My Writing Journey

Settling Into a New Stage in Life

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It’s been nearly a year since I finished homeschooling my youngest son, and my plan has always been that when I finished homeschooling my boys, I would work on my writing full time, and my husband fully supported this plan. However, the circumstances of life have a way of changing our plans. I know that God has called me to be a writer, and I know that God has a purpose for the novel I have been working on for about five years now, and my desire is to finish the final edits of my novel and publish it so that I can work on my next book.

However, writing novels in today’s world, and even in the past, isn’t going to earn anyone, except the rare bestsellers, a decent amount of money in a reasonable amount of time, and with gas prices fluctuating and now, mostly, on the rise again, as well as grocery prices constantly rising, my husband and I realized I needed to do something more than work on my novels. But, I was unwilling to do anything that isn’t writing related. In addition, I was unwilling to work outside the home, so I spent months searching online for a job that paid a decent amount of money and involved writing, and I prayed that God would open the right door.

I became frustrated when most of the jobs that popped up in my searches online required a college degree. With all of the writing experience I’ve had over the years, why couldn’t they look at my work and give me a job? What was a college degree going to do for my writing that all my experience hadn’t already?

Then, one day, I met my critique partner in a coffee shop and shared my frustration with her. She responded by telling me about an ad, she saw in a local paper that said they were looking for writers. The position she mentioned sounded minimal and boring to me, but I decided to take a chance, so in the late morning of that same day, I called the newspaper and explained to the woman who answered, the reason for my call. She said the person I needed to talk to wouldn’t be in until later that afternoon, when I wouldn’t be available. So, the woman took my name and number and said she’d have the person call me the next day.

The next day, my phone rang, and it was the Managing Editor of the paper. I explained why I had called and he explained more about the position my critique partner had mentioned then asked if I thought that was something I’d want to do. So, I decided to take a chance and explained that I’m a Freelance Writer and was looking for something more, so we talked for a while and I explained my previous writing experience, and he sounded interested. Then he asked if we could meet the next day, so we set up a meeting for the next morning.

The next morning, I met the Managing Editor, we talked, and I showed him samples of my writing in all the different forms I had written, and he offered me a job as a Local Reporter. That was near the end of January 2023 and I completed my first article for The Lancaster Patriot in early February 2023 and I have been writing one article a week, nearly every week for this local newspaper, and I really enjoy the job.

What about my novel, you might ask. Well, that’s part of trying to settle into this new stage in life — my plan is to write for the paper, write my 40 Book Reviews for Clean Fiction Magazine each year, finish the final edits of my novel so that I can publish it and start the next one, post more frequently here on my blog and on my Linkedin account, and resume my activity on my MeWe page and my MeWe writing group page. In other words, I want a life of full-time writing.

However, I also have to be my youngest son’s transportation back and forth to work most of the time because he is studying for his permit and cannot drive yet, and my mother is a senior citizen and has some health issues and she requires some of my time to take her to appointments or help her with things around her home that she can’t do on her own anymore, like running the vacuum cleaner and mopping the floors. Then, of course, there is caring for my own household and spending time with friends.

So, as I continue to try to create a schedule that allows me to be a full-time writer, life continues to throw other challenges in that force me to focus on writing for the newspaper and write my Book Reviews, and only work on my novel a couple hours a week and let my blog and MeWe pages slide. I find this frustrating and sincerely hope I can fit all of these writing things into my schedule soon, but it may mean writing a blog post and a Linkedin post once a month and doing a short MeWe post on each of my pages once a week. I’m still trying to figure it all out. If you are a writer who manages to do multiple writing tasks and still handle family and life responsibilites, please leave a comment letting me know how you handle it all. Maybe seeing how other writers handle life, will give me things to try until I find the best schedule for my life.

What I Learned About Writing by the Seat of My Pants

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Photo by Matt Moloney on Unsplash

First of all let’s take a moment to address the phrase “flying by the seat of your pants”, since “writing by the seat of your pants” stems from that original phrase. Where did that phrase come from and what does it mean?

The phrase “flying by the seat of your pants” came from the early days of aviation and first came into use in 1938 and was in relation to Douglas Corrigan’s flight from Ireland to the United States, when a mechanic had to help him rejuvenate the plane. It also was used because in the early days of aviation, they didn’t have a radio, instruments, or other navigational or communication equipment.

The phrase “flying by the seat of your pants” means you’re entering into the unknown and taking action without planning.

