Pen & Ink

Upcoming things, of the reading and writing variety...

This week's F3 prompt has us presented with the challenge of crafting an open-genre story involving our hometown. The word count for this one is high. I've already started the draft, since it runs in conjunction with Ron Earl Phillips' 'Write Where You're At' prompt. F3 is currently also looking for a new moderator. I don't think I have the time to throw my hat in, but I did seriously think about it for a solid five seconds.

The Terribleminds Friday Flash challenge for this week involves an invitation to punish the protagonist. I may or may not fit this in. I've only participated twice, with mixed results. In fact, my most recent story, The Hunt, got some page views but zero comments. The traffic is nice to see, but I think I could really benefit from some feedback to help me figure out what works and what doesn't. And that's what these challenges are for...in my case, anyway - a chance to practice and improve as a writer, and get some thoughts from potential readers. Seeing no comments makes me second guess the quality of my writing, and gets me in a very "sad panda" mindset. To get out of the no-feedback doldrums, I will soldier on and endeavor to write more. But, if you happen to be reading one of my stories here (or, potentially elsewhere), please consider leaving a comment. Even more negative critiques are welcome, because otherwise, how will I know when whatever I've been writing is a dog's breakfast pile of garbage?

I will be taking part in NYC Midnight's new micro fiction challenge - this is a contest to craft a story in no more than 100 characters, based on a single word prompt. (Hence, the "micro", which differentiates this type of story from "flash fiction", which is generally no more than a couple thousand words.) The prompt for the first heat will go out late next week. Wish me luck! In addition, I've been kicking around an idea for a (very short) story that, once complete, I might submit to Shotgun Honey, which specializes in hardboiled, noir, and crime story submissions. And, finally! This fall I should be receiving two copies of the compilation of submissions for the Bad Austen: Write Like Jane  contest that I wrote a story for. Expect to see elated, squee-riddled posts pretty much everywhere when I get them.

And now I'm off to peruse Amazon because I have a gift card burning a hole in my pocket. All I can say is, "in this economy", thank the Elder Gods for credit card rewards points, or I'd be at more of a loss for reading material. (As much as I lovelovelove and do everything that I can to support libraries, their checkout limitations sometimes make them a less viable option for someone like me, who can spend weeks or months engaged in slowly reading several books at a time...)