Write flash fiction, short stories or novellas? Even Amazon is actively seeking your stories...

Hello visitors and friends!

I don’t know why at times there seems to be a stigma around writing short stories rather than novels. Unless you’re a best-selling author, there’s just as much money, or actually more, that can be made from penning short stories if you study the paying market. That’s where I started when I got serious about making some money from writing a few years ago. I absolutely love writing fast fiction and short stories and have my eye on a novella or two, constructed from my flash fiction ideas.

Fast Fiction magazine in Australia publishes four times a year and is chock full of shorts of various lengths and various genres. Accepts internationally. It's my favourite market and pays really well. Here is a link to the first story they accepted to give you an idea of how open they are. 

The news is good for shorter fiction in these days of digital publishing. From being sneered at, unloved and unbought, short stories, serials and novellas are having quite the resurgence. Consider how many buyers are using their phones and tablets to read. I for one don't want to read 100,000 words via my phone.

WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING

The New York Times says, "Stories are perfect for the digital age...because readers want to connect and want that connection to be intense and to move on."  

Book marketing guru Penny Sansevieri said in the HuffPo: "…short is the new long…consumers want quick bites of information and things like Kindle Singles."

Short stories can also be a marketing tool for longer works.  Digital Book World's Rob Eagar said, "Selling your book means writing effective newsletters, blog posts, short stories, free resources, social media posts, word-of-mouth tools, magazine articles, etc."

WORD LENGTH FOR SHORT STORIES/NOVELLAS

There’s a dilemma about what actually constitutes a short story—word counts vary from publisher to publisher. Some call short stories anything up to 30K, with novellas coming in at anything between 30K-50K. Harlequin romance writers know that there is a romance novel requirement of 50K words.

Read the guidelines of the various publishers before writing to a market. Entangled Publishing just won a prestigious award for being one of the best digital publishers, and they are always looking for shorts, novellas and novels. Check them out their submission process here.

AMAZON WANTS YOUR STORIES

Many short story competitions require anything up to 10,000K or less. And some publishing houses consider 15K a novella. Short story anthologies are great for your resume if you can get accepted in a prestigious one. Don’t forget online zines. I found this link on Anne R Allen’s blog to a great list of genre story markets put together by Romance author Cathleen Ross.

So, whatever your preferred length, there’s someone out there who wants your stories. Even Amazon. Amazon actively seeks short fiction for their Kindle Singles program (published authors only need apply) and their new literary magazine Day One magazine actually accepts debut authors. Take note: when the Kindle Singles program launched in 2011, they sold 2 million "singles" ebooks in the first year! More details below...

Another positive: keeping your name out there is easier with shorts. Most writers can’t pen more than two or three books a year, (and what an achievement that would be), but they can turn out a lot of short stories and novellas.

WRITING OPPORTUNITIES – Paying it forward from Anne R Allen…go to her blog for more...

Amazon’s literary journal Day One is seeking submissions. According to Carmen Johnson, Day One’s editor, the litzine is looking for “fresh and compelling short fiction and poetry by emerging writers.” This includes stories that are less than 20,000 words by authors that have never been published, and poems by poets who have never published before. To submit works, writers/poets can email their work as a word document, along with a brief description and author bio to dayone-submissions @amazon.com.

So, dear writers, let me know if you find success in the short story/novella market. So many opportunities, so little time!

Don't forget--you can practise your short stories, flash fiction, poetry etc during the WEP challenge each month. Current prompt - FAILURE...OR IS IT? You can sign up right here in my sidebar. Love to have you - you can request critique, suggestions...we may even help you get published!!

Holiday Spirit Blogfest - Please join us! Total Eclipse of the Sun at Palm Cove.

Memoir, Fiction, Recipes, Traditions...and more

How are the holidays celebrated at your home? The blogsphere includes a multitude of countries, cultures, and citizenry of the world. There are as many ways to celebrate as there are cultures -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yom Kipper, Hanuka or any variety of holidays of the “giving spirit” during the same season.

