A very nice lady named Shirley McLain hosted a flash fiction writing contest on her blog. Flash fiction is generally less than 400 words. The rules of her contest were that the story had to have something to do with the Fourth of July (and she said to keep it clean).
I had never written any flash fiction before, so I took it as a challenge. Writing 400 words seems really easy, but coming up with an idea that can be executed in what amounts to a half a page of writing is tough. It took me a few days of toying with ideas in my mind before I came up with a one scene story that allowed for some kind of interesting growth in a character (how interesting it is, I suppose, is up for debate).
I wrote my story, gave it a little polish over the next day or so and sent it to Shirley with a note thanking her for hosting the contest. I actually had forgotten that Shirley was going to announce the winner today until I got an email from her this afternoon saying that I had won.
Now, I have no idea if she received two entries (there was a runner-up, so I know there were at least two) or a hundred,* but winning feels pretty good regardless. Shirley has posted my story, An Understanding, on her blog at www.shirley-mclain.net. Please check it out and let me know what you think (and while you are there, you should read some of Shirley's writing, too).
*What does it say about me that my immediate thought upon receiving Shirley's email was that she must not have gotten any other entries?**
**Also, yes, I am stealing Joe Posnanski's "Posterisk" style of in-blog side notes. I think it is much cleaner than footnotes. Another also: you should read Joe's blog - he's a sportswriter, and the best in the business, but he's much more than a sportswriter - he's just a great all-around writer.
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