And that’s what “writing by the seat of your pants” means–writing without planning or just sitting down with your characters and an idea and simply writing as it comes into your head.

Well, that’s how I have written ever since I first began writing as a school student. The problem is that ever since I’ve been trying to write a full-length novel, writing without a plan hasn’t worked out very well. My first attempt at writing a novel did not result in a full-length novel. My second attempt at writing a novel ended up in the trash pile.

After those first two failed attempts, I heard about “Planning (or plotting) your story”, which means you do a lot of prep work for your novel: complete character interviews and write your characters’ back stories and descriptions of their physical appearance. In addition to that, you need to have a good idea of each scene from start to finish and you need to have your story mapped out. So, I decided to try this, but this literally killed my creativity. By the time I was finished planning, I had no interest in writing the story. I had spent all my creative energy doing character interviews and writing their physical descriptions and back stories, and I didn’t have any interest in writing scenes. I couldn’t even create a story beginning.

So, I decided to try a bit of a combination of writing by the seat of my pants and planning/plotting. I wrote physical descriptions of my characters, created back stories for them and knew who their immediate family members were and what kind of family life they had. In addition, I researched everything I thought I needed to research for the historical aspect of my story, and I had a very good idea of how the story would play out from beginning to end. But this didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to either.

I got about two-thirds to three-fourths of the way through my novel and suddenly, out of nowhere a new character showed up — not just a minor character, but this one had to be a major character who needed to be in the book from very close to the beginning all the way to the end. So, just when I thought I was nearing the finish line and ready to edit and publish, now I had to do some MAJOR EDITING.

At first I thought I was going to have to START ALL OVER, but thanks to a group I belong to on MeWe, I was able to ask if there was a way to do it without having to start over, and an already published author gave me excellent advice! She explained how I could place this character into scenes I had already written and simply build the character and the character’s presence from there.

Of course, I did have to scrap quite a few scenes and write new ones, but it is coming along quite well. But, now I know that I will do more planning/plotting before I begin writing, but not enough to kill my creativity. I have figured out the balance for me and I look forward to finishing my current novel’s edits so that I can begin the next book in the series, using my newly learned balance to writing both by the seat of my pants and, by doing some necessary planning, and I hope that this will help me produce the second book much faster and not require as many edits.

So, if someone insists you have to decide whether to write by the seat of your pants or to plan or plot your whole novel before starting to write, remember there is a balance between the two that might work for you. The key is finding what works for you and the way your creative mind works.

A New Chapter

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I have begun a new chapter in my life. I graduated my youngest son from our homeschool in June, 2022, after eighteen years of homeschooling, I have finished that journey. Does that mean I’m dropping out of the homeschooling world? No. I am still meeting monthly with a group of ladies in different phases of homeschooling: one, like me, who has graduated her only child, some who have just begun, and some who are somewhere along the journey. This allows me to share all I have learned in my homeschooling experiences to help and encourage those who are on the journey.

In addition, I still really enjoy teaching creative writing to all age groups, so I am looking into the possibility of teaching creative writing classes in local homeschool co-ops.

As a writer, I will still be attending the field trips, the field trip coordinator plans, that interest me because they could provide information for something I choose to write about: a character’s career, an animal/animals my character(s) may have to deal with, or any of many other possibilities.

However, homeschooling is no longer my primary focus nor will it take up nearly as much of my time as it has for the past eighteen years.

So, what will take up most of my time? Well, I am now working as a Book Reviewer for Clean Fiction Magazine (see the badge on my sidebar and click it to find out about this magazine). Therefore, I am now reading books and writing reviews to submit to Clean Fiction Magazine by a deadline for each quarterly issue, in addition to continuing to read and write reviews of books that some authors contact me, personally, to request. These will have to be squeezed in between the ones I write for Clean Fiction Magazine. And, then, there will still be, hopefully, some time for an occasional book for me to read and review for BookSirens, where my book reviews became sought after. There is also a BookSirens badge on my sidebar.

In addition to all this wonderful reading and Book Review writing, I am devoting a large portion of my time to my passion and the thing I have always dreamed of doing — writing fiction novels. I am currently working on the final round of edits for my first novel and hope to have it published in the first six months of 2023, but it all depends on how it gets published. I have been planning to indie publish, but I have found one small publishing company that I am quite impressed with, to which I am seriously considering first submitting my novel. So, we will see which way this novel ends up getting published. After this book, I have lots more story ideas in my head that need to be written. As a matter of fact, this book will be the first of a series of three or four books, and then there will still be more stories to follow.

