Tag Archives: published

Flash Fiction Workshop

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My Writers Club hosted an excellent flash fiction workshop last week. We invited local author, editor, and teacher Tara Campbell to lead the workshop. Another club member and I had attended a writing salon she taught at the National Gallery of Art. Space is limited for those, but if you’re in the DC area, I recommend attending. I left with most of a flash story drafted. Though I’m still shopping that piece around, I’m proud of the outcome.

This time, Tara led a shorter workshop focusing on three types of flash stories. The first task was to produce a story about an ordinary, everyday ceremony but with a twist. The second was to write something autobiographical about a time in our life when we experienced anxiety. The final story was to be something procedural, like a recipe or some other set of instructions but embedding a story therein.

We were given 10 minutes to write each time. And darned if I didn’t come up with ideas for each immediately and get most of a story for each on the screen in that time. The next day I finished all three and polished them a little, but most of the stories were there already. I’d count that as a productive workshop, and if you need inspiration, I recommend using the same three scenarios as the basis of for three stories.

In the interest of full disclosure, these stories are not long. They aren’t even typical flash length. Two are 200 words and the third is 300. However, I think each is a complete, self-contained story. I don’t have any plans to flesh them out further. I like them the way they are.

I intend to shop them around to the flash fiction markets. I haven’t had a flash piece accepted yet. Maybe one or more of these will break that logjam.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve attended a flash fiction workshop and whether you were pleased with the results. Did you get one or more stories out of it? Did you have any success in getting those stories published?

Bouncing Around

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I’ve been bouncing around a lot these days. I’ve lacked focus on any of my writing. I’ve even put off submitting those works that have received a rejection. So what gives? Good question. I don’t know.

According to Word, I haven’t worked on my WIP novel in over a month. I’ve finished three flash stories though, and I’m one scene away from finishing the novella I thought I’d finish last summer. That’s some progress, I guess.

I feel like I’m waiting for something, which is probably the wrong approach. If there is any upside, it’s by not resubmitting my stories, I have a catalogue worth I can combine into a collection for the contest mention in Submission Dilemma III. Needless to say, I’m going for it. I’ll spend the $25 on the submission fee and take my chances.

But, first, I need to finish the novella. The submission guidelines say no story should be longer than 15,000 words. The novella is longer but already broken down into a couple stories. I estimate the longest of those stories will come in just under 15,000 words. Regardless, I plan to spread the individual stories out in the collection to build tension.

Collecting my stories into a single work will reduce my number of submissions for the year while I wait to hear back from the contest, but I’m okay with that. I like the idea of having a collected works manuscript. Now I just need to finish the novella and organize the collection before the April 15 deadline.

How has your writing focus been lately? Have you been productive, or are you finding distractions? Let me know in the comments.

Submission Dilemma III

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I haven’t had one of these in a while. The ole do I or don’t I submit dilemma. The C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize is open to submissions of short story collections until April 16. I meet all the requirements. I live in the Southeastern United States. I’m an emerging writer. I have enough stories to reach the 140-220 page (35,000-55,000 word) range. And the manuscript wouldn’t be that difficult to put together, simply cutting and pasting several stories into one file.

The contest winner gets $10,000 and their manuscript published. Sounds great, so what’s my hold up? Like a lot of publishing contests, this one has an entry fee–$25. I have yet to pay to play as a writer. I believe in the old adage that money flows one way from the publisher to the writer. I understand the economics of a lot of publishing these days, especially in the literary magazine industry, is difficult and holding contests with paid entries helps pays the bills. I don’t fault that, and I don’t fault those who enter for a chance to win additional compensation beyond what normally would accompany acceptance in a literary magazine.

The contest fees I’ve seen generally run in the $5-$25 range. While not cost prohibitive, those fees can add up if a writer constantly applies to these contests.

