Cheryl Pappas
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cherylpappas.bsky.social
Cheryl Pappas
@cherylpappas.bsky.social
Writer. Book: THE CLARITY OF HUNGER
Word West Press (2021). MacDowell Fellow ‘23. Email: fabulistpappas@gmail.com

Novel-in-progress: Abandon

www.cherylpappas.net
Happy New Year! This month's writing prompt is up on From the Bookshelf.

substack.com/home/post/p-...
From the Bookshelf
January 2026
substack.com
January 1, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
thanks to Myna Chang @mynachang.bsky.social for featuring Cheryl Pappas's @cherylpappas.bsky.social "Innocence" in her December roundup !
January 1, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
OKD is open again for free subs until we reach our cap! Learn more about us and submit your best poetry or flash fiction: buff.ly/chQ4jpz

Okay Donkey is always open for tip jar ($2.50) or expedited ($4.00) subs! Your contribution helps us pay our contributors and cover other mag-related expenses.
January 1, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
December Speculative Flash Roundup! Some truly phenomenal stories this month, and a bonus craft article!
Flash Roundup * December 2025
A gathering of recent speculative flash & micro fiction, each presenting a tiny-yet-powerful universe. How tiny? About one-thousand words for flash; four-hundred words for micro. The word count…
mynachang.com
December 31, 2025 at 10:20 PM
I’d love one day to read The Great Gatsby on its slippery first-person POV only. These sentences would not make it through a workshop today, given he’s talking about Gatsby’s past here. I’m all for it, though. I’m in the dream of the novel and I just don’t care how he knows.
December 31, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
Love this creepy, sinuous flash by @cherylpappas.bsky.social in @hexliterary.bsky.social !!!
"She is conveniently in the kitchen, slicing a large orange with one of the knives. Her limbs are exquisitely long, her cutting precise. Slip..."

As New Year's parties beckon, mark this tale of gentle menace from the nonpareil @cherylpappas.bsky.social, new on hex! 🔪🍊🕷️
Innocence by Cheryl Pappas
He slips into the house party unnoticed, wearing a fedora and a bright pink handkerchief in his suit pocket. He is dressed like the other men, just as the invitation had specified. The women’s shawls ...
hexliterary.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Thank you to editors Kate, Daniel, and Joe @hexliterary.bsky.social for publishing my flash "Innocence."
"She is conveniently in the kitchen, slicing a large orange with one of the knives. Her limbs are exquisitely long, her cutting precise. Slip..."

As New Year's parties beckon, mark this tale of gentle menace from the nonpareil @cherylpappas.bsky.social, new on hex! 🔪🍊🕷️
Innocence by Cheryl Pappas
He slips into the house party unnoticed, wearing a fedora and a bright pink handkerchief in his suit pocket. He is dressed like the other men, just as the invitation had specified. The women’s shawls ...
hexliterary.com
December 30, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
The 'kin' of ‘napkin’ means "little."

‘Nap’ comes from ‘nape,' which means “tablecloth.”

So a napkin is a little tablecloth.

10/10, no notes.
December 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
It's novel manuscript submission morning! Let's go.
December 28, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Ready for the final read before I start submitting!
December 25, 2025 at 11:51 PM
“The wind had blown off, leaving a loud, bright night, with wings beating in the trees and a persistent organ sound as the full bellows of the earth blew the frogs full of life.”

Nearly every sentence of The Great Gatsby is this rich and musical. I’m rereading my old, beat-up copy. Beautiful.
December 23, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
F*CK THIS MURDER’S Queer, curvy, neurodivergent, and chronically ill Maggie Livingston just wants a 5-star review for her new B & B, but dead bodies, a rogue alligator and accident-prone guests keep getting in the way.

www.amazon.com/dp/B0FJZNMRF...
F*CK THIS MURDER
Amazon.com: F*CK THIS MURDER eBook : Quant, Elizabeth Land, Land, Signe E.: Kindle Store
www.amazon.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
It’s the last #FridayReads before Christmas! Let’s share some books and boost all signals. Books are great gifts! Repost this and let us know what to repost for you. Here’s a piece of my soul that starts with a real event…

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316...

bookshop.org/p/books/hous...
December 19, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Ready to revise the last 7 pages early tomorrow morning, then send it off to beta readers. I’ll be submitting the book to publishers by December 31. I can’t believe it.
December 19, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
There are over 18,000 types of lichen in existence. My personal favourite is ‘village bench lichen’, which devotes its entire existence selflessly to gradually making communal public seating more furry and comfortable.
November 19, 2025 at 9:05 AM
10 pages left of this novel revision. It's the hardest part, of course!
December 17, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
Love this so much! 💗
December 16, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Creative writing teachers: Do you ever do the exercises you offer in class? I’m thinking about doing this as a way to try them out and also to be in tune with what the students are working with.
December 13, 2025 at 6:43 PM
So much of rewriting is waking up your verbs, my God.
December 13, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Me finishing this novel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSbb...
Jaws Quint Breaks The Engine
YouTube video by Jacob
www.youtube.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
I don't know why but in the last 2 days I've seen multiple people posting about my favorite shark the tasselled wobbegong and in case your timeline has not been similarly blessed I just think you should be aware that this is what it looks like
December 9, 2025 at 8:44 AM
The @mbta absolutely needs a Communications Director. This morning’s commute on the Green Line has been frustratingly low on info the whole route through. The sign at Park St. doesn’t mention the Red Line, only the Orange and Green Lines. They need multiple sites of info, not just the website.
December 9, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Revising my novel is like rolling up an air mattress and flattening out the air bubbles.

I have been working on this book too long!
December 6, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by Cheryl Pappas
Frank Gehry, 1929–2025 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a...
December 5, 2025 at 7:27 PM