This received from Smokelong Quarterly... not a winner but quite neat to get a mention... and this for my flash fiction. You had to submit a folio of five flash fiction pieces. See my previous post about this type of writing!
Hi Douglas,
I just wanted to let you know that, although we ultimately selected Tara Laskowsi as our 2009 Fish Fellow, you were one of four other writers who made our final shortlist. We absolutely loved your writing and hope to stay in communication going forward. Thank you so much for applying and allowing us to read your excellent work.
Best,
Dave Clapper
SmokeLong Quarterly
Wednesday 21 January 2009
Sunday 18 January 2009
Why Do YOU Write Flash?
I have set myself the challenge of writing a flash for every day of 2009... and so far am ahead of schedule with 29 written. Some are very short (50 words) some are more. I have a love/hate relationship with flash fiction... I love doing them. It is like sketching, and all the freedom that goes with that, and it doesn't matter if the lines aren't quite right or if the sketch goes nowhere. But the process is always exciting and sometimes a fresh character is born or an idea begs for more attention.
I do not often enjoy reading flash fiction... find they can be a little unsatisfying, like a snack when what I want is a meal. I can appreciate the cleverness and the ideas and the language sometimes, but I am invariably left wanting more.
Some of my flashes have given birth to complete stories, and they would not have been without the process of 'sketching'. A couple are leaning towards being more than a short story... maybe a novel. And for me that is a big reason for flashing. It is a process that frees up my thinking, lets it run unhindered, and the places I go then are not the places I thought I would go... and they can be so amazing, those places.
So, I want to know, why do YOU flash?
I do not often enjoy reading flash fiction... find they can be a little unsatisfying, like a snack when what I want is a meal. I can appreciate the cleverness and the ideas and the language sometimes, but I am invariably left wanting more.
Some of my flashes have given birth to complete stories, and they would not have been without the process of 'sketching'. A couple are leaning towards being more than a short story... maybe a novel. And for me that is a big reason for flashing. It is a process that frees up my thinking, lets it run unhindered, and the places I go then are not the places I thought I would go... and they can be so amazing, those places.
So, I want to know, why do YOU flash?
Saturday 10 January 2009
SEVEN NEW THINGS
1) Annalemma takes my flash fiction piece called 'Tattoed With Mermaids'.
2) Flash magazine takes my flash fiction piece called 'When Tania Sings' (and the Tania is Tania Hershman of 'The White Road' fame)
3) Have just won and lost a short story competition, the same competition. My entry was originally a flash fiction piece that I sent off to Aoife's Kiss. The editor there said he would publish it as it is, but felt it could be something bigger - a full story or even something more. So I wrote it into a full length story and before the flash was even published, entered the story into a competition of some repute. I was certain that the story was good, and that it would get a mention or even a prize in the competition. When the longlist and shortlist and commendations and prize-winners all went up and my story was missing, I thought there had been an error. A note from the judge said that some stories had been pulled because a google-search had revealed that the stories had already been published and this was against the rules of the competition. My flash had indeed been print-published by this time. I wrote to the judge and asked if my story was one of the pulled ones and explained what had happened. She was genuinely sorry and disappointed for my story had been a possible outright winner... too late to change things then. My mistake, using the same title for the flash and the story... but as the judge acknowledged, the title was a really good one and she could see why I had kept it.
4) An editor is reading through a second piece of my children's fiction to see if it is worth pursuing.
5) I have written fourteen flash fiction pieces this year so far, keeping to my goal of writing one a day. One of the pieces is growing into something else... a fuller story.
6) I have completed the eleventh story for the 'Quilted Stories' exhibition that I am doing with my wife (she's making journal quilts) and my son (he is producing graphic work). Only one more story to go for the calendar to be complete. The exhibition will go up for the three Easter days: 10th, 11th and 12th April... in the village of West Linton in Scotland.
7) I am almost decided on the novel that will be written this year... indeed it is already begun. More news will follow as progress is made. Watch this space.
2) Flash magazine takes my flash fiction piece called 'When Tania Sings' (and the Tania is Tania Hershman of 'The White Road' fame)
3) Have just won and lost a short story competition, the same competition. My entry was originally a flash fiction piece that I sent off to Aoife's Kiss. The editor there said he would publish it as it is, but felt it could be something bigger - a full story or even something more. So I wrote it into a full length story and before the flash was even published, entered the story into a competition of some repute. I was certain that the story was good, and that it would get a mention or even a prize in the competition. When the longlist and shortlist and commendations and prize-winners all went up and my story was missing, I thought there had been an error. A note from the judge said that some stories had been pulled because a google-search had revealed that the stories had already been published and this was against the rules of the competition. My flash had indeed been print-published by this time. I wrote to the judge and asked if my story was one of the pulled ones and explained what had happened. She was genuinely sorry and disappointed for my story had been a possible outright winner... too late to change things then. My mistake, using the same title for the flash and the story... but as the judge acknowledged, the title was a really good one and she could see why I had kept it.
4) An editor is reading through a second piece of my children's fiction to see if it is worth pursuing.
5) I have written fourteen flash fiction pieces this year so far, keeping to my goal of writing one a day. One of the pieces is growing into something else... a fuller story.
6) I have completed the eleventh story for the 'Quilted Stories' exhibition that I am doing with my wife (she's making journal quilts) and my son (he is producing graphic work). Only one more story to go for the calendar to be complete. The exhibition will go up for the three Easter days: 10th, 11th and 12th April... in the village of West Linton in Scotland.
7) I am almost decided on the novel that will be written this year... indeed it is already begun. More news will follow as progress is made. Watch this space.
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