Debra Daniel
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debdanthewriter.bsky.social
Debra Daniel
@debdanthewriter.bsky.social
Writer of flash fiction and poetry, singer.
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What an absolute delight to discover two of my titles on this long list. Thanks to the judging panel for including my work. I am thrilled. Fingers crossed as the process continues.
@smokelong.bsky.social
Reposted by Debra Daniel
And this on the day that @smokelong.bsky.social ‘Promptember’ begins! Thank you, Smokelong.
It's FlashGiving! Follow @smokelong.bsky.social if you don't already, then like and share this post to get your name in the hat to win $200 holiday money. Deadline is midnight ET, November 26th! Winner chosen randomly on Nov 27th. Please tag @smokelong.bsky.social so that we know you've posted!
November 8, 2025 at 11:44 AM
How thrilling! Congratulations to the other winners and many thanks to @bathflashaward.bsky.social and @kazbarwrites.bsky.social
I am so so so happy.
October 31, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Short list, here I am! Congrats to all fellow listers.
October 30, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Yes, indeed! I have a title here. Thanks to the readers. Thanks to Bath Flash Fiction Award for brightening a dreary, rainy day.
October 28, 2025 at 10:04 PM
October 17, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Buy this book. Devilishly funny. Perfect cartoon!
October 17, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Delighted to find my title here on the list. Congratulations to all the writers and many thanks to @bathflashaward.bsky.social Fingers crossed for the next announcement.
June 21, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Thanks for including my story. @natflashfictionday.bsky.social
The Write-In: 'Skin Flicks, Voted Best Tattoo Parlor in Town' by Debra A. Daniel #nffd2025
'Skin Flicks, Voted Best Tattoo Parlor in Town' by Debra A. Daniel
Coy sits behind the reception desk. “You sure you want a tattoo?” he says.  “Hell, yeah,” the woman says. She juts her chin forward and narrows her eyes. “I want a whole sleeve, but I’ll start with something simple like a chameleon or a woodpecker.” Coy looks at her. Gray hair, wrinkles, knotty blue veins. “Neither of those is simple,” he says, “not if they’re done right. You don’t know much about tattoos.” “As long as you do, we’ll be fine. I do know I like yours, especially the anaconda  winding around your neck,” the woman says. “Ironic. Wry. In your face.” Coy scratches his head. This woman could be his grandmother. Maybe great-grandmother. She’s ancient. Skin like hers would be paper thin. Probably a bleeder. He imagines tying a tourniquet about her arm to stop some god-awful hemorrhage. “Does anyone know you’re here or that you’re wanting to permanently inject ink into your body?” Coy can’t help but notice that she smells like cake. “Can I call someone to take you home?” “I don’t answer to anyone, young man. I’m the boss of me,” she says, “an if I want to tattoo one hell of an anaconda on my neck, then that’s my prerogative. If you won’t do it, I’ll go to Inkblots.” She turns to leave. Coy flinches. Barb over at Inkblots would grab the old woman’s money, slap some god-awful smudge of a broken heart on her shoulder and sleeve her up with clichéd designs and bleed her of hundreds of dollars.  “Wait,” Coy says. He walks around the desk to stand with the woman who smells like someone he wishes he remembered.  “We’ll start with cornflowers,” he says, “Then around your arm, we’ll twine a vine with heart-shaped leaves as green as early spring.”
dlvr.it
June 17, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Here’s my story from the National Flash Fiction Day Flash Flood. #nffd25
FlashFlood: 'While Reading My Story about a Girl Fishing with Her Father to My Own Father, He Drums His Fingers' by Debra A. Daniel #nffd2025
'While Reading My Story about a Girl Fishing with Her Father to My Own Father, He Drums His Fingers' by Debra A. Daniel
“Put a gun in it,” he says. He exhales a cigarette breath even though he hasn’t smoked in months. “It’s not that kind of story,” I say. “It’s about family connection.” “Without a gun, you won’t get a movie deal,” he says. “When you put a gun in a story, someone gets hurt or dies.” I reach for his hand to stop his galloping fingers. I look into his eyes. Most of him is still there. The opinionated part, at least. He gives me his that’s-the-way-it-is look. “If the story’s up to snuff, someone has to die,” he says. “It makes readers care.” Our hands let go of each other. “My stories aren’t about death,” I say. “Yes, they are. What happens to the fish?” I sigh. My hands hold each other.  “Don’t you care about them?” he says. “I do,” I say. “I’ll revise it so they catch and release.” Now his fingers on both hands drum. “Cop out,” he says. I take a deep breath. “It isn’t about fish. It’s supposed to show the father and daughter casting out and reeling each other back. It’s a metaphor for holding onto something elusive.” “Malarkey,” he says. “Add a gun.” I clasp my hands as if prayer could help. “No gun,” I say. “If it’s there certain things will happen.” I give him my own that’s-the-way-it-is look. He raises both hands. “If you put a fish in the story, nobody has to catch it. If you put in a cigarette, nobody has to smoke,” he says. “You’re the writer. Fix it so nobody uses the gun.” My father—sitting in a wheelchair, stale breath, his fingers drumming—leans toward me. “You can still control your story,” he says. I nod and drum along with him. --- Debra A.Daniel has published two novellas-in-flash, A Family of Great Falls and The Roster (AdHoc Fiction), Woman Commits Suicide in Dishwasher (novel), and two poetry chapbooks, The Downward Turn of August and As Is. She’s a Pushcart and Best Short Fictions nominee. She won The Los Angeles Review short fiction prize, received the SC Arts Commission Poetry Fellowship, the Guy Owen Poetry Prize, and awards from the Poetry Society of SC. Work has been longlisted and shortlisted in many contests and has appeared in: Snow Crow, Legerdemain, LA Review, Smokelong, Kakalak, Inkwell, Southern Poetry Review, Tar River, and others.
