In early April, a Photo Prompt Flash Fiction Contest was announced in one of my writer groups. I had never written based off a photo prompt. I had never written anything categorized as flash fiction. Yet, I found myself intrigued.
Was this something I really wanted to do, a challenge I wanted to give myself? Or, was this just another way for me to procrastinate writing my book? (I had already gone weeks, again, without adding a single word.)
Simply put, flash fiction is a fictional short story with a specified word count. In the case of this contest, no more than 1,000 words based off of one of four photos (one for each of four different genres) and due by May 14th. This contest had no entry fee and a small chance at a modest prize and recognition – important factors in my decision (since I do not, at all, agree with giving original work away for free (if the publication will profit from it) or, worse, paying to have work considered or published).
I decided to go for it – to flex my long-dormant fiction-writing muscles.
I had more than a month, but I figured that it would be a pretty quick project. After all, on a good day, I can write a 1,000-word personal essay in an afternoon! It is called “flash” fiction, right?
Wrong.
Fiction proved more difficult than I remembered. Writing based off a photo prompt, more challenging than I anticipated.
I nearly threw in the towel, feeling like I was wasting too much time trying to create the perfect story. But, I didn’t want to give up. In the end, just days before the deadline, I went with the story I had, even though I felt like it fell short of my expectations.
This one was no prize-winner – but following through was an accomplishment to be proud of in itself.
30 May 2018
16 May 2018
That’s Inappropriate
Back in March, I was invited to a video conference call with some big names in the mom-writer world: Meredith of That’s Inappropriate and Meredith of Perfection Pending.
The night of the video conference call arrived, I installed the app, had everything all set up, ready to join.. and then my anxiety got the best of me.
*sigh*
Luckily, it was recorded and I was able to watch it that same night.
There were only a handful in the call, those invited were a select group they wanted to work with to launch a new venture.
I was shocked, honored, awe-struck and, to be honest, confused. How in the world did I get on any list with the rest of these writers?!? It had to be a mistake.
The other writers in the group had their own established mom blogs with followers in the thousands! At the time, I had only two parenting pieces published! I have no mom blog and I had less than 250 followers on all social media, combined!
It certainly felt like a mistake for me to be included in this group – but, I was beyond excited that I had been placed in such company! The two Merediths must see potential in me, to ask me to be a part of launching their new platform!
Meredith of That’s Inappropriate had decided to branch out and add a contributor platform to her already successful website; Meredith of Perfection Pending would be the editor. The new platform was set to launch on April 15th and I had a new, original piece scheduled for the 24th! Later, it was decided that my piece from 2016 would be syndicated, as well, and run on the 21st.
I was thrilled! And possibly in a bit of disbelief, seeing as how I haven’t shared this story until now.
Everything launched and my pieces were published according to plan. Yesterday, the new platform celebrated one month of being live and I was informed that my syndicated piece had the top pageviews of all the syndicated pieces in that first month!
I am so happy – and proud – to be a That’s Inappropriate contributor. Many thanks to Meredith and Meredith for including me in the group of writers who got it started!
The night of the video conference call arrived, I installed the app, had everything all set up, ready to join.. and then my anxiety got the best of me.
*sigh*
Luckily, it was recorded and I was able to watch it that same night.
There were only a handful in the call, those invited were a select group they wanted to work with to launch a new venture.
I was shocked, honored, awe-struck and, to be honest, confused. How in the world did I get on any list with the rest of these writers?!? It had to be a mistake.
The other writers in the group had their own established mom blogs with followers in the thousands! At the time, I had only two parenting pieces published! I have no mom blog and I had less than 250 followers on all social media, combined!
It certainly felt like a mistake for me to be included in this group – but, I was beyond excited that I had been placed in such company! The two Merediths must see potential in me, to ask me to be a part of launching their new platform!
Meredith of That’s Inappropriate had decided to branch out and add a contributor platform to her already successful website; Meredith of Perfection Pending would be the editor. The new platform was set to launch on April 15th and I had a new, original piece scheduled for the 24th! Later, it was decided that my piece from 2016 would be syndicated, as well, and run on the 21st.
I was thrilled! And possibly in a bit of disbelief, seeing as how I haven’t shared this story until now.
Everything launched and my pieces were published according to plan. Yesterday, the new platform celebrated one month of being live and I was informed that my syndicated piece had the top pageviews of all the syndicated pieces in that first month!
I am so happy – and proud – to be a That’s Inappropriate contributor. Many thanks to Meredith and Meredith for including me in the group of writers who got it started!
10 May 2018
Is This A Sign?