In my home we celebrate Christmas as do most Australians. It is an annual celebration to mark Christ's birth (we are well aware this is not the actual time He was born), to celebrate the summer holidays, to celebrate our families and friends who may fly many kilometres to join together again, to just relax by the beach or the pool and read a book (in between eating, drinking and sharing gifts), forgetting about the demands of work -- just for a few days or weeks..

For this Holiday Spirit blogfest (open to the whole blogosphere as are all RFW blogfests), RFW is looking for excerpts of up to 800 words of fiction or non-fiction stories of family tradition, favorite/unique recipes, inspirational articles, etc.; that involve the essence of the holiday spirit.  (Recipes and news articles do not have to adhere to the 800 word limit.) In other words, we would like you to post whatever passes for the Holiday Spirit in your neck of the world. Maybe you would like to post pictures of your decorated home!

Because of the special nature of this Holiday Spirit blogfest, we are allowing up to two submissions; however, they must be in two separate categories. Meaning, you could post your favorite recipe AND an inspirational 800 word excerpt; or a link to an inspirational news/magazine article and a recipe or true story; but not two of each (two recipes, two memoir posts, two articles). If you are posting two separate submissions, please add your blog link twice and add to your name/link what it contains - eg - Donna Hole, 1, Recipe, so participants know to look for two separate posts.

The linky will open on December 12 and remain open thru December 21 to encourage linking to the direct post. However, if you decide to link then schedule a post (or two) later, just leave a comment to let everyone know when your excerpt will be available. The RFW hosts will be checking the comments and links, and if a direct link is available, we will edit your link(s) if you haven't done so. (RFW uses Inlinkz which allows you to delete your own link and add a new one.)

Please join us in celebrating life, love, presents, good food, and of course Family Traditions of all types within diverse cultures.

This is not a competition - it is a sharing. We hope we'll all get to know each other better!

Happy Holidays everyone; and best wishes for your NaNoWriMo projects. Let us know how you go.

Total Eclipse of the Sun (love that song, but we had the real thing yesterday.) Palm Cove, north of Cairns in Northern Queensland, was the best spot in the world to see it, and thousands of people arrived from all over the world to this usually empty stretch of beach to gaze at nature's wonder. Many weddings and engagements took place.

They came from all over the world to experience the total eclipse which was awesome!

Go here to experience glorious professional pictures of the eclipse which shows the wonder of it.

• Do you know a holiday celebration that is not mentioned above? Please share in the comments.
• Are you going to join us for this blogfest? The more the merrier.
• If you're doing NaNo, how is it going? The halfway mark - 25,000 words yet? I'm lagging a bit...
• Please watch for the linky announcement on December 12.

Insecure Writers Support Group post - Regular Submissions - Submit early and often.

Hi all!

How did it get to be the first Wednesday of the month again? Time for my IWSG post.

Today my post is about submitting. I, like many other writers/authors, determined to submit more this year. If you don't submit, you don't get accepted/rejected, but it is a safe way to stay in your writing rut. When I read how some writers submit every week, every month or whatever, I think, well, brave you. I made a resolution to submit every week this year, but of course that lasted one week! I submit regularly every fortnight to Romantic Friday Writers and that counts to me, as I get useful critiques which I use to take my 400-word story away and write it up to a little less than 1,000 words (the limit for flash fiction) then I submit the longer stories elsewhere.

Otherwise, I am submitting vignettes to Vine Leaves Literary Journal (see link in sidebar) (a little vignette made the first issue, but there's no guarantee Jessica Bell and Dawn Ius will like my current submission!) 

I also submit to Fast Fiction women's magazine in Australia. They pay well and accept a certain type of story, luckily of the kind I like to write. You can have up to 4 stories in their inbox at any one time, so I keep it pretty full.

There doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to examine all the outlets for my work (My Writer's Marketplace makes a handy doorstop) and some of you probably feel the same. But take heart, if one magazine rejects your story, there's no guarantee it won't be picked up somewhere else, so we do need to seek new markets.