I am also active on MeWe, where I post on my personal page and hope to start an author page sometime next year. I also have a group page for Christian Writers, as well as a group page for people who love Labrador Retrievers. I am also a member of a few other MeWe groups, some in which I participate in their chat conversations and some I just look at their page posts. Some I occasionally post or share a post on their pages. I have found MeWe to be my social media of choice and the only one I truly enjoy, so that is the only social media site I plan to be an active part of — because I enjoy it, and because social media requires a time commitment, and as you can see by reading the things I’ve already mentioned in this blog, it is not my only time commitment.

In addition to all I have previously mentioned, I will continue to post here on my blog as often as I am able. I also faithfully attend Sunday school and church and have church commitments and I have family and friends who require some of my time, as well as a Labrador Retriever/Boxer mix puppy I was given after my previous male Labrador Retriever passed away. These have required my time during my homeschooling years as well, as have some of the writing things I have mentioned. However, now that homeschooling will require much less time, most of the time homeschooling used to require, I will now devote to my writing endeavors.

I hope you will continue to find things of interest to you here on my blog and will continue to read and follow me here, and by all means, please feel free to ask questions or leave comments. I respond to every legitimate question and comment. In other words, I respond to every question and comment that isn’t spam, and I enjoy interacting with those of you who read here.

Update on My Writing Life

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Photo by Estée Janssens on Unsplash

I hope those of you who follow this blog have been reading and writing. I have been doing a lot of reading. My writing stalled for a while, but I’m starting to get back into the groove and feeling excited about my writing again.

About a month ago, I was approached by a small publisher who was interested in my work in progress (WIP). I sent my manuscript, though my edits weren’t complete. They said not to worry about it because if they decided they wanted to publish it, they would require a grueling edit anyway. Well, they really liked my manuscript and they offered me a contract. You would think I would be thrilled about that, right?

Well at first I was, but then I carefully read and studied the contract, and after prayer and careful consideration, I decided it wasn’t the right decision for me and my novel. However, that experience made it crystal clear to me that I will be an indie published writer, and I have lots of indie published writing friends who are encouraging me along that path and willing to offer tips and advice.

So, how soon will my first book be available, you might ask. It will be a while yet. I do need to finish edits, and under the advice of a friend, I have put the manuscript aside for a month or maybe six weeks and am focusing on writing something else. My friend said this would be a good thing to do because the I can return to my manuscript with fresh eyes.

What am I writing? A short story. I have a strong reason for writing it, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with it when it’s finished.

What’s new in your writing life?

Susquehanna Valley Writers Luncheon

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While many people shied away from group gatherings on Saturday, due to the coronavirus, one of my friends and I drove two hours to attend the Susquehanna Valley Writers Luncheon. Our speaker, Roseanna White (pictured above), did an excellent job with the two presentations she gave.

Before lunch, Roseanna shared about the importance of having a good relationship with your editor. Even editors know how precious your writing is to you. Your stories are your babies and you like to think and want to believe you wrote your story perfectly the first time, but this is not the case.

You need to realize editors are not the bad guys. They don’t want to ruin your story. They want to help you make it better, to help you please readers and make them want to keep reading your stories. Editors do not make suggestions on changing things in your story to “change” or “destroy” your story. Their suggestions will strengthen and improve your story. You need to build a relationship with your editor, and you need to trust your editor.

Getting defensive and justifying the way you wrote something and refusing to “fix” or “improve” it, isn’t going to enable you to learn, grow, and improve your stories. If you really want to be a good writer, maybe even a great writer, it’s important to humble yourself, build a relationship with your editor, and trust that your editor knows what he or she is doing and that their suggestions will make your stories better.

Roseanna shared that when we are “called to write”, if we don’t write, or we don’t release our writing into the world, we are stealing from our readers. If we have something that needs to be written, it’s because someone needs to read it. Therefore, it is our responsibility to write it and get it out there.

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After lunch, Roseanna shared a presentation about marketing. She talked about the importance of connecting with your readers. She shared that a weekly email newsletter is a great way to connect with readers and that, when done well and faithfully, readers miss your newsletter if it doesn’t show up in their inbox on the day it’s supposed to.

She also shared that that it is important that we give our readers what they need, whether that is encouragement or hope or something else, we need to give our readers what they need.

