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So you saw me do the 30 Day Flash Fiction Challenge and you’re feeling like you want to give it a try too. Good for you. I think we can always use more short fiction in the world and one of the best ways to improve your writing is to write … a lot … Every. Single. Day. To be honest, before the challenge I hadn’t been doing that at all. That’s why it came about. It was a way to whip my lazy behind into shape. It worked. If you want to establish the habit of writing fiction this challenge is a good place to start. Here are some things I learned along the way.

Lesson One

I’m very much influenced by what other people are doing. Constantly looking around at what everyone else is doing to see what I should do is my weakness. Most writers I read about wake up early and write in the morning. I’ve tried to force myself to do that too. It doesn’t work for me. In the morning, I write garbage mostly. Waking up too early makes my brain hurt. I’m useless in the morning, but after dinner, once the rest of the day is out of the way writing is a breeze. It stops being torture and starts being magic. [Read more…] about 30 Day Flash Fiction Challenge Lessons Learned

Rachel ‘s knees burned as they skidded on the black top. The skin ripped from her palms, she stayed there for a few moment. Her hands and knees bled into the ground. Her heart pounded. Her lungs were fire. She didn’t think she could get up, but when the first girl passed her she had no choice. Rachel was going to win.

“It only matters that you do your best,” her father had told her, but she knew what he really meant. He always won. The dusty trophies in the box on the top shelf of the hall closet were proof. Ever since Rachel could reach them on her own she’d take them down when she was home alone and look at them. She’d feel the weight of them in her hands and run her fingers along the golden runner poised on top. “First Place,” they all said. [Read more…] about The Finish Line (Flash Fiction Challenge)

The door opened, just like it did every day, but this day was different. The footsteps were light and uneven. The smell was sweet and unfamiliar. When the door opened it was always because someone was bringing me food, but not today. There was no food.

The door of my cage creaked open. Then there were hands and smells and voices sending me to the corner as far away from them as possible. I could not get away. There was nowhere to go. [Read more…] about B.B.’s Life (Flash Fiction Challenge)

Louisa had never been to the beach before.

“That’s absolutely unbelievable!” Crystal said when she told her. “Everybody’s been to the beach.”

Louisa had moved to San Diego from landlocked Oklahoma only a few months ago, trading the days at her parents’ cattle ranch for her childhood dream of becoming an actress. She drove out to California in an old Jeep Cherokee that no one thought would make the trip. It survived and managed to carry her from audition to audition once she reached LA.

Most people who had been landlocked their whole lives would have made the beach a priority, but Louisa was only interested in her dreams. The only reason she mentioned the beach to Crystal was because she was getting ready to audition for a part as a lifeguard.

Crystal packed the cooler with bottles of water and Diet Coke. They put on their bikinis and took the Jeep Cherokee to the ocean. It was a balmy spring day. The azure blue sky was punctuated with cotton ball clouds. Seagulls squawked as they swooped through the air.

The beach was exactly what Louisa expected, powdery white sand between her toes, groups of people barely dressed oiling themselves to cook in the sun. The briny air was alive with joy. The waves danced and undulated toward the sand. They laid out their beach towels and Crystal popped open a soda.

“Let’s get in the water,” Crystal said. She put her soda down and ran toward the Pacific Ocean.

Louisa felt alive. It was shocking to her how this place she had never been to before felt familiar, even more familiar than her home. She followed Crystal out to the water.

As the salty waves moved up her legs something strange began to happen. With the water up to her waist, Louisa was suddenly unable to walk. Her legs acted as if they were bound together. She tried with all her might to step one foot forward and then the other but just couldn’t move them independently. “Crystal!” She let out a panicked cry.

Crystal was floating on her back. She stood up and came over to Louisa. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s something wrong with my legs.” Louisa imagined the worst. She was afraid that she’d loss use of her legs completely.

Crystal helped her hop to shore. Once she entered the shallow water Louisa was horrified by what she saw. Her once long slender model’s legs had fused. The skin once golden was now the same color green as the kale she put in her green smoothie every morning. Scales lay like sequins over her flesh.

“What is happening to me?” Louisa yelled.

“Looks like you’re becoming a mermaid,” Crystal said.

Louisa flopped down onto her bottom. Sitting in the water she raised what should’ve been her feet into the air. They were now flippers. “This is impossible,” she said.

Other beachgoers had noticed Louisa’s mermaid tail and started to gather around her. They took pictures of her with their phones and posted videos of her online.

Louisa was certain that her new tail would be the undoing of her acting career. She wouldn’t let her dreams be dashed so easily.

Crystal had to drive her to the audition for the part in the lifeguard TV show. Driving with a tail was nearly impossible. She didn’t get the part because the tail prevented her from wearing the red one-piece bathing suit the role required. The producers liked her though and before she knew it Louisa was starring in her very own reality TV show, Oklahoma Mermaid.