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by Catherine Russell

Literary Celebrations for June

May 30, 2013 in Celebration, eBooks, Holidays = Inspiration, Reading, Thursday Writing, Tips and Suggestions, Writing Fun by Catherine Russell

For those of us who love books, there’s good news. June is Audiobook Month, so you can put the time you drive or do other chores to good use listening to a good book! Remember, libraries don’t just carry the paper ones! And for those of you who want to make use of EVERY spare minute, June is also National Bathroom Reading Month. After all, flash fiction is short enough to read in just one “sitting.”*

Don’t worry. There’s enough obscure holidays to make every week enjoyable!

1st Dare Day

Why not take a writing dare this day, or even issue one yourself?

7th National Doughnut Day

I know this one doesn’t really have a literary theme, but what writer doesn’t love junk food?

11th Dirty Book Day

Hey, 50 Shades of Gray is mainstream now; right?

19th Mass Market Paperback Book Day

Ebooks are on the rise, hardcovers look nice on the shelf, but what’s better to take to the beach on a nice warm day than a book, conveniently sized to fit in a pocket or purse?

21st Finally Summer Day

Take advantage of all the natural light on the longest day of the year and finish that book you started a couple days ago. Maybe cool off with a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster while you’re at it.

25th George Orwell’s birthday

On this day in 1903, Eric Arthur Blair was born. Later, he would go by the pen name George Orwell and write some of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. Whether you pick up 1984, Animal Farm, or one of his shorter works, be sure to remember a great writer on this day.

28th Paul Bunyan Day

Find out more about the legendary logger and his giant blue ox, Babe!

So dress appropriately for the warm weather, keep cool with lots of water and cold fizzy drinks, and don’t forget to bring along a good book as you celebrate your summer.

*I’m sorry; I just can’t help myself.

**Many of the holidays cited here were found at Holiday Insights. Other sources have been linked where applicable.

***image from BigFoto.com provided with their kind permission.

 

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by JM Strother

Fourth Anniversary Blog Hop

May 23, 2013 in Blog Tour / Blog Hop, Celebration, Contests by JM Strother

Anniversaries are important events around the world for individuals, organizations, even nations. They mark important dates for almost any imaginable occasion. It just so happens that May 29th will mark a significant anniversary for us here at FFDO. Four years ago to the day, on May 29, 2009, #FridayFlash was born. Back in the early days there were but a handful of participants, no website, no Collector, NewsFlash, nor News Hound. Just a bunch of curious writers trying to figure out the whole Twitter thing.

Now, four years later, we have grown into quite an international community. We are not only on Twitter each and every week with the #FridayFlash hashtag (or #fridayflash, if you prefer), but have a strong presence on Facebook and Google Plus. Not to mention this website, home of the aforementioned Collector, NewsFlash, and NewsHound, and our weekly Thursday Writing articles, as well as two published collections of the best of Friday Flash from the community at large. All in all, not bad for four years of effort.

Why do we do this?

The entire premise of #FridayFlash is to give writers a venue in the social media realm to find their voice, and perchance their audience. It is not as much of a pipe dream as it may seem. Several Friday Flash authors have gone on to win, place, or show in major awards, been published – both traditionally, and via self-publishing – and develop a loyal following. While we cannot claim credit for their success, we are proud to have been part of their writing journey. Four years on, our goal remains the same, to help you find your own way toward your writing goals, be they professional or not.

So, to mark our 4 Year Anniversary, and to help celebrate Short Story Month and Flash-Fiction Day, we are sponsoring a blog hop. To enter in on the fun simply follow these 4 simple guidelines:

  • Write a story of four-hundred words or less that deals with a fourth year anniversary. It can be any kind of anniversary – four years of marriage, cancer survival, landfall on a new planet, survival as a zombie – the possibilities are fairly limitless. (While we picked 400 for obvious reasons, we won’t be sticklers.)
  • Download the 4 Year Anniversary blog hop badge, designed by our own Angie Capozello.
  • Post your story, along with the badge and a link back to this post on your own blog.
  • Enter your story details in our new blog hop Collector, brought to you by our technical guru, Tim VanSant.

The hop begins now, as this post goes live and will run thru the end of the month, at which time the blog hop Collector will be closed to further entries. Your story does not have to be a Friday Flash, you can post it any day from now until closing. If you do use it as a #FridayFlash remember to also add it to the standard Collector so it will show up in the weekly listings. Above all, have fun with this.

To add to the excitement we will offer two prizes, one for writers, and one for readers.

