Lit Night: Alameda Shorts

Every month, March through October, we host Alameda Shorts in front of a live audience inside a cozy bookstore in Alameda’s vibrant downtown. This lit night is a curated collection of 5-minute stories written and read to you by local authors who are members of To Live & Write in Alameda.

You don’t have to live in Alameda to be a member, but you do have to be a member of To Live & Write in Alameda to participate in Alameda Shorts.

Alameda Shorts is a great introduction to sharing your work with the world. The audience is live, the butterflies are real, and the vibe is comfy, cozy story time for grown ups. The best part is that you get to read your story in a bookstore, surrounded by books and writers and neighbors — all friendly faces who are there to appreciate you and the gift you’re giving them.

Here’s how it works:

On the first of the month, I drop the theme.
You get the full month to write a short story or personal narrative (no poetry) that can be read out loud in five minutes or less (emphasis on the less).
You submit your piece and wait about a week to find out if our anonymous panel has selected your piece to be read at Alameda Shorts.
On the second Thursday of the following month, we present Alameda Shorts to a live audience.

Submission guidelines:

Theme: Ginger
Deadline: Midnight, April 30, 2025
Event: 630pm Thursday, May 8, 2025
Length: Five minutes (800-1000 words, depending on how dense your writing is)
Format: Word document attached to an email
Font: Times New Roman, 12pt.
File Name: Alameda Shorts – Your Name – Brilliant
Submit to: [email protected]
Subject line: Alameda Shorts – Your Name – Brilliant
REMEMBER: Type your name inside your document, above the title. I keep the copy with your name for my purposes and send a copy with your name removed to the judges. Do not embed your name, turn it into a watermark, or do anything else that prevents its removal; sending it from your email address to ours is all you need to prove it came from you.

Immediate disqualifiers:

(take this opportunity to practice being a real writer who follows submission guidelines: check your formatting before sending it in).

Using Google Docs, Pages, or any format other than Word.
Using any font that isn’t Times New Roman.
Ignoring the file name instructions.
Ignoring the subject line instructions.
Including the title of your piece in the file name or subject line.
Forgetting your name anywhere (file name, subject line, in the document).
Submitting after the deadline.
Neglecting to write to the theme.
Not editing your piece down to a 5-minute read.
Not editing your piece (submitting a rough draft).

REMEMBER: The point of having submission guidelines in place is to give you the opportunity to practice following submission guidelines when it comes to being published.