Jeanie Writes Genre
Once upon a time...
Monday, January 21, 2008
Contests and snarky dreams
The other night I dreamed I was browsing in a Barnes & Noble when I overheard a shopper behind me outing another shopper as Miss Snark, with said outtee copping to the accusation. I turned around to see who made the confession. It was Stacey London from What Not to Wear and Fashionably Late. She was dressed in a black power suit and red stilletos, with a white poodle tucked under her arm. "OF COURSE Miss Snark is Stacey," I thought. It made perfect sense in my dream. It still does. They both dole out advice that I don't always agree with but that I always trust enough to consider, and I always pictured MS looking like SL anyway.
Moving on...
I came across a couple of contests on my Live Journal friends list this morning (both posted at Nanoljers) that I'm thinking about entering. I don't often do contests--actually, I think I've entered exactly one short story contest, so make that "virtually never"--but it's probably time that I start, if for no other reason than to practice my short story skills. They certainly need the practice.
Byzarium is holding a contest to write a flash fiction piece based on this picture, and the first lines are already floating through my head. I should probably catch them and pin them down before they get away.
Miniwords is a contest to write a complete narrative in 50 words or less. Yikes, talk about a challenge! The prize is 250 pounds (it's a UK contest, but it's open to everybody), and that ain't too shabby. At the current exchange rate, that translates to roughly $488. For fifty words. And you can enter three times in each category (there are also categories for verse and haiku forms). Sign me up.
I'm going to try my best to get active at Ficlets again this week, but my novel needs to take precedence, so that will just depend on how busy and/or stuck I am.
And that's the writerly goings-on in Jeanie's little world this week.
Moving on...
I came across a couple of contests on my Live Journal friends list this morning (both posted at Nanoljers) that I'm thinking about entering. I don't often do contests--actually, I think I've entered exactly one short story contest, so make that "virtually never"--but it's probably time that I start, if for no other reason than to practice my short story skills. They certainly need the practice.
Byzarium is holding a contest to write a flash fiction piece based on this picture, and the first lines are already floating through my head. I should probably catch them and pin them down before they get away.
Miniwords is a contest to write a complete narrative in 50 words or less. Yikes, talk about a challenge! The prize is 250 pounds (it's a UK contest, but it's open to everybody), and that ain't too shabby. At the current exchange rate, that translates to roughly $488. For fifty words. And you can enter three times in each category (there are also categories for verse and haiku forms). Sign me up.
I'm going to try my best to get active at Ficlets again this week, but my novel needs to take precedence, so that will just depend on how busy and/or stuck I am.
And that's the writerly goings-on in Jeanie's little world this week.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
The Year's First Ficlet
I've decided to challenge myself to write a ficlet a day, in addition to working on the novel, just to exercise my imagination muscles and build my short story skills (which are lacking. I can do drabbles & flash fics, and I can do novels and novellas, but I can't seem to do anything in between. Or at least do them well).
Today's ficlet was inspired by this picture. If it happens to inspire YOU, dear reader, you can write a prequel or sequel to it here. You can also find my tiny handful of '07 ficlets here.
And here's today's ficlet:
Today's ficlet was inspired by this picture. If it happens to inspire YOU, dear reader, you can write a prequel or sequel to it here. You can also find my tiny handful of '07 ficlets here.
And here's today's ficlet:
Fairytale Ending
They arrived at sunset. It was beautiful-breathtaking, really-like something out of a fairytale. The Disney versions, even. But Jensen knew that this story was closer to the ones handed down before the Grimm brothers got hold of them and gave them a good polish.
Her grandfather had made sure she knew those version. He’d wanted her to be tough, not under any illusions.
She thought of the girls who had been brought here, one at a time, and wondered what illusions had filled their imaginations as they first laid eyes on this place, with its Happily Ever After facade. They must have thought they were entering a romance novel. Horror and True Crime was surely the farthest things from their minds.
At least until their boats docked.
As the boat pulled closer, Jensen flashed her badge at the uniform on the pier and donned her scuba mask. Time to bring up the bodies.
©2007-2008 by JM Bauhaus
Labels: ficlets, short fiction
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bite-size is the right size
I finally got around to signing up at Ficlets today, and playing around in that sandbox. My contributions, meager as they are, can be found here.
It's not much, but at least I wrote something today.
Starting tomorrow, I'm on vacation for a whole entire week. I have a feeling I'll be too busy (when I'm not sleeping) making with the merry to work much on the novel, but I'll try to visit it and squeeze in a few words daily, if only to keep it fresh in my memory until I'm ready to attack it vigorously once again.
Merry Christmas, y'all. See you in a week.
It's not much, but at least I wrote something today.
Starting tomorrow, I'm on vacation for a whole entire week. I have a feeling I'll be too busy (when I'm not sleeping) making with the merry to work much on the novel, but I'll try to visit it and squeeze in a few words daily, if only to keep it fresh in my memory until I'm ready to attack it vigorously once again.
Merry Christmas, y'all. See you in a week.
Labels: ficlets