For participating bloggers we will choose one of you randomly from the entries in the blog hop Collector to receive a Duotrope 1-year gift membership. It is our hope that this prize will be useful to you in finding the right market for your various writing projects over the coming year. If it does prove useful to you, we’d love to hear about it.

For those of you who take the time to visit the various blogs and comment on the stories, we will choose one blog at random and then one comment at random from that blog post (spam and troll comments as well as auto link backs excluded) and send you a $20 (or equivalent) gift certificate from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository or Better World Books (your choice). We believe the BD and BWB options may be more appealing to some of our international readers.

Out of curiosity: have you ever written a piece of fiction based on a real world anniversary in the past? Did anyone recognize it for what it commemorated? If so, how was it received? While there are no prizes, we’d love for you to share any such anecdotes in the comments below.

Sign up here:

The collector is now closed

Visit these participants:

Home Again by Elise

Greenspirits by Samantha Redstreake Geary

The Ghost of Uncle Bud by Lee-Ann Khoh

Death Day by Beverly Fox

One Good Friend by Janet Aldrich

The Setting Sun by JM Strother

Galactic Traveler by L.G. Keltner

‘Little Miss Know-All’ by Natalie Wood

King-sized Bed by Deanna Schrayer

The Librarian by Angie C.

Both the Future and the Past are Unwritten by Katherine Hajer

Four Years by Catherine Russell

How often…? by Estrella Azul

STARDATE 3025 by Helen A. Howell

Sweet Potato Revolution by John Wiswell

When you gotta go… by KjM

Fourth Birthday Parade by Sonia Lal

Quaternary Life by Marc Nash

The Revenge Engine by Tony Noland

WHAT DO YOU LIVE FOR? by JP West

Something Happened Four Years Ago by Tim VanSant

Thanks to all our Friday Flash family.

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by Catherine Russell

May Holidays for the Literary Minded

April 25, 2013 in Celebration, Holidays = Inspiration, Thursday Writing, Writing Fun by Catherine Russell

Let’s face it. Some days just cry out for creativity. Aside from the more popular holidays, like Mother’s Day and Cinco de Mayo, the merry month of May is brimming with reasons to celebrate.

What April Fool’s Day is to clowns, the month of May is to bibliophiles.

#

May 3rd: Make a Book Day*

I’ve found several other days cited for making books also, including May 1st, but this one lands on Kite Day as well as Paranormal Day. So, take from that what you will. Perhaps make a book about possessed kites?

May 4th: Free Comic Book Day (first Saturday in May)

This day may possibly be the busiest holiday for my family, since we make a point of hitting as many comic books stores as we can. Participating stores give away copies of special edition comics printed just for the ‘holiday’, often with people dressing up as their favorite characters. And in addition to getting free stuff (who doesn’t love that?), it’s usually a great way to find new stores to haunt.

May 4th: Star Wars Day (In Los Angeles, May 25th in honor of the 1977 release of Star Wars)

May the Fourth be with you. Honestly, I didn’t make up the pun, but many bookstores hold special Star Wars themed events on this day(s). Why not take advantage?

May 5th: Cartoonist’s Day

Need I say more?

May 9th: Peter Pan Day

Celebrate the birthday of author James Barrie, creator of the beloved children’s classic, by indulging your inner child. Peter Pan can be downloaded free of charge courtesy of Project Gutenberg. Do you believe in fairies?

May 12th: Limerick Day (Edward Lear‘s birthday)

Read one or write some of your own!

May 14th: George Lucas Born

Have a cake or design a birthday themed story for the creator of Star Wars!

May 15th: L. Frank Baum

Read one of the Oz books or watch one of the movies; indulge your inner child… or maybe a child you know.

May 18th: O. Henry Pun Day

Hosted every May at the O. Henry Museum in Austin, Texas, the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships feature punsters celebrating world play. Even if you aren’t in Texas, you can engage in a some of “the lowest and most groveling kind of wit (according to John Dryden).” Tweet, blog, or post your most witty and/or obnoxious homonyms and double entendres. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a little PUN and games?***

May 22: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Write a story, read one, indulge in some creative analytic thinking, or just call everyone ‘My dear, Watson,’ all day. But be sure to remember that this talented author wrote more than just the beloved Sherlock Holmes stories. The creator of this incredibly logical character was a spiritualist, but he also wrote The Lost World and a wealth of other adventure stories.

May 25th: Towel Day

Towel Day is a fan created holiday to honor the late author, Douglas Adams. In his famous series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a towel is cited as being the most important thing an intersteller hitchhiker should never be without, so fans proudly wear a towel and/or take pictures of themselves with their towels, to show their love of a great series and a wonderful author.