I'll finish with an abbreviated Submissions Checklist for Short Stories from Writer's Digest's latest issue . Many of these points are relevant if you're submitting a novel or non-fiction...

• Check the guidelines and adhere strictly to them.
• Submit early if there's a reading period for submissions.Editors suffer from fatigue too.
• Submit often - have your next story/ies ready when you submit your first.
• Always submit simultaneously. It's not practical to do otherwise. It can take 6 months to hear from some magazines/journals.
• Include a brief cover letter, listing any prior publications. (If you have some credits, this might scare the intern into reading your submission and passing it onto the senior editor.)

None of these things guarantee success. However, as a writer, all you have to do is persuade one editor at one magazine/journal to print your story. (And hopefully, someone will actually, eventually, pay you for your gems.)

• What is your story? Are you submitting regularly this year? Share with us your highs and lows...
   

When should you query an editor - a happy publication story.

As some of you know, I'm first and foremost a short story writer, even though I have written 2 novels. I was pleased when reading 'A Moveable Feast' to note that Hemingway believed short story writing was excellent practise for novel writing, although I've read articles to the contrary. Never mind! All writing is good for your craft and by targeting the right magazine you can make a tidy sum (half of what you get offered for writing a Pocket Novel, not that we write for money, ha ha ha ha!)


So how do you break into the world of magazines when you have a hot little story written? Many of you know this market has shrunk alarmingly (apt adverb) in the past few years. However the good Brits and Aussies have maintained the fiction magazine. I'm not sure about the Americans, as mostly they only take subs from Americans, unlike the aforementioned, who accept subs globally. But like all submitting, you need buckets of patience...

So! You target your preferred magazine. You do your homework. You know your stories are right for the audience.

You read a few more of their mags just to make sure. You pore over the guidelines again. Get that formatting just so. Oh, they prefer full text in email body! Nearly missed that!


Okay, let's check that story again! Yep, I can tweak it a bit more there. How I love to tweak! When is it enough already! Well, now I've got me a work of art. All polished.


Now, off to editor (better check it's still The Man. Yep. He's current. If he's turned into a she, she wouldn't like to be addressed as Mr I guess.)


Deep breath! Hmm. Re-check that email address yet again. Recheck the story-length info they request for the Subject line - my name, what I had for breakfast, what is my favourite coffee - whoops, just kidding, sorta.


Insert sweet yet succinct salutations. Crawl a little. Don't forget all the pesky details - again - word count, ABN number blah blah blah. Describe my Hemingway-esque piece to The Man. By now hands are shaking! I really want it! I want my story in this magazine! It's so right for it! Where will I go if they turn me down??? The Writers Marketplace? It's so big it hurts to hold it up!


Stop snivelling. Copy that polished prose from Word and drop it into your email body. Oh, it does look small! Better check it's all there. Yep, but it looks about font size 4.6. Oh, well, that must be what they want! Maybe I should make it bigger?


I've had enough! Just re-check it twenty times Denise and send the disgusting 1,000 words of tripe to the magazine. They'll hate it! Who'd want to read that! Delete! Don't send it!


Oh, who cares? Send the ridiculous-amount-of-work thing that translates to -2 cents an hour!


SEND!!


Your message has been sent!


Whoops! Did I mean to do that? No turning back now dearie! 'Tis in cyberspace! Forget it!!!!!!!


Days pass. Weeks pass. Months pass.


I've made a special email account just for this sucker and all the other little suckers I'm going to send to this magazine. After my first success that is. The Man will be begging for more! Special email account? Yep. Which means I have to go in every day and check my mail. Sometimes two or three times when I'm especially anxious.


Check Mail. Eargh!


One New Message.


Hands trembling. Click. Admin rubbish. Grrrrr! Not The Man!


More months pass. Deathly silence. I get on with my writing life. Work on my myriad projects like blogging, tweeting, facebooking, linked-in...sometimes even my WIPs...and more short stories and non-fiction articles...


