Day: June 12, 2013

The Definition of Winning

The Secret Scribe proofreads his flash fiction entry.
The Secret Scribe proofreads his flash fiction entry.

The flash fiction challenge is probably my favorite feature here at Indies Unlimited. Each Saturday morning, we post an invitation – open to anyone – to write a story in 250 words or less based on a photograph and written prompt . Entrants have four days to get their story submitted.The contest is free, and voting gets good exposure for all the qualified entrants. The story voted reader favorite receives its own spotlight post and inclusion in the anthology at year-end. But you probably already know this.

The Indies Unlimited 2012 Flash Fiction Anthology is a big hit. We gave away lots of free copies, and it’s priced at only 99 cents in hopes of gaining new readers for the winning authors. So why don’t more people enter?

“I only want to enter if I think I can win. I’ll wait to see who else submits a story and then maybe I’ll give it a shot.”

I’ve got two words for that: SAY WHAT?!

I’m going to tell you a secret. Continue reading “The Definition of Winning”

Our Weekly Flash Fiction Challenge Poll

Who will be this week’s Flash Fiction Star? The time has arrived once again for IU readers to choose their favorite entry from this week’s flash fiction challenge.

We had a number of great entries. Kudos to all the entrants. Check out this week’s entries here. Vote for your fave then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

 

Who is your choice for this week's Flash Fiction Star?

  • Renee Pierce Williams (54%, 26 Votes)
  • Rich Meyer (13%, 6 Votes)
  • Krista Tibbs (10%, 5 Votes)
  • Yvonne Hertzberger (8%, 4 Votes)
  • Marjorie McCoy (6%, 3 Votes)
  • Aron Joice (4%, 2 Votes)
  • RG Bud Phelps (2%, 1 Votes)
  • Tom Kepler (2%, 1 Votes)
  • Michael Allen (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 48

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceeded the 250 word limit were eliminated from the poll.

An Unlikely Roadie

Photo by Michael Messner

I’m going to depart from my usual topics this month…no musings about why non-fiction gets a bad rap or cosy tutorials to demystify geekiness. I’m going to tell you about my week instead. Partly because it has been utterly extraordinary and partly because I relearned something about storytelling.

It all started with my pal Valerie. Occasionally she’ll get an idea in her head and nobody will be able to budge it. She’ll know it’s nuts but she has to do it anyway. She also knows exactly how to work my strings to get me giving it a go too. Sometimes it’s a relatively trivial idea, like ‘let’s go ziplining,’ or ‘camping in the snow will be fun!’ On this occasion however the mad idea spread wider than one terrified and/or frozen Carolyn. Continue reading “An Unlikely Roadie”