When I applied, I had one story in that range and two shorter ones that I felt were the best representation of my work. I contacted the director of the program and asked if I could send the two shorter ones and one longer one in lieu of two longer ones, and he said sure.

They want to get a good sense of your writing ability, and flash fiction, no matter how good you are, doesn't typically do that. So if you're concerned about story lengths, just email the director and ask what would be okay.

I think you should ditch the fiction and go with a juicy tell-all memoir. You know, something really gritty and "cutting edge" about your hard-living days as a boozer and coke head at a small Ohio liberal arts college. Sure, you might have to alter a few minor little details, maybe an embellishment or two......but, don't worry, Sam and I will totally vouch for you if anyone questions your stint in the Ashland County jail for going ballistic in a crack-driven rage after a night of binge-drinking and doing lines at a cast party. Write in really rambling, repetitive sentence fragments without any punctuation or imaginative word choices. Just talk a lot about vomit and peeing all over yourself.....oh, and use a lot of profanity. Now THAT is some Oprah-worthy great literature, man :)

Good idea, Jason. I'm going to keep working to have two new pieces ready by the 15th of Feb (the early application deadline). If I'm still having a problem, I may contact them and see what's the better choice. Right now my best work is over 50 pages for one story, but even if I could widdle that down to 40-something, plus a a three-pager, that might be pushing it...

Thanks, Maria. Always great to have a voucher. If only I went to Denison... Actually all my science fiction is just thinly-veiled memoir. I'm just an exciting guy is all.