Over the last two years, I’ve discovered that I can write short stories. That was quite a surprise as I’ve always thought I waffle too much for the short form. Imagine my surprise then when I discovered that very short flash fiction was even more fun.
To me, flash fiction is almost like the prose version of haiku. You have to paint the scene, create a character[s], and weave a compelling plot – all in 250 words.
It seems almost impossible, doesn’t it? Yet those clever authors on Indies Unlimited seemed to pull off a miracle every single week.
After much lurking, I finally worked up enough courage to try my hand at this flash fiction thingie, and didn’t win. I can honestly say that was no surprise, but as I honed my skills, my stories improved, and then one day, I did win. I was ecstatic! However the best was yet to come. You see, Indies Unlimited takes those 52 flash fiction stories and publishes them at the end of the year.
So…tah dah! My shorty short is now part of the Indies Unlimited: 2013 Flash Fiction Anthology!
I’ve already bought my copy because I know how good the stories are. However for anyone else who may be curious, the links to the ebooks and print versions are below :
Kindle on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Indies-Unlimited-Flash-Fiction-Anthology-ebook/dp/B00I573APW/
B&W (Economy) Print:
http://www.amazon.com/Indies-Unlimited-Flash-Fiction-Anthology/dp/1495250857/
Color (Deluxe) Print:
http://www.amazon.com/Indies-Unlimited-Fiction-Anthology-Deluxe/dp/149526811X/
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/403498
Last but not least, I have to thank all of you for voting for my story.
Great big hugs,
Meeks
Meeka's Mind 
February 4th, 2014 at 5:43 am
As a big fan of The Vintage Egg I KNOW you can write short stories!
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February 4th, 2014 at 1:14 pm
lol – thanks for the vote of confidence, Candy. I admit my short stories still surprise me, as I literally didn’t know /how/ to write in the short form until about a year ago. I think having a blog and writing in short, sharp chunks has helped a lot.
Just goes to show that you never, ever stop learning. Now if only I could write actual haiku’s I’d be really happy. Love the distilled beauty of this form of poetry.
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February 4th, 2014 at 5:27 am
Nice! I keep telling myself I’ll give flash fiction a try, but the effort never goes beyond thinking about it.
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February 4th, 2014 at 1:15 pm
Oh you should, Jeri! If writing a novel is like eating a three course meal, flash fiction is like eating a perfect peach. 🙂
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:00 am
Hey! awesome news 😀
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:42 am
Thanks George! How’s the game development going???
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February 3rd, 2014 at 8:55 pm
It’s at the part of doing stuff that aren’t showing up, because they are internal… code stuff.
The things that when you do them don’t make you feel as if you are doing any progress. 😛 Hope to start making some levels in a couple of days though. And have a new PC build to send you.
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February 4th, 2014 at 1:07 am
Ah, you’re into the hard slog. It seems that the pattern holds true whether you’re creating a game or a story, sooner or later the tedious ‘work’ stuff has to be done.
Oh, a new pc build? Don’t tell me, do they have 16 cores now???
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February 5th, 2014 at 12:32 am
Ah no i mean make a new EXE for windows. Yeah, in program talk, make a build means convert the code and data into an executable file. And yeah, i think both intel and amd are trying to make a 16core package. Though you can get now a dual CPU motherboard, with 2 8core cpus on it if you like 😀
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February 5th, 2014 at 12:55 am
Oh! And oh! lmao – I was joking about the 16 cores. Seems like only yesterday that quad core was cutting edge.
I was reading recently that desktop sales are down thanks to the popularity of tablets, but how could a tablet compete with that much processing power?
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February 5th, 2014 at 7:26 am
It’s a tad misleading i think. Desktops are so powerful now, (and games not taking that advantage) that you don’t have to buy a gaming PC every so often. I still have an ancient by today’s standards Q6600 quad core doing the heavy lifting in my PC. But tablets are being bought like candy because there are people that buy one every 6 months because something new came along. Desktops are so mature now that unless you are pushing everything to the max, you can get buy with older stuff. But tablets are just now being heavily researched (by using desktop-developed tech) and the next chip is 3-4 times faster than the previous one.
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February 5th, 2014 at 11:01 am
lol – my ‘new’ desktop probably qualifies as one of those older desktops, in terms of processing power, but I take your point. Nonetheless, I can’t see myself playing the games I love on a tablet with a tiny screen, not matter how powerful that tablet becomes.
Now if/when tech advances tot he point where a tablet can project a holo image for me to play with… 😀
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February 3rd, 2014 at 5:19 am
Congratulations!
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:49 am
Thanks Kathryn. 🙂 How are things going with you? Are you still well, not overdoing things? -hugs-
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February 2nd, 2014 at 8:32 pm
Congrats! 🙂
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:49 am
Thanks Chris 🙂
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February 2nd, 2014 at 8:22 pm
Yay for you! No surprise to me that you got up, I love your short stories! Congrats. 😀
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:50 am
Awwww….thanks! 😀
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February 2nd, 2014 at 6:34 pm
We had the easy part, the reading and the voting. Yours was the hard part- writing it. So, any thanks are due to you for the efforts made on our behalf. Thanks.
xxx Hugs Galore xxx
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:51 am
Thank you, but as a people’s choice competition, you guys really are the heroes. 😀
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February 2nd, 2014 at 2:21 pm
I’m there, too, for the second time and I had no idea I could write something short that would hold together and tell a story in so few words. It’s fun isn’t it.
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February 3rd, 2014 at 11:53 am
We’re in very good company 😀 And yes, I was truly amazed by how much fun it was. And that element of competition adds a bit of spice, but I think Kat’s photos and the prompts really provide the impetus.
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February 2nd, 2014 at 2:07 pm
Congrats it is always good to see that their are others around to class me up a bit. I have my copy already too. Still makes me giddy to see stories I have written out for the world to see.
Even better when great writers like you are included around me.
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February 3rd, 2014 at 1:34 pm
Awww – hugs- Thanks Jon, but I was going to same the same about you! In fact, reading through the stories that won during the year, it’s amazing how damn good they are.
Here’s hoping we both manage to get included in the 2014 anthology!
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February 3rd, 2014 at 4:07 pm
Just keep writing. Its the one thing we can do.
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February 4th, 2014 at 1:19 am
Yes, you’re right. I can feel the twitch building, which is always a good sign. 🙂
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February 2nd, 2014 at 1:47 pm
Great news! Congrats, and I did vote for you.
Now If you haven’t already been tagged, would you be interested in joining this not-much-involved The Writing Process blog chain? If yes, I’ll tag you in my post today. Basically you answer 4 questions on your blog on 10th Feb, thank person who tagged you (include bio and links) and then tag 3 other people (who will post Feb 17th) and give brief bio and links for them. The questions are:
1) What am I working on?
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
3) Why do I write what I do?
4) How does my writing process work?
Are you in?
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February 3rd, 2014 at 1:37 pm
Hi Jennifer, and yes, I’m in. 😀 Apologies for not replying sooner but I’ve been having issues with WordPress/Opera.
This blog chain sounds like fun 🙂 I’ll get to work on the questions right now and post date them so I don’t forget on the day. That does happen. 😦
Thanks for including me. 🙂
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February 4th, 2014 at 10:48 pm
Great! Here’s the link to the post you’re tagged in.
http://jenniferscoullar.com/2014/02/02/the-writing-process-blog-hop-writers-reveal-their-process/
I look forward to reading your post on the 10th …
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February 5th, 2014 at 12:44 am
Thanks for the link, Jennifer, and thanks for the glowing intro. The questions are nice and meaty so I’m looking forward to my first blog hop. 🙂
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