Marketing isn’t all about us and making sales. Marketing is about serving; giving our readers something they need.

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It was a good day with a good speaker, good messages, time with friends I hadn’t seen for a while, and making some new friends.

As I listened to the speaker, then spoke with my friend on the two-hour drive home, I realized I had taken a wrong turn, made a wrong decision in my writing. If you read my November post titled, “My Writing Life”, you know that I began working as a freelance writer in November. Well, I found it to be very hard work and much of it was frustrating. In addition, it took me away from my fiction writing, which hadn’t been my plan. I thought I could do both.

However, I realized about three days before this luncheon that I needed to make a change, but wasn’t sure what that change was supposed to be. I considered trying freelance writing on my own but decided that wasn’t the answer.

Saturday, it became clear to me that I need to return to my fiction writing because that is what I have been called to do. Because that is what I have always wanted and dreamed of doing. But with one difference — with looking at it like it is a job that I need to devote time to everyday. Therefore, I will be keeping the schedule I created for myself to do freelance writing and use it to write my blog posts and my novels. I will also attempt to write historical articles to submit to places, so as to use my research for more than just my novels. I will also start a newsletter soon, and I hope many of you here will be interested in being part of that. I am also thinking of starting a Facebook group.

So stay tuned and join me on this journey.

My Writing Life

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Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

I have been writing fiction for a very long time and I love it. It is my favorite thing to do. However, it takes a very long time to make any money as a fiction writer. Yes, I have a completed historical fiction novel, but only the first draft is completed. I am working on revising/editing it, but time is another problem I struggle with.

As a homeschool mom with one remaining child/student, I spend every morning working with my child, which means I don’t get to do any writing related items until the afternoon. So, roughly three hours a day, then it’s time to make dinner. Then I may or may not have two hours to work on writing related items after dinner before I get too tired for my brain to focus on such tasks. So, on a good day, I get about five hours to work on writing related items.

What writing related items do I have to work on? Well, I have this blog, which I really enjoy writing posts for. As a writer, it is also suggested that I have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, which means posting on all of these media sites daily. But I don’t. I have found that I am not very interested in social media, so I try to have a presence by connecting my blog posts to my Facebook writer page and Twitter accounts. At least that keeps me present there.

I have been writing for Almost an Author, a popular website for writers, for about a year now. I am one of the regular columnists for the site and am required to post four romance and four historical posts each year. This is not a huge commitment, but it is a commitment nonetheless. I am also a regular interview writer for Faith Filled Family Magazine and have been doing this for almost a year. I love the writing I do for both of these. However, none of these wonderful jobs offers a salary, but I am not willing to give them up. I enjoy them too much. Besides, they give me material for my portfolio.

Back to the part about homeschooling. Being a homeschool mom means being there for your child(ren) all day every day. This was an important decision my husband and I made seventeen years ago, and it was an important decision we haven’t regretted.  However, it can be quite challenging to live on one income in today’s world.

Therefore, I have entered a new writing world–the world of freelance writing. I have also taken my freelance editing skills with me, and have become active on a reputable freelance website, where I am applying for writing and editing jobs that I will actually get paid to do. However, the writing is not fiction. So I am learning and experiencing writing in the “real” (nonfiction) world. It’s very different and quite challenging as compared to my preferred fiction world, but I am finding it enjoyable so far. But, it is time consuming–time to look through the “want ads”, time to write proposals to apply for the jobs I am interested in and believe I am able to do, and then, time to do the jobs. So now, I am working with solid deadlines–no procrastinating is allowed or tolerated.

In conclusion, my writing life has changed once again. For now, I need to put most of my time into the freelance writing that will enable me to earn an income. That may mean that my fiction works, like my novel, will have to wait longer to meet the world. But, as in every part of my life to this point, I have always been one to do what needs to be done and to keep my priorities straight.

There are three more years, after this one, until my last child graduates, then I’ll have eight or nine hours a day to write. (At least that’s what I keep telling myself.)

Update on My Writing Journey

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If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may already know I finished the rough draft of my upcoming novel at the end of March of this year. I have begun revising and editing my novel and am currently working on chapter nine.

However, at the encouragement and urging of a writer friend, I wrote a proposal for my completed novel and revised and edited the first three chapters, added a query letter and sent it out to an agent. Then I tried to forget about it for the next sixty days. I also tried not to get my hopes up, as I know most writers receive many rejections before finally acquiring an agent and/or publisher.