Hey, I've had enough! I'm going to query this guy. It's been nearly 5 months! I know they've had a few changes at the mag, but enough already! Egad! Maybe they've lost it! They hate it and forgot to tell me! The email failed!


Read some more articles on how long I should wait before making a nuisance of myself. I'm sick of checking emails every day. I'm sick of waiting. Bite the bullet!


Some articles tell me just to wait. The mountain will eventually come to Mohammed (oh, should I say that?)


Nah, I'm not going to wait any longer!

Dear Mr Editor Sir, crawl, crawl, crawl...hate to be a nuisance, er er, did you receive my story perchance? The 1000-words-of-fabulousness one? Hate to be a bother etc etc...

Check email. Sweat sweat.


One new message. Only two hours! What's happening? It can't be! That's right! We're in the same time zone. That makes a change...


Shaky hand, shaky head. This is it! He hates it! Prepare for rejection!


Dear Denise, sorry, sorry, sorry, should have let you know, it's these admin people you know, your story's up for 2011. Just has to pass the whole board (or whatever they call that group of editorial brains.) You'll hear soon. Sorry, sorry, sorry...


Woo hoo! I'm nearly there! He said he loved it. Will the whole editorial team share his view? Wait. Just wait. No problem, I've had plenty of practise...I can use the time to check out a few more mags...well, Stephen King says reading is as important as writing after all...

Open a writer facebook account using the same email. Avoidance issues a'plenty. Forget about the story. It's just a story! You've had others published. Why are you obsessing about this particular magazine? Send 'em somewhere else!


Sifting through the 160 notifications from facebook and networked blogs when kerbang! Right in the middle I see one from The Man! Goodness! I could have deleted it along with all that other stuff!


Reading with one eye open...I'm in! Woo hoo! Story will be published in 2011! It passed muster! The planets aligned!


Now, what was all that about? Well, if it's that hard to get one measly short story published how hard is it going to be to get a novel under contract? 


But...not only did it ease my mind by sending my query off, now I have had a chance for The Man to get to know me a bit better and maybe he'll remember my name in a good way when I send my next 1,000+ words of fabulousness.


Which reminds me, NaNo'll be here before I know it, Christmas is coming, then it'll be New Year's! I'd better get back to writing my stories! Or editing my NaNo novels? Or blogging?  What? What?

I need a break already!


I hope you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek post. Do you have a similar or different story to tell?


Happy footnote. My story finally came out in print in this particular magazine a few months ago. Now I'm playing the waiting game again...

Publication Party - Session Four - Helen M Hunt, short story writer extraordinaire

Welcome to our fourth Publication Party! Last session with Alex J Cavanaugh was met with the usual enthusiastic response from all of you aspiring authors. Now we've settled into the routine, we'll all just grab ourselves something to eat and drink and get right into this session.

But first, congratulations to last week's prize winners.  Random.org chose 2 Aussie girls this week - nice! Amie Kauffman won the novel, Belly Dancing for Beginners by Liz Brynski, and Lynda Young won Relentless by Dean Koontz.

Today we have a change of pace, from published novelists to published short story writer. Writing short stories is my bread and butter. Publishing a novel can take years, but if you learn the craft of the short story you can hone your writing skills, get published (hopefully) and earn quite a tidy sum. That is why I've invited Helen to speak to us today. Helen gets her stories published in so many magazines (I can't even pick up my favourite fiction mag in Australia without seeing one of her stories looking at me) so I have asked her to tell us how she achieved such stupendous success in a relatively short time.

For those of you who don't know the very English Helen, here is a short bio:

Helen Hunt writes short stories, book reviews and features for magazines.

Her short stories have appeared in Woman’s Weekly, My Weekly, The Weekly News and Take A Break Fiction Feast in the UK, and That’s Life Fast Fiction in Australia.

She has also had real life stories published by My Weekly, This England and Evergreen magazine, and articles in Writers’ Forum and The New Writer magazine. Helen is also in the early stages of writing a novel.


You can find her writing blog at http://fictionisstrangerthanfact.blogspot.com and her book review blog at http://bookersatz.blogspot.com .