I don’t want to wax philosophical here, but I don’t necessarily believe in “signs.” Or, rather, I believe “signs” are entirely dependent on the person interpreting them – and people will interpret a thing in any number of ways to fit their needs, consciously or subconsciously.
That said, for someone who doesn’t believe in “signs,” I certainly second-guess myself a lot when things don’t go smoothly.
There is a special kind of torture I inflict upon myself after I have gone through the painstaking task of making a decision, set myself to work seeing it through, and then hit a snag.
Maybe I didn’t make the right decision after all? Maybe I should recognize this setback as an opportunity to course-correct? Is it folly to stick to my plan when it isn’t working out how I envisioned?
I do this for everything – big, important life decisions, same as little, everyday decisions – always have. When I hit a bump in the road, my mind begins to spin out-of-control with doubt.
Most recently, I made several decisions about my online presence as a writer. These decisions did not come quickly nor easily, but once I had made up my mind, I felt very comfortable and confident in my choices.
Then Facebook decided to glitch out when I submitted the name change request for my page. My request is stuck in some kind of limbo – I have received no emails from Facebook, my page support inbox is empty, yet, if I try to edit the name, I get a notice that it cannot be edited while there is a pending request. It has been like this for over five weeks now. I have no way of getting any actual support to address the issue – all my attempts are filtered into Facebook’s “feedback” system and generate generic responses that offer no solution.
*Cue mind spinning out-of-control with doubt.*
Did I make the wrong decision? Is this my chance to course-correct? Should I just keep the Facebook page named after my blog? Am I taking my whole online presence as a writer in the wrong direction?
I was so confident in the decisions I had made, in the direction I was going, but this setback had me second-guessing it all.
It has been exhausting.
Oftentimes, when a plan doesn’t go smoothly and the doubt sets in, I will abandon an idea or push it to a back burner. (See the time I had trouble submitting a piece for publication and then never tried to submit it anywhere ever again.)
But, whether or not I choose to see this as a “sign” is entirely up to me. If I do choose to see it as a “sign,” then it is also entirely up to me to interpret it.
Is this really the universe telling me I have made a mistake? Or, is it just a glitch in the system that I need to be patient about or find a way to work-around?
Finally, after weeks of wrestling with it, I decided that, this time, I am going to stick to my plan.
I still feel confident that the right decision is to shift the focus off of my blog and onto myself as a writer. But, I’ll still be stuck here in limbo until Facebook does something to get my request moving again.
Time to practice my patience, I guess.
That said, for someone who doesn’t believe in “signs,” I certainly second-guess myself a lot when things don’t go smoothly.
There is a special kind of torture I inflict upon myself after I have gone through the painstaking task of making a decision, set myself to work seeing it through, and then hit a snag.
Maybe I didn’t make the right decision after all? Maybe I should recognize this setback as an opportunity to course-correct? Is it folly to stick to my plan when it isn’t working out how I envisioned?
I do this for everything – big, important life decisions, same as little, everyday decisions – always have. When I hit a bump in the road, my mind begins to spin out-of-control with doubt.
Most recently, I made several decisions about my online presence as a writer. These decisions did not come quickly nor easily, but once I had made up my mind, I felt very comfortable and confident in my choices.
Then Facebook decided to glitch out when I submitted the name change request for my page. My request is stuck in some kind of limbo – I have received no emails from Facebook, my page support inbox is empty, yet, if I try to edit the name, I get a notice that it cannot be edited while there is a pending request. It has been like this for over five weeks now. I have no way of getting any actual support to address the issue – all my attempts are filtered into Facebook’s “feedback” system and generate generic responses that offer no solution.
*Cue mind spinning out-of-control with doubt.*
Did I make the wrong decision? Is this my chance to course-correct? Should I just keep the Facebook page named after my blog? Am I taking my whole online presence as a writer in the wrong direction?
I was so confident in the decisions I had made, in the direction I was going, but this setback had me second-guessing it all.
It has been exhausting.
Oftentimes, when a plan doesn’t go smoothly and the doubt sets in, I will abandon an idea or push it to a back burner. (See the time I had trouble submitting a piece for publication and then never tried to submit it anywhere ever again.)
But, whether or not I choose to see this as a “sign” is entirely up to me. If I do choose to see it as a “sign,” then it is also entirely up to me to interpret it.
Is this really the universe telling me I have made a mistake? Or, is it just a glitch in the system that I need to be patient about or find a way to work-around?
Finally, after weeks of wrestling with it, I decided that, this time, I am going to stick to my plan.
I still feel confident that the right decision is to shift the focus off of my blog and onto myself as a writer. But, I’ll still be stuck here in limbo until Facebook does something to get my request moving again.
Time to practice my patience, I guess.