Finito!

Ooookay. If you remember, a couple months ago I posted here that I was going to start writing a new short story, and that I would finish the damn thing. I think I said something like "1,000 words per day, death before dishonor." Well, the title of the story is "River's End" and it's finally done. So how'd I do?

Feb 24 - Apr 22 = 58 days
Final word count: 6,675

Words per day: 115

Yeah. Not so much.

In my defense, I attempted a different writing style than I'm used to. In the past, I've always been an outliner, and this time I decided just to wing it. That didn't work out so well, and I ended up abandoning the story for a better part of a month and a half. Then, finally, when I was printing an excerpt to share with my writers' group, inspiration struck and I knew how to make it work.

It's kind of like when you look at a piece of art and can't tell what it is, then you turn your head sideways and suddenly see how it goes together? That's kind of what writing this story was like. Still, I'm happy with the end product. I'll set it aside for a couple of days, then polish it up and set it loose in the wild.

What's next? Well, Kerlak has a story call for Dreams of Steam II, for which submissions are due May 31. I have an earlier deadline than that, though, because I swore to another writing group I'm involved with that on May 5 I would present them with either a finished first draft or my own severed head.

That gives me just under two weeks. Better get cracking.

Flash Fiction Night - The Movie!

Flash Fiction - Open Mike Night 2011 from Hoover Library on Vimeo.

Featured Stories

"The Fourth" by Anne Breen

"The Button" by Sean DeArmond

"Freedom" by Phil Fishman

"The Road" by Emily Cutler

"Aiko, My Little Loved One" by Lisa Dolensky

"Bad Timing" by Denise Dupree

Poems: "Kay-as" & "Magus" by Carly Koenig

"The Tree of Many Leaves" by Larry Hensley

"Momma Said" by Carol Jolley

"Clara's Tail" by David Oser

"Fire" by Jared Millet

"Imaginary Stepmother" by Mary Rees

A few observations: The program went very well this year. (Last year it ran a little long.) All the presenters did a wonderful job.

We actually had two mikes on stage - one for the readers and one for the MCs. The MC mike doesn't show up in the shot, which is why it appears on video as if each author is being introduced by a disembodied voice.

I wish the mike had been able to pick up more of the audience noise. There were laughs and chuckles throughout (at appropriate moments, of course) that don't quite come across in the video. Also, I had no idea that the stage lighting would turn my green shirt brown. Next year I'll stick with red.

While I don't expect anyone who doesn't already know me to stumble across this video, in case that happens: That little grimace/choke/cough thing I do occasionally? Tourette Syndrome. Trust me, it used to be a lot worse.