I will say that I was surprised, when after just a week or two, I received a brief email from the agent’s assistant informing me that they had received my Book Proposal and would review it. I hadn’t expected that.

Then in early June there was an email in my inbox from the agent’s assistant. I was nervous about opening it, and after a brief pause, clicked to open it. As I read what was written, I took it as a rejection, felt hurt, posted on my Facebook Writer page that I had received my first rejection and gave myself twenty-four hours before writing or revising anything.

On June thirteenth, one of my closest writer friends was in the area and we met for lunch. At the time, she was preparing for her first published book to be released, so I printed a copy of my rejection email letter and took it along to show to her. She was glad that I had brought it because she had recently been to a writers’ conference where she attended a session about rejection letters.

After reading my rejection letter, she was really excited. She said, “This is not a rejection!” She proceeded to tell me there are three types of rejections: 1) a form letter; 2) a flat “no” with no other information; or 3) you simply never hear back from them at all.

Well, my “rejection” letter was none of the above. My letter states that “there is much to recommend in your story, and we can see your writing talent.” Then they state two things they didn’t like about my story, and end with “Because of your talent, we’d be happy to see other projects from you in the future”. Therefore, my friend said, “you should be celebrating. This is not a rejection, and I’ve been told that if you really want to try to get in with an agent who sends you this kind of information, you can revise the story, changing the things they didn’t like, and after a year, resend it to them. Or since they are willing to look at another story you write, write another one and send it.”

Her excitement and enthusiasm were catching, and what she said made a lot of sense, so I felt a lot better about the letter.

What did I decide to do in regard to my writing?

I decided that I am not going to send anything to any agent again until I finish my revision and edits on this novel and get it edited by an editor. Then I will rewrite my synopsis and send a proposal out again. I’m hoping to finish it and send it before another year passes so I wouldn’t be sending it to the same agent. Besides, one of the two things the email stated that they didn’t like is one thing I am unwilling to change because I would have to start the story all over from a completely different character’s perspective and that would change the entire story.

One thing that you will find whenever I get this novel (and any future novels) published, if you choose to read them, is that I do not write formulaic romance. I don’t know why that should be a problem, when one of the things an agent or publisher always wants to know is “what makes your book different from the others in the genre”.

I’ll keep you posted on this writing journey I am on.

Thanks for reading!

What’s Going on with my WIP

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I attended the Lancaster Christian Writers’ Super Saturday one-day writers’ conference the first Saturday of April this year. I’ve been a member of LCW for just about six years now and have attended their Super Saturday one-day conferences every year in that time period. I always enjoy the conference and have met and made lots of wonderful friends and valuable writing connections through this one-day event.

I thought last year’s conference was the best yet. Then I went this year, and this year’s conference topped last year’s! I attended a very informative session about how to market your book and I attended a session that I found would be extremely helpful as I edit my WIP.

So, what does all of this have to do with my WIP, which is what the title of this post is about?

Well, when I went to this year’s Super Saturday conference, I had completed my WIP and needed to begin the edits, but I decided to take my first chapter along and meet with one of the published authors that was offering one-on-one appointments, and it turned out to be the best one-on-one appointment I ever had.

But before I explain that, I need to take a small step back a few years first. I had made up my mind, not long after starting this WIP, that I was going to indie publish. Then, two years ago, I attended the Greater Philly Writers’ conference and had a one-on-one appointment where the person I met with was impressed with what I showed her of my WIP, and she encouraged me to try traditional publishing first. However, because my WIP was incomplete at that time, I couldn’t really do anything about it at that time. So, as time passed, I went back to my original plan to indie publish.

Now, return to this year and my explanation as to why this year’s one-on-one appointment was my best ever: this author loved my first chapter and she asked if I had begun to shop my manuscript around yet. When I said I hadn’t and that I was figuring I’d just indie publish, she encouraged me to try traditional publishing first. However, she didn’t stop there. She took the time to explain to me how to go about writing a good Book Proposal and suggested several agents and agencies to query. This all made me think, ‘wow, God must really want me to try traditional publishing first. This is the second time He made sure I was confronted about it, and this time, I was given direction.’

So, I prepared a Book Proposal, and I’ll tell you, I thought writing a Book Proposal is more difficult than writing my novel. However, I did it, and I have submitted it to the first agent. I decided not to send it to more than one at first. I really want to see what happens with this agent. If this one turns me down, then I will begin to submit it to a few agents simultaneously because I don’t want to waste too much time, either, but I have just begun my edits, so I don’t want to have to send my unedited WIP either.