I was delighted to be asked by Denise to take part in her Publication Party. We’ve been following each other’s blogs for a while now and it’s been great to learn so much about the life of a writer on the other side of the world from me.


Denise has asked me to share some thoughts about my journey to becoming a published short story writer.


I started writing just over five years ago and short stories have always been my first love. I went on a course at my local adult education college in September 2005 and wrote my first ever short story. And that was it, I was hooked on writing short stories and haven’t stopped since. I carried on writing stories and slowly got better and learnt how to write stories that other people might actually want to read.

Eventually my story ‘Shredding The Label’ was published by Momaya Press (a wonderful press based in the UK and US which runs a prestigious competition every year – http://www.momayapress.com/ ).This was a very significant moment for me as it was my first fiction publication.


Since that first publication, I have continued to write short stories and also short non-fiction pieces. I have been fortunate to be published by magazines such as My Weekly, Woman’s Weekly, Writers’ Forum and This England. There is still nothing to beat the feeling of having a story accepted and published.


Although I spend quite a lot of time now writing non-fiction and I’ve started on a novel, I’m sure I’ll continue to be inspired to write short stories as no matter what other writing I do, the characters and situations that turn into short stories keep appearing in my head. There is a very special feeling of achievement from writing a complete short story in a relatively short space of time, editing it until it shines and then sending it out into the world to see how it fares.

My tips for writing short stories for the women’s magazine market:

• I would advise initially concentrating on targeting one or two magazines. All magazines have different requirements and like slightly different types of story. It’s more manageable if you look at a limited number of magazines in great depth at a time.
• Always remember that magazines are looking for stories that are similar in style and tone to the ones they are currently using, but at the same time they need to be different enough to catch an editor’s eye.
• Write lots of stories and keep sending them out. It’s helpful if you can set yourself a quota. For example, I’m aiming to write one new story a week at the moment. If one magazine rejects a story, look at it again, tweak it if necessary and send it elsewhere. Just because one editor doesn’t like it, that doesn’t mean another won’t love it. Once you are writing to a publishable standard, the more stories you have out there, the more chance of acceptance you have.
• Join a critique group, either online or in the real world. It’s great for support and motivation and essential for feedback. Make sure that at least some people in the group are being published in the area you are aiming for.
• Beginnings and endings of stories are very important. You need to grab an editor’s attention with the beginning of your story and leave them with a smile on their face or a lump in their throat at the eFor further information and advice I highly recommend:

Womagwriter’s blog, (http://womagwriter.blogspot.com/ )
Teresa Ashby’s blog (http://teresaashby.blogspot.com/ ) and
Della Galton’s website (http://www.dellagalton.co.uk/ ).


As I’ve said, beginnings and endings are both key to selling short stories. So I will be offering a critique of the first hundred words of a short story to one of the commenters on this post. Please also feel free to ask questions in the comments and I will pop back and answer as many as I’m able to.


Thanks again to Denise for inviting me to be a guest on her blog.


Great to have you with us Helen.

Now before I move onto the prizes I recommend How to Write and Sell Short Stories by Della Galton. It has made all the difference to my success in the short story realm.

PRIZES! TODAY everyone who comments and leaves their email address will be in the draw to win EITHER a book of short stories or a critique by Helen of the beginning of your short story (100 words):

About the book: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li was the winner of the Guardian First Book Award 2006 and has been made into a film. It is a collection of short stories telling of life in modern China facing up to a history of repression. It is told through apparently insignificant lives - brilliant.

So thank you all for coming today. Before you leave would you mind doing the following:


•leave a comment with your email address if you want to be in the draw for this week's book prize or critique by Helen or the GRAND PRIZE and giveaway books and writing paraphanelia at the end of the series (you must comment on each post to win, starting at the first post. If today is your first day, go back to the previous sessions, read and leave a comment. I'm keeping track...)
•tell us whether you'd like to win the book or the critique
•ask Helen a question
•if you're published (book/short stories), tell us about it in the comments
•tell us if you'd like to find a Crit Partner. If you have nominated to be in the CP pool, please fill out the questionnaire you have been sent and return pronto!

