There’s a famous apocryphal story attributed to Ernest Hemingway. It goes like this — a couple of Papa’s writer friends bet him he could not write a story using only six words. Hemingway, who loved besting his pals, simply grinned and said, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” According to the sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke, ol’ Hem pocketed a cool $10 from his stunned buddies. Not a bad haul in those days.

HATTIE FLETCHER | PHOTO COURTESY HATTIE FLETCHER

Whether this ever actually happened is debatable. But it’s a good story. And it’s a story that proves the adage, “There’s a great power in words, if you don’t hitch too many of them together.” That’s a sentiment that Hattie Fletcher and her latest project, “Short Reads,” wholly endorse.

Fletcher was the managing editor for the locally published magazine “Creative Nonfiction” for 18 years. That magazine specialized in literary non-fiction, an elastic genre that includes essays, memoirs and even poetry. Or, as Fletcher succinctly describes it, “stories based in reality that are written interestingly.” After Creative Nonfiction ceased publication in early 2023, Fletcher and a handful of her co-workers started “Short Reads.”

“Short Reads,” which celebrated its first anniversary earlier this year, is exactly what you would expect from the title. Every week subscribers receive a fresh Flash Essay, under 1,250 words, in their inbox. Subjects and themes may change from week to week but what remains consistent is the immediacy of the essays. “People’s attention spans aren’t always what they used to be,” Fletcher laughs, “so Flash is having a moment.”

Check out more Short Reads at: short-reads.org