Tumbleweed Words

Literary Gems

Tools for writers, the best podcasts for readers, famous readings from the literary canon, and practical resources for the writing life.

Writing Tools · Free resources for writers

Four free tools built for writers working in compressed forms. No login, no cost.

Quiz · 10 questions
Find out who you write like
Answer ten questions about your instincts on the page — sentence length, what you leave out, where you start a story — and find out which literary giant your style most resembles. Carver, Hemingway, Hempel, Chekhov, Paley, Beckett or Kafka.
Take the quiz → Generator · Hundreds of prompts
Get a prompt. Write tonight.
Choose your constraint: by city, theme, opening line, or formal restriction. One click generates a prompt specific enough to be useful, open enough to be yours. Built for flash fiction and prose poetry.
Generate a prompt → Database · 32 journals
Find the right literary magazine
Filter 32 literary journals by pay rate, response time, prestige and form. Built specifically for flash fiction and prose poetry submissions. Direct links to submit.
Search journals → Workshop · AI analysis
Workshop your flash fiction
Paste your draft and get a compression score, style analysis, an ending critique and specific line-level notes. Useful for writers working on short-short pieces before submission.
Paste your draft →
Podcasts · Worth your time

The best podcasts for readers and writers — storytelling, literary interviews, and long-form culture. See the full list of ten →

This American Life
Storytelling
This American Life

The original. Ira Glass turns true stories into small films for your ears. Winner of the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to a podcast.

Listen →
The Paris Review Podcast
Literary Interviews
The Paris Review Podcast

Readings, interviews and archival material from the most important literary magazine in the world. Essential for anyone serious about fiction.

Listen →
At Your Service — Dua Lipa
Culture & Books
At Your Service — Dua Lipa

Not what you'd expect. Long-form conversations with writers, thinkers and artists — from Elif Batuman to Ottessa Moshfegh. Genuinely literary.

Listen →
See all ten podcasts →

“A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.”

Samuel Johnson

Famous Readings · Classic poetry and prose performed

Watch and listen to the greatest writers read their own work. Bukowski, Plath, Ginsberg, Baldwin, Kerouac and more — these are the recordings worth returning to.

Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac
Browse all famous readings →
For Writers · The practical side of the writing life

On publishing, submitting, building a readership, and what the literary economy actually looks like from the inside.

Publishing
Can You Make Money Writing Flash Fiction?
The honest answer. What journals pay, what prizes pay, what Substack can do, and what the realistic financial picture looks like for a flash fiction writer.
Read → Newsletter
How to Start a Literary Newsletter
What makes a literary newsletter worth subscribing to, how to build one from scratch, and what five years of publishing on Substack has taught me.
Read → Tools
Substack vs. Mailchimp for Writers
A practical comparison for writers choosing a platform. What each does well, what each gets wrong, and which is better for different goals.
Read → Newsletter
What Makes a Good Literary Newsletter?
The ones worth subscribing to have something in common. Voice, consistency, a clear reason to exist. What separates the good from the forgettable.
Read →

One piece of flash fiction or poetry.
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