Thanks for coming everyone! Winners for this week will be posted at the next party Wednesday February 9. Don't forget you have until Monday February 8 at 8 pm NY time to enter for this week's prizes.


Next Wednesday February 9 we have the amazing storyteller Lisa Maliga, author of Notes from Nadir coming to our party to speak to us. Don't miss what she has to say!

Here are the links to the previous Publication Parties if you'd like to catch up!

Session One - Author Christine Bell
Session Two - Author Clarissa Draper
Session Three - Author Alex J Cavanaugh

Aussie Short Story Competition for Aussies

It is highly frustrating when I see a competition and get all excited, then read the fine print and see it is only for UK or US residents etc. Happens a lot. However, here is a competition for Aussies only! Woo hoo! In the age of email subs, I don't see why competitions should suffer from xenophobia, but sadly this is life.

As I have quite a few Aussie blogger friends now, I am putting this up in case you've missed it. A literary magazine, Wet Ink  has this short story competition each year. Here are a few guidelines to whet your interest. Click here for full submission details. There is a $15 entry fee.

Here's the blurb:

Presenting the $3000 Wet Ink Short Story Prize

First prize is $3000, 1 year’s subscription to Wet Ink, and publication in Wet Ink.

Two highly commended entries each receive $100, a year’s subscription to Wet Ink, and publication in Wet Ink.

Closing date for entries is 31 August 2010, so start writing, and good luck!

Have a great week writing,

Denise

The Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you to J. Kaye from 365 Days of Novel Writing for this award. With this award comes a few duties. Those are:


1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.


2. Share seven things about yourself.


3. Pass this award along to fifteen bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!


4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.


Seven Random Things About Me:


My worst habit is...coffee and chocolate everyday (and cake too if I can manage it)

My guiltiest pleasure is...TV news, I am the biggest news junkie out. I listen even if I'm not watching. Sure, not much joy there but I like to know what is happening even if I can't do anything but shake my head!

The hardest thing I've had to do...is think of 7 things about me (just kidding!)is ...keep on believing in my writing through the down times. I've finally reached the point where I am soldiering on, believing in myself, and not letting rejection get me down.

As a child I...had a short story published in a major newspaper when I was 11. This set me off into a dream world from which I've never returned. I've got lost on the way, but I have found my way back.

One of my ways to relax is to...bake. I love baking cakes, biscuits (cookies), cheesecakes - my Toblerone Cheesecake is to die for. I also like to create chef-style meals when the spirit moves me.

I love blogging because...it inspires me to hear how everyone else is going. I also learn a lot trolling around the blogosphere. I don't look on it as a time waster. Much better than playing solitaire between scenes.

I love to travel...and this is reflected in my writing. I keep journals on paper and in my head and these ideas/settings pop onto paper, catching me unawares. But I love it...


So there you are. I used a different format as by now everyone must be sick of the numbers 1 - 7 or 10, depending on the award. Feel free to respond any way you want.


Now for the fifteen bloggers:

1. THE STORY SO FAR
2. elisa - random thoughts
3. vintagesusieandwings
4. Carol's prints
5. The Writer's Funhouse
6. Jen Chandler
7. Publish or Perish
8. Miss Ali
9. Laughing Monkey Stick
10. Culture Served Raw
11. Laughing Wolf
12. Jaded Love Junkie
13. Flutey Words
14. Starlight Blog
15. Terripincha

I tried to choose bloggers who haven't already received this award as it takes ages to do! However, if I doubled up, please send the award on to someone else for me.

Looking forward to reading your 7 things...you Versatile Bloggers...Here's a slice of Toblerone Cheesecake for you!

Cheers, Denise

Flash Fiction Writing

I've recently been trying my hand at Flash Fiction. For the uninitiated flashes are usually 500 - 1,000 words of short, snappy fiction. I've found it an interesting way to learn how to edit more succinctly, to make sure every word counts, which is a must for short story writing. Flash fiction is the way to go when you have one of those stories that just jumps into your head and wants to get onto the page with a minimum of fuss.

