When You Have to Cut . . . A Lot

In my experience, tight writing is marketable writing. In part this is because I write for the school library market. A biography for fourth graders may be only 2500 words long. Some of you write essays that dwarf that word count! But flash writers also face tight word counts. The cut off for a flash piece may be only 750 or even 250 words. So, what do you do when your draft is too long?...

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4 comments cutting words from a story, reducing your manuscript's word count, revision, Sue Bradford Edwards, word count

INTERVIEW WITH KIMBERLY CROW: WINTER 2024 FLASH FICTION CONTEST RUNNER UP

Kimberly Crow is an accountant living in Massachusetts with her two young children, husband, and roughly three billion LEGO pieces. When she’s not working or parenting (or picking up LEGOs), she writes novels and flash fiction, spends time outdoors with her family, and fantasizes about moving to London. Her flash fiction is featured in the literary journals, Every Day Fiction and the tiny journal.interview...

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Leave a Comment interview Kimberly Crow Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest Runner up flash fiction Sue Bradford Edwards

Interview with Elizabeth Bird, Runner Up in the Q2 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest

  A retired Anthropology Professor, Elizabeth Bird has published seven books (most recently Surviving Biafra: A Nigerwife’s Story), and now writes creative non-fiction. Her work appears in Under the Sun (winner, Readers’ Choice Award 2022), Tangled Locks, Biostories, Streetlight, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, HerStry, The Guardian, Mutha Magazine, 3Elements Review, Heimat Review, and elsewhere. Her...

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Leave a Comment Contestant interview, Elizabeth Bird, Renee Roberson, WOW! Q2 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest, writing advice

We're Not Competing With Human Writers Any More

 To tell you the truth, it's not so much that I really thought other writers were my competition throughout my career. Not really, anyway. It's more that I recognized who was in the same lane as I was, so to speak. In my earlier days of professional freelancing, I knew who was in my playground. I knew the kinds of writers who would be going for the same jobs as me. They had the skills I did...

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Interview with Amanda Smith: Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest Third Place Winner

Amanda’s Bio: Amanda Smith is a budding flash fiction writer, aspiring children’s author, poet, and former high school English teacher. She finds time for writing after working her day job in philanthropy—and putting her toddler to bed. She lives in Silver Spring, MD with her daughter, partner, and two dogs. You can find her on Twitter @amanda-n-smith. If you haven't already done so, check...

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Leave a Comment Amanda Smith, Anne Greenawalt, Third Place Winner, Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest

No Ordinary Thursday by Anoop Judge: Blog Tour & Giveaway

Anoop Judge is back! She had so much fun with her blog tour for Mercy and Grace that she's back with No Ordinary Thursday. It's a book for readers who love the tale of dysfunctional families or the experiences of First Generation Americans. No Ordinary Thursday has a little bit of everything: romance, friendship, scandal, feuds, adventure, secrets. You'll find it tough to stop reading about...

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4 comments Anoop Judge, author interview, giveaway, No Ordinary Thursday

Interview with Barbara Y. Phillips: Q2 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest Runner Up

Barbara’s Bio: Barbara Y. Phillips, a social justice feminist and emerging creative nonfiction writer, appears in Brevity Blog, Herstry, New York Times, Southern Cultures, The Citron Review, 2023 Anthology Aunt Chloe: A Journal of Artful Candor, Black Memoirs Matter Anthology of Memoir Magazine (forthcoming) and others. Her essays on democracy include Imagine and Create the Third Reconstruction...

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Leave a Comment Anne Greenawalt, Barbara Y. Phillips, contest runner up, Q2 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest

Friday Speak Out!: The Savvy Reader

by Megan StaffelWhen I first started to write fiction, I was afraid to read. I didn’t want to pick up a published author’s style. We writers are good mimics and often, I would slide into the voice from whatever novel was my current book. But a life without reading fiction would have been dreary indeed, so luckily, I learned that the bits and pieces of other writers’ work sifting into my work would...

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1 comment craft of writing fiction, fiction writing, Friday Speak Out, Megan Staffel, reading other writers, revision process

The Role of an Unreliable Narrator

  I have a love-hate relationship with the unreliable narrator literary device. I love that a story told from the POV from an unreliable narrator can keep you turning pages, questioning reality, or maybe, gasping in surprise at the end of a book. (This was me recently, when my mouth dropped at the conclusion of Lisa Jewell’s suspense/thriller None of This is True, followed by me shaking a...

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3 comments Renee Roberson, storytelling devices in literature, the role of an unreliable narrator

Interview with Mira Fu-En Huang, 2nd Place Winner in the WOW! Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest

  Mira Fu-En Huang is a professional musician who likes to tell stories through singing as well as writing. When she is not dashing about for concerts or working her day-job in the nonprofit sector, Mira enjoys reading, writing, café-hopping, crafting, and collecting stuffed animals. She is currently working on a young adult coming-of-age novel (which may or may not ever see the light of day),...

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1 comment 2nd place winner, Contestant interview, Mira Fu-En Huang, Renee Roberson, WOW! Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest

Reader Review Wrap Up and Giveaway for Karen Jones Gowen's We Burned Our Boats

Today I'm excited to host a reader review event for Karen Jones Gowen's We Burned Our Boats! About the Book: Bruce and Karen Gowen are facing a retirement that neither one wants. Bruce can't imagine life without employment. Karen wants change, adventure, a chance to spread her wings and fly away after thirty years of raising their large family.Their opportunity comes in a way they can both...

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9 comments book giveaway, karen jones gowen, memoir, Travel Memoir, We Burned Our Boats

Interview with Tess Kelly: Q2 2024 Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest Runner Up

Tess’s Bio:  Tess Kelly’s work has appeared in Cleaver, HerStry, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes and Sweet Lit, among other publications. Her essay, “Woman in the Covid Bubble” was the first place winner in the Women’s National Book Association 2021 writing contest, in the category of flash prose. A former public school teacher, Tess lives and writes in Portland, Oregon.----- Interview by Angela...

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Leave a Comment Q2 2024 Creative Nonfiction Contest, Tess Kelly

Reader Review Wrap Up and Giveaway for Elizabeth Maria Naranjo's What Was Never There

Today, I'm thrilled to share a reader review event for Elizabeth Maria Naranjo's short story collection, What Was Never There.  About the book:A mother and daughter lost in the woods must overcome their worst fears to find their way back. A father going through a divorce witnesses a seemingly impossible motorcycle accident, which forces him to question the truth of his own perceptions. A little...

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11 comments book giveaway, Elizabeth Maria Naranjo, Reader Review Event, Short Story Collection, What Was Never There