dlvr.it
June 14, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Bam! Indeed. What a story.
June 14, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Look what arrived. My Novella-in-Flash, In the Dark Eyes of the Rabbit. Thanks to @bathflashaward.bsky.social and @adhocfiction.bsky.social. I’m delighted to share this book with everyone.
June 4, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Happy to see my title here. westword.substack.com/p/folktale-f...
Folktale Flash Prize Longlist
The stories through to the next round are...
westword.substack.com
June 4, 2025 at 11:35 AM
I could not be more excited. Thanks to @bathflashaward.bsky.social and AdHocFiction.
We’re thrilled to announce that In the Dark Eyes of the Rabbit, the fabulous 1st prize winning novella in flash by @debdanthewriter.bsky.social from the 2025 NIF Award is on pre-order at a 25% discount till publication day on July 6th from AdHocFiction.com. & it’s also also on Amazon!
June 1, 2025 at 11:54 AM
How absolutely incredible to see my two titles moving forward to the Smokey shortlist. My heart is aflutter. Many thanks to the judging panel. Congrats to all these writers. #flash #flashfiction
May 25, 2025 at 4:00 PM
What an absolute delight to discover two of my titles on this long list. Thanks to the judging panel for including my work. I am thrilled. Fingers crossed as the process continues.
@smokelong.bsky.social
May 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Debra Daniel
fivesouth.net
I’m so tickled to have my flash, “The Evolution of Eve,” here at Five South. Thanks for making my day. @fivesouth.bsky.social
FIVE SOUTH
fivesouth.net
May 13, 2025 at 12:49 PM
fivesouth.net
I’m so tickled to have my flash, “The Evolution of Eve,” here at Five South. Thanks for making my day. @fivesouth.bsky.social
FIVE SOUTH
fivesouth.net
May 13, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I’m pleased to announce that my piece, “While Reading My Story About A Girl Fishing With Her Father…” will be published in the National Flash Fiction Day Flood at 1:10 a.m. (BST) on June 14. That would be 8:10 p.m. June 13. Thanks @natflashfictionday.bsky.social
May 11, 2025 at 2:26 PM
So happy to be included in this anthology. Thanks to @natflashfictionday.bsky.social
We’re very excited to reveal the cover and title for this year’s anthology. It’s available to pre-order on Kindle & from our bookshop. Many thanks to @jeanettesheppard.bsky.social for the image & @sudhab.bsky.social for the title: www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/index.php/bo...
May 10, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Sent mine yesterday. Deadlines be damned!
Thursday. Deadline for The Smokey is, as we’ve mentioned a bit, Saturday. So if you’re going to panic-change that story to a reverse-timeline fragmented narrative with a collective 1st-person POV that is basically *the clouds*, best do it now. Just… maybe save the original first. Y’know. In case.❤️
May 8, 2025 at 12:27 PM
I will be there!
I look forward to this event all year! 😍 Come join us!
@flashficfestuk.bsky.social - flashfictionfestival.com

#FlashFiction #AmWriting #WritingFestival
Festival update ONE place with accommodation re-available at The festival venue, Trinity
College. EIGHT places available with accommodation at Churchill Halls, ten mins walk away. Join an international crowd for Flashy Fun 18-20 July in Bristol U.K.
Flashfictionfestival.com
April 30, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Happy to say I’ll be swimming along in the flood with my piece, “While Reading My Story about a Girl Fishing with Her Father to My Own Father, He Drums His Fingers.” Thanks to The editors at NFFD for including me.
FlashFlood is now open for submissions until Saturday 26 April. Flashes up to 300 words. Previously published accepted (2022 & earlier). Debut writer spots. Free to enter. For more details see here: flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/p/submission...
a cartoon of homer simpson in an orange raft
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson in an orange raft
media.tenor.com
April 25, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Yay! Can’t wait for this one.
Just arrived!l Our much delayed anthology from the 2024 Festival. Contains 88 stories from presenters & participants. Last in the rainbow series. Posted out to contributors this week & for sale soon. Come to our 2025 festival, 18-20 July, for another chance to be published! flashfictionfestival.com
April 14, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Debra Daniel
Happy Valentine's Day. A cartoon from me & Lauren.
February 14, 2025 at 1:13 PM