If I’m so opposed, why would I even consider this contest? For starters, it’s the first I’ve seen geared towards collections of short stories. Usually the contests I come across are for a single short story. I have plenty of those still making the rounds with the literary magazines and not a whole lot to show for it. I’m intrigued by the thought of collecting my stories into a single work. That has been a goal of mine from the start, though I had hoped it would be a collection of reprints. I’d be happy with the publication of a collection of original works too!

Also, like I mentioned earlier, I meet all the criteria. How often does that happen?

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments if I should fork over the $25 and submit a collection of short stories to this contest.

4Q18 and 2018 Review

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1/3/19

The fourth quarter of 2018 is done, and below are my stats.

  • Words written = 19,369
  • Submissions = 34
  • Rejections = 27
  • Acceptances = 1
  • Publications = 1
  • Awards = 1

You can read this quarter’s published piece for free at Page & Spine Fiction Showcase. As my wife pointed out, the magazine’s name is slightly ironic given that it’s an e-zine and given further that my piece is a nonfiction essay.

Going back to my numbers for 4Q18, they aren’t bad, at least for me. That’s the most words I’ve ever written in a quarter, but I’ve had more submissions and rejections before (in the 40s for both). I’ve never won an award though. That award was third place in the nonfiction category of the Virginia Writers Club’s 2018 Golden Nib contest. I’ve only written two nonfiction pieces, and both have either been published or won an award. I’m going to have to think about what that means a little more.

Here are my stats for all of 2018.

  • Words written = 60,269
  • Submissions = 127
  • Rejections = 107
  • Acceptances = 3
  • Publications = 2
  • Awards = 1

Those 60,269 words break down as follows:

  • 16 completed short stories
  • 2 completed children’s picture book manuscripts
  • 2 completed nonfiction essays
  • 1 incomplete novella
  • 1 incomplete short story (drafted but not edited)
  • 1 incomplete novel

The 18,369 words I wrote in the novel during NaNoWriMo really helped the quarter and the year. I didn’t finish much else during the quarter, only one flash fiction story and one Drabble, an exactly one hundred word story. Both of those are already out making the submission rounds, so that’s something.

What should be my goals for the coming year? Last year I set a goal of 50,000 words. Based on the numbers above, I know I can achieve that plus 10,000 more. I’ll go with 60,000 words this year. Though I reached that in 2018, I’m a little concerned I won’t be as productive this year. My writing time decreased as 2018 progressed, except during November for NaNoWriMo, so I need to figure out how I can squeeze more writing time into the day.

I’d like to set a goal for the number of submissions and rejections, like Aeryn Rudel does over at Rejectomancy. I didn’t in 2018, mainly because I didn’t know it was a thing, but I reached his goals of 100 submissions and 100 rejections nonetheless. Now if only I could reach his number of acceptances (19)!

What the heck? Let’s go with 100 submissions and 100 rejections and see what I get at the end of 2019.

I know continuing to write the WIP novel will slow down both those numbers. No new stories reduces the pool that contributes to the submissions and rejections. I’m okay with that. I’d really like to finish the WIP in 2019, whether it turns out to be a novel or novella. I’d also like to finish the incomplete novella and short story and work on more children picture book manuscripts. None of those should be a problem.

Let me know in the comments what your writing goals are for 2019. A novel or two? A certain number of stories, submissions, or rejections? A few moments to yourself to figure out where that WIP needs to go?

Post #40 – First Publication!

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9/28/18

It’s finally here. The first time my words appear in print. The Fall 2018 issue of Stinkwaves Magazine contains my story “Cramping Your Style” about a boy whose soccer injury may cause unintended consequences. The issue will be published October 1, but feel free to pre-order here! There are print and ebook versions. Both versions also are available through Amazon here.

If you have a child falling in the middle grade age range (or read up to that range), treat them to the Fall 2018 issue of this fun literary magazine. Back issues also are available through the magazine’s website and Amazon.

Added bonuses:

  • The magazine is published by, thus purchases support, a small, independent publisher.
  • I finally can establish an Amazon Author Page.

If you do purchase on Amazon, please leave a comment with your thoughts on the magazine.  Thanks!

Photo credit: kconcha via Pixabay