issue that @smokelong.bsky.social is going to be accepting narrative poetry from January. That's pretty exciting. Now I can send them an even wider selection of my drivel 😀 (How to begin - "On a dark and stormy night, an onion...")
November 27, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Just seen from the editorial to the latest issue that @smokelong.bsky.social is going to be accepting narrative poetry from January. That's pretty exciting. Now I can send them an even wider selection of my drivel 😀 (How to begin - "On a dark and stormy night, an onion...")
Today is one of those days where I'm wanting to get on with all the work in my inbox but I'm having to accept that the body is not happy with that idea. Le sigh! Still, very grateful I've been having some better moments just recently. Often, it's just about framing 😀
#SpoonieLife
#SpoonieLife
November 27, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Today is one of those days where I'm wanting to get on with all the work in my inbox but I'm having to accept that the body is not happy with that idea. Le sigh! Still, very grateful I've been having some better moments just recently. Often, it's just about framing 😀
#SpoonieLife
#SpoonieLife
Still places in this workshop next week for anyone who fancies it. Going to be a lot of fun(ny) and should get you writing from new angles.
My last workshop of the year is a silly safari through humorous techniques. Feels like we all need a bit of levity after the year we've had. We'll look at daffynitions, spoonerisms, comic triples and much more.
Tues 2nd Dec 7pm GMT
OR Sat 6th Dec 9am GMT
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...
Tues 2nd Dec 7pm GMT
OR Sat 6th Dec 9am GMT
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/live-worksho...
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Still places in this workshop next week for anyone who fancies it. Going to be a lot of fun(ny) and should get you writing from new angles.
Just realised the mini interview I did with Cathy Ulrich about this piece is now available. Thoughts on what Mrs W is thinking, Mrs/Mr Bridge inspiration, how Mr W is a MAMCASAW man and prattling about proverbs:
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/24/t...
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/24/t...
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Just realised the mini interview I did with Cathy Ulrich about this piece is now available. Thoughts on what Mrs W is thinking, Mrs/Mr Bridge inspiration, how Mr W is a MAMCASAW man and prattling about proverbs:
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/24/t...
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/24/t...
I feel like this is some of my best work. If anyone else wants a limerick (see alt text), I'm in that sort of mood... Crowns, though - they're reserved for Welkin winners.
So @sfreligh.bsky.social asked for a crown and who am I to deny our reigning champion?
PS - I recommend reading the alt text even though I do say so myself (and apologies, I know this isn't really what alt text is for, and I wouldn't usually, but I hope you'll forgive my misuse just this once)
PS - I recommend reading the alt text even though I do say so myself (and apologies, I know this isn't really what alt text is for, and I wouldn't usually, but I hope you'll forgive my misuse just this once)
November 24, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I feel like this is some of my best work. If anyone else wants a limerick (see alt text), I'm in that sort of mood... Crowns, though - they're reserved for Welkin winners.
Ridiculously pondering running a writing retreat next year (when getting my disabled body anywhere is an impossible challenge and staying healthy for 7 days in a row is equally hard) 😂 It's good to dream, though, right?
November 24, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Ridiculously pondering running a writing retreat next year (when getting my disabled body anywhere is an impossible challenge and staying healthy for 7 days in a row is equally hard) 😂 It's good to dream, though, right?
"I was babysitting him for my weed dealers, a pair of comfy old dykes. My mother snorted when she saw Little Hansel and me, dressed alike in our orange sweatshirts and Captain Eo sunglasses"
Richly creative and original from @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Richly creative and original from @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
The Untranslatable German Word for a Gate Slamming Shut — Ghost Parachute
My only friend, Little Hansel, smells like closet. That’s what my mother said the one time she met the four-year-old. I was babysitting him for my weed dealers, a pair of comfy old dykes. My mother sn...
ghostparachute.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:10 AM
"I was babysitting him for my weed dealers, a pair of comfy old dykes. My mother snorted when she saw Little Hansel and me, dressed alike in our orange sweatshirts and Captain Eo sunglasses"
Richly creative and original from @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Richly creative and original from @patriciaqbidar.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
"The man stepped under the eaves of a darkened storefront. Suddenly he began to sing about the past. About the nights in the cellars of the houses sprinkled beyond the main road"
Such quiet beauty in this flash from @amymarques.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Such quiet beauty in this flash from @amymarques.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
The Wait — Ghost Parachute
The man returned to town. He shouldered his bag and stepped out of the station and past the shuttered hotel, towards the big house on the side street. Then for a time he stood in the rain, in the stre...
ghostparachute.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:08 AM
"The man stepped under the eaves of a darkened storefront. Suddenly he began to sing about the past. About the nights in the cellars of the houses sprinkled beyond the main road"
Such quiet beauty in this flash from @amymarques.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Such quiet beauty in this flash from @amymarques.bsky.social
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
"All we can do is grow more flowers, more beauty, more magic, until beauty and love fill the room and the elephant won’t find room to grow."