May 25th: Nerd Pride Day or Geek Pride Day

I’ve never celebrated this particular holiday, having only recently discovered it, but I love this. Such notable institutions as Think Geek and Wired magazine have honored this day in the past, so be sure to look for cool stuff from them, or maybe just subscribe to a podcast like The Functional Nerds!** Nerdfighters.com is also a cool place for nerds to hang out and play.*****

May 31st: Walt Whitman’s Birthday

The author of Leaves of Grass left behind a poetic legacy. Honor the day of his birth by reading or listening to some of his work or creating some free verse poetry of your very own.****

#

Obviously, the reason that May is such a merry month for writers is the abundance of days to celebrate both our literary and cultural diversity. Be sure to keep something on you to catch your overflowing creativity. Go forth, grab a towel and a free comic, and celebrate to your heart’s content!

-

*Many of these holidays have different dates depending on the source, so I can’t attest to how “official” they are. However, do you really need an “official” reason to do something fun?

**In the interest of full disclosure, I do write book reviews for the Functional Nerds website, though I stand behind my recommendation. Their shows are always fun and entertaining.

***I had to do it.

****Both the text and audio of Leaves of Grass can be downloaded free of charge from Project Gutenberg as well as ManyBooks.net. I often turn to both these valuable resources for free ebooks.

*****Editor Estrella Azul couldn’t help but add this website to the nerdy mix.

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by JM Strother

Three. Two. One. We Have Ingition.

October 30, 2012 in BOFF 2, Book Launch, Celebration, Community News by JM Strother

Today marks the launch of the Best of Friday Flash – Volume Two, or BOFF 2 as it is affectionately known around here. BOFF 2 is a collection of some of the best flash fiction to be found on the web and we are happy to see its release to the wild. To join in on the fun attend the official launch party on Facebook.

On this auspicious occasion we here at Friday Flash Dot Org want to take a moment to thank all the people who made this event possible.

A stack of Best of Friday Flash - Volume Two

First and foremost we thank the writers who answered our call for submissions. Unfortunately not everyone who submitted was accepted, and some very worthy candidates were, by necessity, not picked up. I know and admire folks we had to turn down. I count some of them as personal friends. For me, as one of the Editors, the single hardest thing to do was sending out those letters of regret. But deserving stories will find a home, of that I am sure. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that the stories that did make it into this terrific collection were selected by a blind panel of judges. In the end we wound up with a fine collection of stories which does a wonderful job of showcasing the diverse talent which makes the #FridayFlash community so vibrant and alive.

Which brings us to the next group we need to thank, our blind panel of judges.

This year we used Submittable (formerly Submishmash) which allowed us to operate the entire submission and selection process blind, i.e. the judges did not see the author’s names when doing their evaluations. While not perfect (unlike me, some judges probably have very good memories) this ensured the most fair process we could manage for story selection. We want to thank all the judges for their diligent and fair-minded efforts.

The editing burden this year was a shared effort. On a personal note I want to thank my co-editors, Tony Noland and Rachel Blackbirdsong, for their assistance in putting it all together. Since we had three editors this year, we have three stories selected as Editor’s Choice picks. Congratulations to TS Bazelli for “Quick Draw,” Mike Robertson for “Ice Boat,” and Kevin J. Mackey for “Intimate Strangers.” Your stories are exemplars of the breadth and depth this community captures every week in 1000 words or less. Amazing work, every one.

As always, we want to thank our readers. Your encouragement, comments, and critiques week in and week out are invaluable. We also thank you for picking our Reader’s Choice Award, “Running Away,” by Cathy Olliffe-Webster. Congratulations, Cathy.

Finally, we want to thank our publisher, eMergent Publishing, and Jodi Cleghorn in particular. She helped shepherd the book through the entire process, gave timely and sage advice, a shoulder to lean on when most needed, and even designed the cover. It was pure pleasure working with Jodi, and eMergent Publishing. Jodi, we are proud to bear your imprint.

You can see the full Table of Contents of BOFF 2 at the eMergent website, where you can also purchase a copy (or two) for your very own.

