With Gratitude

WRITING

In April 2024, literary agent Janet Reid passed away.

Her blog was a place for learning and growing in the craft, for encouragement and support, for humor and snark, for cats and sharks. Ms. Reid gave her “Reiders” room to stretch those creative muscles by holding many, many flash fiction contests. I actually won the first one I entered, in May 2012. The moment I saw her comment – Holy Smokes! – is still one of the best of my writing journey.  

Whenever self-doubt looms – and it does, large and often - I return to that moment, and to her many comments over the years. I tell myself that if the Janet Reid saw something in my weird words and my creepy stories then maybe I can do this writing thing after all, that I should keep going. 

 

My gratitude, unlike those flash fiction contest rules, will never have a word count limit. 

*****

 

READING

A couple of unique reads for you – 

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden is tagged as historical fiction/fantasy/paranormal, and I would say it’s all that . . . and more.

 

The Deadly Daylight (Alice England Mysteries #1) by Ash Harrier is a Middle Grade mystery, and one I can’t stop raving about. I love the writing, but I adore the main character of Alice and the dynamics of her relationships with others, especially her father. 

*****

 

WATCHING

My husband and I finally finished our re-watch of the original series, “24”. Even the seasons that were kind of clunkers had great scenes and episodes. Overall, we had a blast!

 

*****

Were you familiar with Janet Reid, her blog, Query Shark? Are there words you return to when you doubt yourself, in your writing or in your life? Have any books/movies/shows to recommend? 

Round and Round We Go

You all know by now how much I enjoy writing short fiction to prompts or themes. Well, over the holidays, literary agent Janet Reid held a flash fiction contest. But this was no ordinary flash fiction contest. Usually, we have about 48 hours to write a 100 word story that must include all five prompt words.

This time? Rounds. Four of them.

Round One: Prompt Word = bird, Number of Words = 30
Round Two: Prompt Word = ring, Number of Words = 25
Round Three: Prompt Word = colly, Number of Words = 25
Round Four: Prompt Word = sent, Number of Words = 20

Most of the usual rules applied along with a big twist: You could write individual stories each time OR build on a previous "starter" - yours or someone else's (with attribution, of course.)

It. Was. A. Blast.

I chose to build on my story. It was a risk because I didn't know what the next round's prompt word would be until it opened. I kept my story creepy (big surprise!) and my fingers crossed that I could make the prompt words work. My entry is below, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

*****

Fog shrouds the house.

A bird flits by a window, the old glass broken from within.

The fog breathes, escapes.

The bird does not.

Inside, the occupants are still hungry.

Long ago, they gathered at the dinner bell's ring.

But the meal was not for them.

The only thing to grow up was their rage.

Now, they're the monsters. Cursed, caged.

Desperate, their tongues, long and twisted, bruised colly and cobalt, lick the walls, tasting memories of blood and bone.

When they turn on each other, it's swift, unsentimental.

Only one remains.

She crunches her brothers' bones, satiated.

For now.

***** 

Would you build on your own story? Someone else's? Or would you write a new one - with that tiny word count! - each round? Do you enjoy writing to prompts or themes or super small word counts? Or do you find them too restrictive?

Gasp!

One of my favorite books of 2016 was I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. It was a great read for a number of reasons, one of which were the twists. But . . . I read a lot of books with twists. Why did this one stay with me? I couldn't put my finger on it until I read this post - "Surprise Me" by literary agent extraordinaire, Janet Reid, where she says:

"I want to gasp. I want to put the manuscript down and just enjoy that moment when the author turns the story upside down."

Yes! And that's exactly what happened to me when I read I Let You Go. I found myself scrabbling back through the pages to see what I missed. But you know what? I hadn't actually missed anything.  

Ms Reid explains it like this: "That's what surprise is: we had the info, but we didn't know what it meant. . . A good surprise makes perfect sense but you just didn't see it coming."

I want to do that for my readers, whether it's in the short form of a story or in the long form of a novel. I want them to have that moment, maybe even more than one. It's certainly something worth striving for, even if it is, as Ms. Reid says, ". . . really, really simple stuff . . . and hard as hell to carry off."

Is there a book that stays with you because of its twists and turns? How about a movie or TV show? Do you aim for that in your own writing? How do you achieve it? 

A Flash Fiction Finalist!

It's no secret around here that I'm a big fan of literary agent Janet Reid's blog, and that I am a total sucker for her flash fiction contests. I enter more often than not, and even though my entry doesn't always garner recognition or finalist standing, I love the challenge, love stretching that creative muscle.

So, I was excited to see that my entry - "The creature leaves Janella gifts...." - was a finalist for last week's contest! Not only that, but all the finalists' entries received comments from Ms. Reid herself, saying why she enjoyed that piece.  

If you'd like to read my story and all the finalists, including the winner, click here.

If you'd like to see the contest details and read all the entries, click here. 

Call Out for Contest Entries: The Liz Norris Pay It Forward Writing Contest

Literary agent Janet Reid is hosting an amazing contest over at her blog. All the information can be found here, with some more information available here. 

The basic idea: "To celebrate the publication of UNRAVELING by debut author Liz Norris we're sponsoring the Pay It Forward Writing Contest. We're looking for a debut writer with a great voice and energetic prose (like Liz!) We're looking for a novel that grabs us, enchants us, and keeps us glued to the page (like UNRAVELING!)"

Oh, and check this out:  "The prize is: 
1. Registration for the Backspace Writing Conference in NYC (May 24-26)
2. Hotel for three nights (Thurs, Fri, Sat)
3. Travel stipend of $300
4. Lunch with Liz Norris' agent"

You've got to send the query and the novel - any category or genre! Check out the above links and Janet Reid's blog for all the rules. But you've got to hurry - the deadline is March 15th!

I so wish I had something ready to send! But I know a number of you have manuscripts almost-there or ready already. I wish you all the best of luck! Go for it!