literally the best feeling ever when you become re-inspired to write again🥰

#amwriting

Curated another issue of FLARE, the literary magazine I am editor-in-chief of! Go give it a read! The issue is on medication (for mental health, chronic illness, and disability) and breaking the stigma surrounding it by talking about it!

Excited to announce my literary magazine was also nominated for the 2026 Indieverse Awards for the “Book Media I Always Catch Up On” category!

Our EIC's poetry chapbook about lupus, a chronic illness, is a nominee for both the Love the Skin You're In and The Boundary Pusher categories for the Indieverse Awards! 🔥

pink checkered background with teal box that says, "My poetry chapbook, A SPOONIE'S GUIDE TO SELF-ACCEPTANCE, has been nominated in the Indieverse Awards!" Black award icon with words: "Indieverse 2026 Nominee Awards," purple box with the words, "For 2 categories! Love the Skin You're In and The Boundary Pusher" and lastly, a pic of my book: a purple cover with a spoon and fire on it, with A Spoonie's Guide to Self-Acceptance, Kelly Esparza written

So excited to announce my poetry chapbook about lupus, a chronic illness, that's titled A SPOONIE'S GUIDE TO SELF-ACCEPTANCE was nominated for TWO categories of the Indieverse Awards: Love the Skin You're In and The Boundary Pusher! 🥰🎉

pink checkered background with teal box that says, "My poetry chapbook, A SPOONIE'S GUIDE TO SELF-ACCEPTANCE, has been nominated in the Indieverse Awards!" Black award icon with words: "Indieverse 2026 Nominee Awards," purple box with the words, "For 2 categories! Love the Skin You're In and The Boundary Pusher" and lastly, a pic of my book: a purple cover with a spoon and fire on it, with A Spoonie's Guide to Self-Acceptance, Kelly Esparza written

So excited to announce my poetry chapbook about lupus, a chronic illness, that's titled A SPOONIE'S GUIDE TO SELF-ACCEPTANCE was nominated for TWO categories of the Indieverse Awards: Love the Skin You're In and The Boundary Pusher! 🥰🎉

Woohoo! I've got a prose poem titled "blistered" accepted by redrosethorns journal! Can't wait to share this piece about mental health! 🫶💝

Buy my book: kelly-esparza-merch-and-books.square.site/product/new-...

My @ko-fi.com: ko-fi.com/kellyesparza

daisies background: Did you know? I'm OPEN to freelance editing projects. I have 5 years experience editing total, edited for 4 literary journals, a small publisher, and a digital marketing agency, have edited business/marketing proposals and projects, books, poetry, short fiction, essays, query letters, etc., hold a BA in English and BA in Creative Writing, I'm flexible with pricing, see my website (see caption for link)

daisies background: Just want to support me? Support me on Ko-fi! ko-fi.com/kellyesparza

daisies background: Want to buy my chapbook? Buy at my website: https://kelly-esparza-merch-and-books.square.site/, No shipping costs through me + signed copy + worldwide shipping; Or buy through Bottlecap Press: https://bottlecap.press/productus/aspoke?keyword-kell; You can get a physical copy or digital PDF

Looking for more editing projects!
I have:
5 yrs of editing experience
BAs in English/Creative Writing
edited all types of writing!
kellyesparza.com/editing-writ...

I typically edit query letters for $20, but for a limited time, I'm open to a "pay what you can" basis. I'm flexible with pricing!

a little girl is laying on the floor in a playground with the words status written on the bottom Alt: a little girl is laying on the floor in a playground with the word status written at the top

😂 Exactly how I feel after getting a monthly lupus infusion today. So ready to zonk out tonight😮‍💨

Happy Easter (if you celebrate)! 🐰🐣 Exclamation Mark Literary Journal published my apple-y poem about chronic illness, titled "to the core."🍎 Go read it here:

Excited to have received a lovely acceptance from @micromancemagazine.bsky.social! I switched things up this time and didn't send in flash but a love poem! Can't wait to share!

So excited to announce that I have a poem titled “to the core” about apples and chronic illness coming out soon with Exclamation Mark Lit! Woohoo! I really appreciate their less than 24 hours response☺️ Can't wait to share it, along with a photograph I took a while ago that goes with it! 🎉

Been getting fantasy short stories rejected up the wazoo lately, but either, I'll keep submitting them to lit mags, or I'll just create a short story collection at this point. Turning rejection "pain" into power. 😂

I never thought I would get awarded in a writing contest, let alone FIRST place... I seriously can't believe it. This is a dream come true. 🥹

Thank you to @flarelitmag.bsky.social for hosting this inspiring contest, and congrats to all the talented participants for creating art!

green, white, and gold background: Announcing our winners, runners up, and longlist for the Strength in Stories Contest...

