Testimonials for Meg's writing workshops
“I cannot thank you enough for another amazing workshop. I’m feeling this morning as I save the feedback I received that you are truly The Fairy Godmother of microfiction and micro cnf. Your prompts, your feedback, and the writers you attract are proving invaluable to me and my own writing journey.”
—Margaret MacKinnis
Margaret MacInnis, a Massachusetts native, lives and writes in Iowa City. Her most recent work appears in Brevity and NELLE, and she has been published widely in journals such as Alaska Quarterly Review, Colorado Review, Gettysburg Review, Gulf Coast, and River Teeth.
Meg Pokrass has been instrumental in my taking my flash fiction career to another level. Her workshops are fun, filled with creative prompts and wonderful feedback. She also attracts really good writers as students and so I’ve been able to meet and work with many other flash fiction writers that way. Many of the stories that I’ve written and gotten published in the last year have been from Meg’s workshop. She is also an outstanding editor. She edited (helped me select and arrange order of stories, as well, as line-edit and come up with the title) my collection, Dressed All Wrong for This, which has just been selected as one of the winners of the 2019 Blue Light Press contest, and will be published soon. She is a flash fiction treasure.
–—Francine Witte, Blue Light Book Award Winner, 2019
“Meg Pokrass is a seriously awesome teacher. Something about her writing prompts tap directly into my writing mojo, they are creative and fun and filled with play, I never feel like I am working too hard, but at the same time produce my best work. Basically all my recently published stories have been ones I’ve written for or have been inspired by Meg’s workshops. She’s the best, as are my classmates, who have given such great feedback. Meg is not only brilliant, she’s supportive and encouraging. This creates a classroom vibe that’s filled with comradery. Her classes are perfect for writers at all levels, from the beginning to the experienced.”
—Leonora Desar, Winner of Best Small Fictions, 2019 and Best Microfiction 2019.
“Meg has an amazing ability to put a group together and help them bond. I think it’s quite marvelous.” —Kate Flannery
“I am so grateful to Meg for her mind bending prompts.”
—Melissa Goode, 3 stories in Best Microfiction 2019
“Putting together my collection of flash fiction was, as they say, “like herding cats.” Through Meg’s brilliant editorial eye, order was imposed on chaos and the book emerged as a cohesive whole. Dearest Meg, I will always think of you as my Cat Whisperer. Thank you doesn’t begin to cover it.”
—Jayne Martin, Pushcart and Best Small Fictions nominee; winner of the 2016 VERA Award
“Recently, I wrote a 200-word story… and a brilliant editor, Meg Pokrass, helped make smart, delicate cuts.”
—Jane Ciabattari, former president the National Book Critics Circle, columnist BBC.com
“I don’t write short fiction, but Meg encouraged me to try my hand. I did have a failed poem sitting around that I just couldn’t wrangle into shape, so I pulled it out of form and began to work on it like a story. I sent it to Meg and she did a fantastic job of editing the piece. It was published in SmokeLong Quarterly. Meg wrote me that the piece was later chosen by Wigleaf Top 50,long listed as one of the best shorts on the web. I thought that would be the end of it, but then she wrote again and asked for more so I went back into my files and found another failed poem. With Meg’s super fine editing skills, was also published.”
—Dorianne Laux, winner of the Best American Poetry Prize, the Pushcart Prize, author of “Awake” and “What We Carry”
“Meg Pokrass is a writer with a gift for mentoring, encouraging and teaching others some of the many roads into the writing world. I am indebted to her for the inspiration her writing prompts have provided me over the past several years.”
—James Claffey, author, Blood a Cold Blue: Stories
“Lets see: She takes personal interest in her students. Sticks her neck out for them. Hints and nudges them forward gently without aggressive editing. Gets excited on reading their work. Drops too many “wowzers”. Doesn’t talk about herself and her own writing. Gets them critiquing each others’ work. Yes. Meg Pokrass is a terrible mentor.”
—Jamal H. Iqubal, Writer, Producer, Designer
“Meg Pokrass is a creative force. Her prompts get you writing–and excited to write–and her editorial suggestions are first rate. After taking her flash fiction workshop, I published three stories in prominent flash journals within months. Work with Meg. You’ll get results.”
—Beth Keefauver, author
“Work with Meg is serious play. When I find myself stalled, needing to shake it up, I know her prompts will help me write beyond my habits to find the fresh slant on what’s brewing in my head. I can rely on her to feed me great readings, to discuss craft, and to provide solid feedback on my stories. Her encouragement to develop my “practice” and to trust my writing has been invaluable.”
—Ashley Nissler, author