Such a clever use of an extended metaphor from @happilander.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Such a clever use of an extended metaphor from @happilander.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
We Don’t Let Elephants Grow — Ghost Parachute
We only grow flowers and trees and joy and all things beautiful and shiny. We open the windows, and air the room, and we chase all wrong and bad and evil out, but Mom asks for the truth because she’s ...
ghostparachute.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:06 AM
"All we can do is grow more flowers, more beauty, more magic, until beauty and love fill the room and the elephant won’t find room to grow."
Such a clever use of an extended metaphor from @happilander.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Such a clever use of an extended metaphor from @happilander.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
"Before being charmingly interrupted by hypocrisy, Anna had been thinking about how everyone put the dead on a pedestal of beauty and humanity and kindness, which they rarely were"
Swirling, contemplative writing from @delgeo14.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Swirling, contemplative writing from @delgeo14.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
The Funeral — Ghost Parachute
They’d exchanged many pretend-smile hellos, you-again waves, don’t-like-you-much nods every time they’d come across each other in the past. But when they met at the funeral, Anna was not pleased as De...
ghostparachute.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:03 AM
"Before being charmingly interrupted by hypocrisy, Anna had been thinking about how everyone put the dead on a pedestal of beauty and humanity and kindness, which they rarely were"
Swirling, contemplative writing from @delgeo14.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Swirling, contemplative writing from @delgeo14.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
"The change began subtly. At first, I noticed a strange stiffness in my joints, like the heavy, creaking doors of an old house"
Wonderful speculative piece from @swethaamit.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Wonderful speculative piece from @swethaamit.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
The Flight — Ghost Parachute
The change began subtly. At first, I noticed a strange stiffness in my joints, like the heavy, creaking doors of an old house. The mirror reflected my once-flowing cascade of dark curls, merging into ...
ghostparachute.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:00 AM
"The change began subtly. At first, I noticed a strange stiffness in my joints, like the heavy, creaking doors of an old house"
Wonderful speculative piece from @swethaamit.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Wonderful speculative piece from @swethaamit.bsky.social in Ghost Parachute:
ghostparachute.com/issue/octobe...
Ideas for lit mags that have a reasonably fast turnaround between acceptance and publication? This is for a 500 word piece. It's a surreal-dystopian-lyrical triptych in 1st person plural. Suggestions?
November 23, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Ideas for lit mags that have a reasonably fast turnaround between acceptance and publication? This is for a 500 word piece. It's a surreal-dystopian-lyrical triptych in 1st person plural. Suggestions?
I hope you'll all enter - love running this comp every year and always so honoured by everyone who sends in their work
There are now just eight maids-a-milking until the #WelkinWritingPrize is open for entries once again. Hope you're busy scribbling your stories.
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...
www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...
November 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I hope you'll all enter - love running this comp every year and always so honoured by everyone who sends in their work
I made some artwork to go with my story. This was a lot of fun to envisage. Hope it connects with the writing in interesting ways.
November 22, 2025 at 11:21 AM
I made some artwork to go with my story. This was a lot of fun to envisage. Hope it connects with the writing in interesting ways.
Thrilled to have a new story out today with the wonderful Milk Candy Review that features eggs, soldiers, silence and absent suns. Hope you'll give it a read:
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/20/n...
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/20/n...
Nothing certain ~ by Matt Kendrick
The day the sun forgets to rise, Mr White sits down for breakfast at precisely twelve minutes past seven. This is in the dining room. It is Tuesday. His Tuesday breakfast is a soft-boiled egg opene…
milkcandyreview.home.blog
November 20, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Thrilled to have a new story out today with the wonderful Milk Candy Review that features eggs, soldiers, silence and absent suns. Hope you'll give it a read:
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/20/n...
milkcandyreview.home.blog/2025/11/20/n...
"In hindsight, maybe our dad was trying to do something nice, something normal families did, but he wouldn’t have just driven to the circus on a whim."
A CNF micro from @dianelp.bsky.social that unfolds so cleverly to show the essence of a family:
www.claudineliterary.net/dianepayne
A CNF micro from @dianelp.bsky.social that unfolds so cleverly to show the essence of a family:
www.claudineliterary.net/dianepayne
November 19, 2025 at 9:25 PM
"In hindsight, maybe our dad was trying to do something nice, something normal families did, but he wouldn’t have just driven to the circus on a whim."
A CNF micro from @dianelp.bsky.social that unfolds so cleverly to show the essence of a family:
www.claudineliterary.net/dianepayne
A CNF micro from @dianelp.bsky.social that unfolds so cleverly to show the essence of a family:
www.claudineliterary.net/dianepayne
"My cat gazes at the void. She’s deep in thought, as if she’s a Rodin statue, but we don’t do thinking here. We only do duties and responsibilities"
Love the surreal absurdity to this piece from @happilander.bsky.social
Love the surreal absurdity to this piece from @happilander.bsky.social
✨ICYMI✨
“My cat frowns because she’s not happy and she squints because she needs glasses.” — @happilander.bsky.social
🐈⬛🤓
www.claudineliterary.net/milevaanasta...
“My cat frowns because she’s not happy and she squints because she needs glasses.” — @happilander.bsky.social
🐈⬛🤓
www.claudineliterary.net/milevaanasta...