green, white, and gold background: Winners: 1st place: "Dis-Abilities" by Katie Collan (short story), 2nd place: "The Hardest Thing I Ever Did Was Nothing" by Maggy Adeleye (CNF), 3rd place: "The Body's Alchemy" by Pratibha Kumari (poem)

gold, white, and green background: Runners Up: "What the Body Knows" by Manju Devi (poem), "Walking Loud" by Christian Emecheta (short story), and "Endurance" by Jill Robinson (CNF)

green, gold, and white background: Longlist: "Love Is the Only Language" by Bethany Bruno (CNF), "The Spider Above My Bed" by Savannah Childress (poem), "She Wrote Love on Her Arms" by Creeann Jarman (poem), "Cartography of the Unseen" by Nisha Kumari (poem) Green arrow at the bottom

Announcing our winners, runners up, & longlist for the Strength in Stories Contest! We received nearly 500+ subs. This is a big achievement! Read the winning pieces: flare-magazine.com/contest-resu...
Winners:
1st place: @kancollan.bsky.social
2nd place: Maggy Adeleye
3rd place: Pratibha Kumari
1/2

So proud to be in this issue with a prose poem about lupus!!! Ahhh these stats!🤯 Truly so honored!!

Cover Reveal:

𝟏𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐥. 𝟕, 𝐈𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞 𝟏 will be available on 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔.
𝐂𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐫𝐭 - “Teal Sovereign” by 𝐙𝐚𝐡𝐫𝐚 𝐙𝐨𝐠𝐡𝐢

butterflies and flowers background: We Will Open to Subs for a Special Mini Issue in April! The details? Theme: Medication (swipe for more details) Sub period: Open from April 1st at 12 am PST to April 4, til 11:59 pm PST. This is our shortest flare yet!

butterflies and flowers background: Medication Theme: We want to see: Pieces about medications for mental health, chronic illness, disability Get creative! What "medicates" you? i.e. yoga, walking, etc. The challenges, the triumphs, the in betweens with taking meds the side effects, the livable ones and the unbearable ones Let's break the stigma!

ANNOUNCEMENT: FLARE is opening to a THEMED mini issue from April 1st to April 4th, end of day on the theme of "medication." Feel free to be creative with this theme. We've listed some things we'd love to see, but surprise us! Informing you now since this is a short sub call!

psst...we might announce our April issue's theme on Sunday! Get ready! 🥄

a man is riding a segway in an office with the words welcome aboard below him Alt: a man is riding a segway in an office with the words welcome aboard below him

Love having long text message threads via DMs on social media with 5+ people. I love it. I love the chaos. I love connecting with other writers who write as many paragraphs as I do while messaging 😆

Kelly Esparza (@kelwritesbooks2) • Threads, Say more 107 Followers • 2 Threads • writer & freelance editor | EIC of FLARE Magazine. See the latest conversations with @kelwritesbooks2.

So, I got threads. Feel free to follow me: www.threads.com/@kelwritesbo...

a picture of a child driving a red car with the words let 's go Alt: a picture of a child driving a red car with the words let 's go

Ughhhh been in a rejection slump lately. Is it stopping me? Never. Is it kind of bumming me out though? Lol, a little bit.

But so it goes. Between query/full rejections and lit mag rejections, it's been a rough rejection couple of weeks.

But I'm still writing, still submitting!
#amwriting

Cypress Mother by Marketa Dowling Content Warning: self-harm/cutting descriptions and some suicide discussion When you see the thin red line along Olivia’s wrist, she is reaching for the salad bowl. The cut brands her pale sk…

Love love love how my story Cypress Mother looks published in @flarelitmag.bsky.social . It came out yesterday, and I'm so pleased the editor @kellyesparza.bsky.social felt it was a good match for the issue. Congrats to all the other writers, too 👏💕🙏
flare-magazine.com/cypress-moth...

First issue of 2026 is out! Go read this amazing issue that features #disabled, #chronicallyill, #neurodivergent, and #mentalhealth stories and art!

Taking a break from writing the next novel looks like:

writing short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, poetry, and essays right and left and submitting to lit mags😂

so basically, I never actually stop writing.
#amwriting

It depends on the list😂 I'm on the cutoff, so some say I'm millennial; others say I'm Gen Z haha!

Buy Kelly Esparza a Coffee Become a supporter of Kelly Esparza today!

I'm coming across some very unexpected medical/necessity costs that are making me nervous. I'm open to for freelance edits: kellyesparza.com/editing-writ...

I've been struggling to work a lot due to my chronic illness, so life has felt hard lately.

Or I also have a Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/kellyesparza

🔥✍️ Taking Submissions ✍️🔥

Flare Magazine is running the Strength In Stories Contest.
Theme: Disability as a Strength.

💰 Prizes up to $140
🗓 Deadline: March 1, 2026

🔗 horrortree.com/taking-submi...

From @flarelitmag.bsky.social
#WritingContest #CallForSubmissions #CreativeWriting