And don’t forget the party on Facebook. Drop by and say hello, have an hors d’oeuvre, or glass of punch (careful, I’ve heard it’s spiked), and then go out and help spread the word. And thank you all again for participating in #FridayFlash.
~jon

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by JM Strother

Happy (belated) Birthday to Us

March 23, 2012 in Celebration, Community News, Friday Flash by JM Strother

A birthday cake with one candle by Hatem RiahiYesterday was FFDO’s first birthday. Despite repeated reminders that it was coming up I somehow managed to miss the date. Like a bad father who can’t even be at his kid’s first birthday party, I was off doing something else. At any rate, I don’t want the anniversary to pass completely unmarked, thus this (albeit late) post.

Happy Birthday FFDO, and thank you to all the folks that make it happen. That includes the terrific Tiger Team (Angie, ED, Estrella, Susan, and Tim), as well as all the folks who read and write #FridayFlash. None of this would happen without all of you.

We have grown over the course of the year, and now have 101 on site members, 93 subscribers, and 347 members on Facebook. Not bad for an Internet writing meme. We hope to grow more in the next year, and toward that end are implementing some more user friendly features. You’ll hear more about that from Tim soon. We are also looking for suggestions from you, the readers and writers, on suggestions on how to improve the website and bring you more features you might find useful.

So if you have any suggestions, or even general comments, please feel free to express them below. We hope to see you all here again next year.
~jon

Photo by Hatem Riahi (HatM) via Flickr Creative Commons: attribution, noncommercial, and share alike

 

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Avatar of JM Strother

by JM Strother

Chinese Whisperings Launches Today

December 2, 2011 in Book Launch, Celebration, Community News by JM Strother

Graphic for the official launch of the Chinese Whisperings books.The paperback editions of eMergent Publishing’s Chinese Whisperings anthologies launches today. The publishes, Jodi Cleghorn and Paul Anderson, are both part of the #FridayFlash community as are many of the authors involved. I encourage everyone to drop in on the official launch party over on Facebook and leave an encouraging word or two, and seriously consider the purchase of a copy of one or both of these excellent collections. The launch party runs through Friday. You can also follow the #pangaean hash tag on Twitter where many of the authors from the Yin and Yang are live tweeting as their characters. The Yin and Yang Book revolves around the collapse of the fictional Pangaean Airlines, thus the hashtag.

The Red Book is the first of the CW brand and features ten interconnected stories arranged in a circular fashion. This means you can start reading at any point and work your way around and still get the full impact. It is a very cool concept. It is set in a small university town somewhere in North America and deals with ten characters who “grapple to stay sane in an insane world.”

The Yin and Yang Book is also an experiment in collaborative writing, but here the stories are arranged in more of a “sliding door” arrangement, where characters, situations, and timelines come together in unexpected ways. There are twenty stories from contributing authors, (ten men and ten women – the Yin and Yang of the premise), which are tied together as a unified whole via a the prologue and epilogue, written by Jodi and Paul. The effect is something more than an anthology, bordering on a novel. Again, quite an interesting concept and a fun project to be involved in. Yes, I do have a story in the the collection: No Passengers Allowed.

If you look at the list of authors involved you will find many names you are quite familiar with. Please drop in and wish them well. And remember, Christmas is just around the corner.
~jon

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by JM Strother

Happy Birthday To Us

May 27, 2011 in Celebration, Contests, Friday Flash by JM Strother

A cake and icecream with a lit 2 candle.Today Friday Flash is two years old. I think the toddler is now fairly steady on its feet, and as any parent knows, once that happens anything goes. No telling what kind of mischief they get into after that. Before you know it FF will be asking for the keys to the car.

Well, to help celebrate we’re having a party. We have chocolate cake with chocolate icing, and a little chocolate ice cream to the side. OK, some strawberry shortcake too for those who aren’t quite so addicted to chocolate. Just pop on in anytime today to wish the little tyke a Happy BD, grab some cake, and participate in the party games.

Party games?

Oh yes. What kind of birthday party doesn’t have party games?

We thought about pin the tale on the donkey, but decided the risk of popping balloons was too great. The werebeagle is easily upset by loud popping noises. So to keep things from getting ugly we’re having a little writing contest instead.

In 100 words or less, tell us why you like flash fiction. You can approach it from the perspective of either a reader or writer of the form. Just leave your little micro essay in the comments below. Three lucky people will be chosen by the Random Number Fairy to receive an ebook copy of Best of Friday Flash – Volume One. One lucky entry will be picked to receive an Amazon gift card for the paperback edition by the werebeagle based on the quality of the essay. (Yes, the werebeagle can read when in proper form). Comments must be posted before midnight UTC minus 12 (i.e., come midnight on Howland Island). The winners will be announced in a follow-up post next week.

Please help us celebrate. And Happy Birthday, to each and every one of us!
~jon

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