In 2024 SmokeLong hosted our second SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. Our workshop participants reported almost 300 publications to us before November 1, 2024. In 2025, we’ll be featuring one writer each week from The SmokeLong Workshop Prize long list. It’s an excellent series of interviews, each grappling with questions about workshopping, giving and receiving feedback, and the publication process. If you are a previous or current SmokeLong workshop participant and you have ultimately published something you began in a SmokeLong workshop, remember to enter The SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. This free-to-enter competition is on our Submittable page.
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An Interview with Dawn Miller — “Fourteen to Twenty-Nine” published by phoebe
What do you remember about the workshop where you wrote this story? What was the prompt or writing task that led to the story?
I wrote this story in response to Christopher Allen’s January 2024 (week 2) prompt called “This Must Be the Place”. The prompt was to create an opening that gave the reader a sense of place while also leaning into surprise, intrigue, and urgency. I started with the opening of a son returning home from college over spring break—knowing that readers could fill in a lot of the blanks about what it means to be away from home, and what it means to return. Soon, the story spiraled in ways I hadn’t anticipated, drawing on the experiences of my cousin who had schizophrenia.
Peer-review feedback is always full of surprises. In general, what kind of feedback do you find helpful? What kind of feedback do you find less helpful?
The most helpful feedback delves into what caused confusion for the reader—or what pulled the reader out of the narrative. Since the story is well formed in my own mind, I’m often blind to areas where I’m asking too much of the reader, or where I’m not connecting enough dots. That sort of reader reaction input is invaluable for early drafts!
Specific line level comments are less helpful to me, especially if the comments are pushing me to change my writing style to that of the person giving feedback. Thankfully, that rarely happens. All the feedback I received on this story was stellar and helped me to “see” the whole story and focus on the heart of what I wanted to say.
To how many places did you send this story? Can you tell us a little about its journey to publication?
I sent the story to four publications and one contest. It was declined by one publication and then picked up by phoebe journal. At that point, I withdrew the story from consideration from the other two publications and the contest. phoebe journal was a delight to work with and they paired my story with fantastic artwork! The journal ended up being a perfect match for my story!
What is your advice to someone considering taking part in a peer-review workshop?
Be open to feedback! I look back at the first draft of this story and then the final version, and they are quite different. I needed others’ eyes to see where the story needed more work.
Also, know that learning to give helpful feedback is equally as important in your growth as a writer as receiving feedback.
Read “Fourteen to Twenty-Nine” by Dawn Miller in phoebe
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Dawn Miller is the 2024 winner of the Toronto Star Short Story Contest, winner of the 2024 Forge Literary Magazine Flash Fiction Contest, and Best Microfiction 2024. Nominated for Best Small Fictions and The Pushcart Prize, her stories can be found in The Forge, SmokeLong Quarterly, Fractured Lit, The Cincinnati Review, Room Magazine, Atticus Review, Vestal Review, among others. She was thrilled be a recipient of a 2024 SmokeLong Quarterly Fellowship for Emerging Writers. Currently, she is studying at The Humber School for Writers. She lives and writes in Picton, Ontario, Canada. Find her online at www.dawnmillerwriter.com
The core workshop of SmokeLong Fitness is all in writing, so you can take part from anywhere at anytime. We are excited about creating a supportive, consistent and structured environment for flash writers to work on their craft in a community. We are thrilled and proud to say that our workshop participants have won, placed, or been listed in every major flash competition. Community works.