If you like to write rambly short stories that meander to their conclusion in their own sweet time, then flash fiction is probably not for you. But if you want to give your readers a quick jolt, then you might have found your form. Some writers say writing short stories is good practise for writing novels, and I agree, but I'm aware others seem to think it takes a whole set of different skills. In the same way I think writing Flash Fiction will help my short story writing by helping me to cut to the chase. One can only hope...

Flash Fiction seems to have found its home online and I've been having a great time checking out as many stories as I can. Mark Budman, whose elegant quarterly Vestal Review publishes a half-dozen flashes of 500 words or under in each issue, says, "I love flash's intensity, its ability to say much in little space, and, let's face it, its instant gratification." Most editors are pretty open about the genre, so whatever you write, you can turn your hand to flash fiction.

OTHER NAMES: Sudden fiction, flash fiction, micro fiction, smoke-long fiction, postcard fiction--all are names for the short short fiction, seemingly designed especially for online reading.

Any search for 'flash fiction' brings up plenty of hits. I've collated a few good sites here, mostly ones that pay a small amount for your work.


The Green Tricycle


SmokeLong Quarterly


The Vestal Review


Per Contra 

Nick Daws' Writing Blog

Writing Forward (exercises for writing flash fiction.)

Let me know if you've found this helpful, and tell me of any successes in the flash fiction market.

I'm going to publish my first attempt tomorrow in the Beach Scene Blogfest. Hope you like it.

The Cyberpoets

I was teaching the other day and we came across this definition for a 'cyberpoet' - one who makes frequent trips to the edge of technology society and traditional culture and strives to be artful in their use of the internet. Well, I thought, that's me and a trillion others. The article went on to say that 'active supporters of the Internet have given themselves a nomenclature to reflect their cultural aspirations - they are the new cyberpoets.'

I like that word 'cyberpoet.' I shall probably be nameless and fameless until I die, but my main claim to cyberpoet status is here on my blog. I've been very ambivilant with publishing posts and have often posted ones that are deeply unsatisfying - my Nike posts - just do it!  My most satisfying posts have been those when an idea comes to me and I give it time to develop before hitting my blog. For the first couple of years I've been full of insecurities - what has this got to do with writing? what will readers think of this? blah, blah...then I'd write something that was just to say - well, I'm still here...still plugging away...not dead yet...

For those wonderful couple of people who have been sitting patiently waiting for me to find myself, I hope you have noticed a difference in my blog entries. I'm hoping this difference has carried over into my short story/article/novel writing as well. I think it has. You ladies are truly inspirational and have found your 'cyberpoet' a long time ago.

My favourite blogs are those that fulfil my idea of 'arty'. Bloggers such as L'American who write on a simple topic yet take the time to craft it into something literary, something beautiful, something to be savoured. (Of course I'm always a sucker for a bit of travel and that might explain my addiction to Laura's blog.) I have a long way to go to reach Laura's level of 'cyberpoet', but I have my aspirations, and isn't that what writing is all about? Each piece should be better than the last as we surely learn by doing. Early blog entries, like early drafts of stories or novels, are surely a way of learning our craft.

So I am blogging the way I want to, refusing to fret over whether anyone will bother to read, to comment,to follow...Blogging is about sharing, reflection, ideas...and isn't that what being a 'cyberpoet' is all about?

As I make frequent (too frequent) trips to the Internet I hope I can write something to satisfy my inner 'cyberpoet.' How about you??

ANOTHER SHORT STORY

I've been so concentrated on the travel article I'm writing and collecting pics for I've been neglecting the more creative side of writing - fiction. Last night I couldn't sleep so I wrote a whole story in my head. I've yet to see how much I remember. I was staying at someone's place so I couldn't get up and put it on the computer. Bother. Anyway, let's see how this story works out. Be so exciting to get it written and accepted somewhere...