As my WIP continues its journey into publication, I will keep you posted.

A Writing Update and Conference Highlights

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I AM FINISHED with the rough draft of my first novel! Let the editing begin — yes, that is my next step.

LCW’s Super Saturday one day writers’ conference went very well, and there were quite a few new attendees, including quite a few young people and one twelve-year-old boy. What a great thing to see!

There was a keynote address and four sessions. I attended a session presented by J.P. Robinson, who gave an information packed session on marketing!

I attended a great session on how to use setting to create strong emotional impact and suspense, which will be a great help as I edit my novel because describing and using my setting are weaknesses of mine, although I have improved from the start to the finish. I also attended an in-depth session on plot and character that had a great exercise to help understand the importance of really knowing your characters. Both of these sessions were presented by Ronie Kendig.

I also had a one-on-one appointment with Rita Gerlach who also writes historical romantic fiction. She read the first scene of my novel and gave me suggestions for two minor adjustments to improve it, but she really liked it and encouraged me in my writing. She also offered some advice on publishing.

Once again, a very valuable, worthwhile one-day LCW Super Saturday Writers’ Conference — Thank You, Jeanette Windle!

Have You Ever Tried to Write Flash Fiction?

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I know I’ve talked about Flash Fiction here before, but today I want to speak to those of you who are writers. Have you ever tried to write Flash Fiction?

I used to think it would be quite difficult to write Flash Fiction in the genres that I write: my WIP is Historical Romance, however I also like to write Contemporary Romance. Most of the Flash Fiction I have seen and read has been Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or Speculative Fiction. However, if you’ve been reading my Flash Fiction Friday posts, you’ll see that it can be done with Contemporary Romance. The fact of the matter is Flash Fiction can be any genre.

I will reiterate the Flash Fiction guidelines once again. Depending on whose definition you read, Flash Fiction can be anywhere from less than 100 words to 1,500 words. However, many Flash Fiction writers prefer to write 300-500 words. Flash Fiction stories, as all stories, still require the story to have a beginning, middle, and end. (I have a friend who thinks every Flash Fiction story she reads could be turned into a full-length novel. And, she has a good point, if you like to read novel-length stories. I know that I could, most likely, turn all of my Flash Fiction stories into novellas or full-length novels, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to.) Flash Fiction serves a purpose. Just like the renewed popularity of Short Stories in today’s world, Flash Fiction is also very popular because many people don’t want to take the time to read novels anymore. However, that doesn’t mean they want to read an incomplete story that leaves them hanging at the end.

Therefore, that’s why it’s important that your Flash Fiction stories have a beginning, middle, and end; and the end has to feel complete and it needs to satisfy the reader. It needs to bring closure to the story and bring resolution to whatever conflict you created in the short piece.

So, if you’re a writer and you haven’t tried writing Flash Fiction, I challenge you to do so. Why? Because it will definitely help you improve your writing because it will challenge you to write a good complete story in few words. My first Flash Fiction Stories were between 1,000 and 1,500 words. The ones I am writing and posting on my Flash Fiction Friday posts right now are 790-800 words, and these sometimes take a while. I began one yesterday afternoon, thought I had it finished but wasn’t happy with the ending. I worked on it again last night and I’m still not happy with it, so I will work on it again today and maybe tomorrow and another day before I manage to create a 790-800 word complete story that I believe is the best I can do with the idea I have for this story.

Therefore, I will probably continue writing Flash Fiction of 790-800 words for a while yet, until it becomes easy for me to write a complete and satisfying story of that word count. Then, I’ll shoot for 500 words. (I did write one Flash Fiction story of 500 words that I recently entered in a contest that required no more than 500 words. My story made it through the first round of judging, but didn’t end up winning. So, I took it to a critique group, got some feedback on it, tweaked it based on comments from the group, and made it a better 500 word Flash Fiction story.)

Writing Flash Fiction helps you to write concisely and to not overuse certain words or be too wordy. Flash Fiction requires you to write less characters so that you can still create one or two characters that your readers will be able to relate to; characters that are believable and that your readers will want to root for.

If you decide to take the challenge and try your hand at Flash Fiction, let me know if you post a Flash Fiction story on your website. Post a link in the comments, and I’ll visit your site and read what you’ve come up with. It will be fun to encourage each other in improving our writing skills.