Mileva Anastasiadou | Thinking Sickness
www.claudineliterary.net
November 19, 2025 at 9:21 PM
"My cat gazes at the void. She’s deep in thought, as if she’s a Rodin statue, but we don’t do thinking here. We only do duties and responsibilities"
Love the surreal absurdity to this piece from @happilander.bsky.social
Love the surreal absurdity to this piece from @happilander.bsky.social
"I liked it alright, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t rub the longing off its face. The painted eyes looked past me"
A tiny gem from @ezhang77.bsky.social in @claudineliterary.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/elenazhang
A tiny gem from @ezhang77.bsky.social in @claudineliterary.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/elenazhang
Elena Zhang | Call Me
www.claudineliterary.net
November 19, 2025 at 9:19 PM
"I liked it alright, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t rub the longing off its face. The painted eyes looked past me"
A tiny gem from @ezhang77.bsky.social in @claudineliterary.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/elenazhang
A tiny gem from @ezhang77.bsky.social in @claudineliterary.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/elenazhang
"Friday night is a halter top in the Dunedin winter. Friday night is open-toed heels, purpling toes peeping at the beer-soaked floor of the Captain Cook"
Brilliant use of anaphora in this fab CNF from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/sumitrasingam
Brilliant use of anaphora in this fab CNF from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/sumitrasingam
Sumitra Singam | Friday Night Is
www.claudineliterary.net
November 19, 2025 at 9:18 PM
"Friday night is a halter top in the Dunedin winter. Friday night is open-toed heels, purpling toes peeping at the beer-soaked floor of the Captain Cook"
Brilliant use of anaphora in this fab CNF from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/sumitrasingam
Brilliant use of anaphora in this fab CNF from @pleomorphic2.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/sumitrasingam
"and my mind peels back the pastry folds of time and brings me to the beach on the northwest side of the island"
Absolutely beautiful breathless micro from @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social
Absolutely beautiful breathless micro from @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social
✨ICYMI✨
“the instructor says to breathe deep and let go, and my mind peels back the pastry folds of time and brings me to the beach on the northwest side of the island, fifteen and doing a star float in the twilight”
@kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/kleopatraoly...
“the instructor says to breathe deep and let go, and my mind peels back the pastry folds of time and brings me to the beach on the northwest side of the island, fifteen and doing a star float in the twilight”
@kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social
www.claudineliterary.net/kleopatraoly...
Kleopatra Olympiou | Here I Am
www.claudineliterary.net
November 19, 2025 at 9:16 PM
"and my mind peels back the pastry folds of time and brings me to the beach on the northwest side of the island"
Absolutely beautiful breathless micro from @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social
Absolutely beautiful breathless micro from @kleopatraolympiou.bsky.social
This month's #Mondettes picked by
Shome Dasgupta
⚡Ten wonderful flash fictions
🔍Ten splashes of analysis as to why Shome made these brilliant picks
🪴Three fantastic prompts to get you writing
mondettes.substack.com/p/november-2...
Shome Dasgupta
⚡Ten wonderful flash fictions
🔍Ten splashes of analysis as to why Shome made these brilliant picks
🪴Three fantastic prompts to get you writing
mondettes.substack.com/p/november-2...
November 2025
Ten stories picked by Shome Dasgupta
mondettes.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:03 PM
This month's #Mondettes picked by
Shome Dasgupta
⚡Ten wonderful flash fictions
🔍Ten splashes of analysis as to why Shome made these brilliant picks
🪴Three fantastic prompts to get you writing
mondettes.substack.com/p/november-2...
Shome Dasgupta
⚡Ten wonderful flash fictions
🔍Ten splashes of analysis as to why Shome made these brilliant picks
🪴Three fantastic prompts to get you writing
mondettes.substack.com/p/november-2...
Just had the most frustrating non-meeting with a new mentee because apparently the internet has gone glitchy (what even is cloudflare anyway? Clouds shouldn't be flaring, they should be floating). Technology is good when it works but very not good when it doesn't. 😶
November 18, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Just had the most frustrating non-meeting with a new mentee because apparently the internet has gone glitchy (what even is cloudflare anyway? Clouds shouldn't be flaring, they should be floating). Technology is good when it works but very not good when it doesn't. 😶
"My own nest was happy slammed. Each straw and pine needle woven tight to make a whole"
Wonderful use of extended imagery from @bsherm36.bsky.social in this evocative micro.
Wonderful use of extended imagery from @bsherm36.bsky.social in this evocative micro.
"When my daughter insisted I live with her, I refused."
New fiction: "Wings in the Dark" by Beth Sherman aka @bsherm36.bsky.social
www.matchbooklitmag.com/mb/sherman/w...
New fiction: "Wings in the Dark" by Beth Sherman aka @bsherm36.bsky.social
www.matchbooklitmag.com/mb/sherman/w...
Wings in the Dark | matchbook
www.matchbooklitmag.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:54 PM
"My own nest was happy slammed. Each straw and pine needle woven tight to make a whole"
Wonderful use of extended imagery from @bsherm36.bsky.social in this evocative micro.
Wonderful use of extended imagery from @bsherm36.bsky.social in this evocative micro.