Thank you. It was a huge honor, and I was exposed to so many beautiful novellas-in-flash. I was absolutely overwhelmed by the talent. I don’t think I read a single bad one.

• You always have a lot of projects on the go. Recently you have been the recipient of the Gone Back to the Wild project in New York State to write 100 word stories about the wilderness in Western New York. Can you tell us a bit more about the project?. How is that going ? I think you have a couple of books being published that have arisen from it.

It’s good. The first book Gone Back to Wild is out. The second one Slowly through the Grove will be out soon both from Arroyo Seco Press. I’m grateful to the press and the New York State Council on the Arts. I’m writing 100 pieces for each book and each piece is exactly 100 words. The process draws out memories and emotions that I didn’t know I had. Basically I compose all of them as Italian sonnets and then slowly take them out of that form and transform them into prose poems or vignettes depending on the subject matter. That way they have a kind of underlying music, or so I hope.

I’m writing about the natural world of Western New York. When I say, New York, people think of the city. But I live in a rural community maybe 8 hours from the city. I’m near Pennsylvania in Northern Appalachia. Think maple forests and Amish people and corn farms. There are so few people here that I can wander the woods in joyful isolation and meditate. It’s a forest full of whitetail deer and bears and woodchucks. That’s what the collections are about, the meditation and radical wonder that comes with intentional isolation.

• Have you any new projects coming up?

I do. I’m working on a zuihitsu project, which is a Japanese form that’s hybrid prose and poetry. It’s essentially a journal that rambles. I’ve been rereading and studying the Romantic poets and artists in the UK and their influence beyond, and I’m writing about them in relation to Appalachia, trying to see beyond the stereotypes associated with this area. I’m not sure if your British readers are aware of those stereotypes, but this place and these people are often denigrated, but the beauty that universally exists throughout the earth in all people and places exists here as well, and taking the time to see it is an act of spirituality. That’s what I hope to accomplish with these pieces.

• We’d love to know about your different asynchronous classes on poetry, flash fiction levels one and two, memoir and building a career in the small presses. They sound very exciting and good value. Are the flash fiction ones suitable for anyone who hasn’t written flash before?

Yes, I have two levels of those classes, a basic class for people who have never written flash and a more advanced class for people wanting to write novellas-in-flash. I have video taped lectures with students and then we follow up with one-on-one personal manuscript reviews. I think people like the manuscript reviews the most. I love working with people, so please contact me if you’re interested!

• What, for you, makes a winning fiction of 300 words or less

An extraordinary point-of-view. We all have that, but we often don’t realize how our points-of-view are astounding to other people. The pieces that capture me are the thoughts of people I have never fully contemplated before. So they see a place differently from me or they understand a concept in a new way.

I love to show people my Appalachia for example and then have them show me theirs. What we get from that is a new vision and now entry into humanity. Its a way to develop my compassion and empathy. It’s what masters like Meg Pokrass, Pamela Painter, and you too Jude give to us.

• What do you think writers most need to pay attention to before they submit?

Blocking out all the voices who told them that the way they see the world is the wrong way. Often, I see well-crafted pieces that are essentially like work that came before. When I taught at a college in Long Beach California, unsurprisingly a lot of the students wanted to write like Bukowski because he was around. His voice often dominated their experience, but I didn’t want his experience. He was all right, but I was much more interested in seeing how they saw the world.

• As you are known for your interest in writing about nature, can you give us a nature based prompt to inspire a story writers might want to enter?

This is my favorite prompt: Write about the first time you can remember being outside by yourself. Do NOT write about the first time you were actually outside by yourself. Write about the first time that you REMEMBER it. If that was when you were 4 years old, great! If that’s when you were 68 years old, that’s equally good.

The 32nd Award closes on Sunday February 1st 2026