Yearly Archives: 2019

Did  you know the next National Flash Fiction Day will take place on Saturday, 15 June 2019?

National Flash Fiction Day was founded in 2011 by Calum Kerr, a writer, lecturer, editor, typesetter, book designer, and generally ‘someone who spends a lot of time with words’. He’s written over 1000 flash fictions, and is the author of The World in a Flash, a ‘how to book’ in which he shares his knowledge and experience of writing compulsively readable flash stories.

The NFFD is currently run by three flash fiction enthusiasts,  Santino Prinzi, Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Diane Simmons. Their aim is to celebrate all that is exciting, bold and above all, brief, in the world of flash-fiction.

All this sound pretty exciting, so let’s get down to details.

National Flash Fiction Day aims to:

• Promote flash fiction and flash fiction writers in the UK and beyond
• Inspire new short-form writing
• Encourage new writers and writers of other forms to explore flash fiction
• Provide a positive, encouraging, inclusive community for flash fiction writers and readers around the globe

Submissions are now open for the 2019 NFFD Anthology and Micro Fiction Competition!

This is what the organisers say:

• The 2019 Anthology:  We’re looking for flashes up to 500 words on the theme of ‘Doors’.  Deadline: 15 March 2019.  For full details, please read our full anthology submission guidelines.
• The 2019 Micro Fiction Competition:  Flashes up to 100 words are eligible.  There is no theme for the Micro Fiction Competition.  Deadline: 15 March 2019.  For full details, please read our competition submission guidelines.

Right. Sheet of paper or new document. Brainstorm ‘DOORS’. The more original the idea, the better. As the resident frog will vouch…

Unusual ideas can come from exploring unusual situations.

Frog: (Not very cheerfully)

I’m seriously thinking of looking for another job!

What if… you could have three wishes for 2019?

Three wishes to change your life. Let the game begin…

Oooh! How a thousand things do spring to mind!

Indeed!

World peace.

A ginormous lottery win.

My bus is never late.

My pernickety boss is offered is dream job… in darkest Peru.

That superior woman – you know, the one who knows everything and is never wrong – is sent to the Antarctic, with a team of huskies, and an impossible mission.

Yours truly wins the tennis club annual tournament.

STOP!

It’s my game, and I can see I need more rules. You have three wishes. For the magic to work. they must be personal and specific, and there must be the possibility, even though slight and vague, that they are achievable.

So browse your brains for more ideas.

OK. I’m feeling penniless after Christmas? How about a designer outfit going for three pounds fifty, AND it fits me perfectly?

Personal and specific, yes, but three pounds fifty? Not possible.

I wish for a new suitcase, a new swimsuit, and a ticket for a fortnight’s holiday in the Maldives.

On your pay? Please! Besides, that’s three wishes in one.

It’s time to take this seriously.

Seriously?

Yes. Think about things that would make your whole future better in some way.

What would you wish for, then?

After a lot of thought, and a great deal of pondering, here are my three wishes:

I wish that by the end of 2019 I will understand people better.

You mean, you want to work out why some people seem unfriendly, or unreasonable? 

Like my boss.

Like that superior woman I sent to the Antarctic!

I wish that I shall learn to complain kindly but firmly, when necessary, whether it’s about a poor meal in a restaurant, for example, or about homelessness and injustice in the world.

You sure do need that one.

Actually, I need it too.

I wish for an imagination that will carry me through every task I set myself.

For those stories you want to write? Be confident!

For that book you’ve been too busy to get on with? Just do it, pal. Just do it.

I can see that my three wishes have something to do with courage, confidence and perseverance. These are exactly what I wish for all my writing friends.

Here’s to a successful 2019 for us all.

Frog: (m

errily)

Hellebores for Christmas…

… and the first primrose of 2019.

There’s always something new to discover.

A happy new year to frog supporters everywhere.