Bed II, photography by Amy Ballard

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" Romans 11:33

Weathered Boards, photography by Amy Ballard

Publishing Credits


Recent Publications


Amy's science fiction story The Pied Piper Serum will appear in Page & Spine on March 26, 2021.


The online magazine 101 Words recently published Amy's microfiction story "App."


Kansas City Voices Vol. 16, released in December 2020, includes "Fall Burning in Idaho," a sonnet Amy wrote to reflect on her homesickness for New England.


"Broccoli," a microfiction, appears in Issue 265 of Crack the Spine.


Amy's review of Jean M. Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear is featured on the New Pages blog, October 14, 2020.


Three of her microfiction stories appeared in the Oct. 2 edition of Page & Spine's "Crumbs" page.


Amy's magical realism flash fiction story "The Ghosts of the Composers" has been reprinted on Fresh.Ink. The story first appeared in Penultimate Peanut in March 2018.


Her poem "Find Me" appears in the 2020 anthology of ekphrastic poetry published digitally by the Toledo Museum of Art. It's the second poem in the collection.


"The Bleak Wood," a short story, appears in the Spring 2020 issue of Barely South Review. The genre is literary horror.


Amy's flash fiction drabble (a 100-word story) "A Backward Tragedy" received an honorable mention in Maura Yzmore's recent Quarantine Quanta writing contest. Download the contest eBook and find Amy's story on page 6.


Liza Tended the Fire won the Idaho Creative Authors Network's writing contest associated with the fifth annual Treasure Valley Writers Fest in the Children's Fiction category. Rights to this work are available.


Amy's short story "Bookish Dreams" can be found in an anthology from Darkhouse Books. Order the library-themed cozy/noir collection Shhhh… Murder!, just 2.99 for Kindle.


In a nanofiction contest from On the Premises, Amy's entry "Bucket List" received an honorable mention. View on their site May 13, 2018.


Read "Flame," a crumb published in Page & Spine in April, 2018.


Amy's poem "The Pattern of My Life Extends" was a finalist in the 2018 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Looking Glass Poetry Contest. The poem was inspired by the artwork "Facade" by Elle Schorr.


"A Meandering Blue," a short story of Amy's, aired in podcast form on Second Hand Stories in May, 2017. It was Amy's debut as an audio reader.


Amy's blog post "Getting to Conflict: The Absolute Necessity of Unpleasantness in Fiction" appeared on The Artist Unleashed in March, 2017.


Her poem "A Feather" was published in the online GNU Journal in January, 2017.


Newspapers in which Amy's articles have appeared include the Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho, the Wood River Jornal of Hailey, Idaho, the El-Wyhee Highlights of Mountain Home, Idaho, and the Camas Courier of Fairfield, Idaho. One of her stories was picked up by the AP. Her photos have been published in the above newspapers as well as the Seattle Times, the Idaho Statesman, the Idaho Mountain Express, and other regional newspapers.


Browse Amy's archived news articles from the TImes-News at magicvalley.com.

The following magazines have also published Amy's work:

Spring 2003 Open Spaces Quarterly poem “Sego Lilies”

Nov. 2006 Idaho Magazine article “Tricks of the Trade: Hollywood style innovations, straight from the family farm”  (includes a photo by Amy)

Feb. 2008 Bead & Button article “A People’s Pride” (includes six photos by Amy; later reprinted in the Sho-Ban News)

April 2008 Words-Myth online poetry journal poem “Healing on a Prairie”

Honors

"Little Things," Amy's flash fiction story, was long-listed in Brilliant Flash Fiction's "Aftermath" contest in January, 2017. (And by the way, if you want to read excellent fiction, check out the first-prize winning story in that contest, Brother Fox by Erin O’Loughlin!)


Amy's flash fiction story "Beeves on the Barbie" took second place in the 2016 Elevator Fiction contest sponsored by the SF Bay Area chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers association (ACFW).


In 2002 Amy received six Honorable Mentions for poems entered in ByLine contests. Here are the honored titles:

New Talent Poetry Contest for “A Formal Call”
Poem in a Formal Structure Contest for “Ski Lesson"
Open Theme Poetry Contest for “Fall Burning”
Narrative Poem Contest for “Catfight”
Reason to Rhyme Contest for “If He Thought As We Think”
Spring Poem Contest for “Fallow”

Also in 2002, Amy received an Honorable Mention in the Emily Dickinson Award (Universities West Press) for “Maying,” “Summers” and “The Elephant Basket.”