Sometimes, I find it hard to sort fact from fiction. The other day, I was at the grocery store buying a brisket. It was this ten pound package of vacuum sealed blood and guts. I stood in line, shifting it from one hip to the next; waiting. When I got to the counter, I sat it down for the cashier. She ran it across the bar-code reader, tossed it to the other side to be bagged, and said, “I love throwing meat.”
I laughed at the comment, but my “What if” mechanism started firing. I see the meat flying in slow motion, hitting the conveyor belt, ripping, and splattering its contents across the poor bag-boy’s face. He screams. The woman behind me folds over, throwing up, and it splatters my shoes.
I am standing there glassy-eyed as the cashier repeats the amount I owe. I pay and walk out of the grocery store wondering how I can work this into my #FridayFlash.
I didn’t even know what flash fiction was until I stumbled upon Editor Unleashed about a year ago. They were hosting a flash fiction contest, and I entered. As soon as I posted, I wished I hadn't.
I posted the wrong story, with a horrible title. It wasn’t even fiction. It was part of a collection of tales from my childhood; exaggerated truths. It was definitely a lesson learned.
I met some really cool people in the forum at Editor Unleashed: E.D. Johnson, Laura Eno, and Jon Strother. The three of them played this cool game where they posted a piece of fiction, a thousand words or less (flash fiction), on their blogs each Friday. They would then tweet their URLs with the hashtag #FridayFlash; forever linking their stories together and showing the world how cool they were.
I wanted in. I have never considered myself a writer, but I have always written. Flash fiction is a manageable chunk of writing that I can hold myself accountable for. I have started many novels, but I get overwhelmed by the sheer size of the project, and end up tabling them to work on later… or never. I can’t explain to you, with my limited vocabulary, how great it feels to finish something.
All of my life, I have written for an audience of one. Now, people take time out of their busy weekends to read what I have written. I am so honored to receive comments each week with reader thoughts and feelings, or what I could change to make my story better. It feeds my fire, and I want to write more.
I also love to read what others have written. Over the past year I have made the acquaintance of many amazing writers. I am shocked at the variety that is posted each week. I want to read, so they will write more.
Jon Strother asked me, “What does #FridayFlash mean to you?”
My answer in essence is Everything: It’s all of those “What If?” moments; The love of writing; the wonderful sense of accomplishment; the honor of you reading my posts; the emotional rollercoaster of reading your posts; friendship; family; and rubbing elbows with genius.
Thanks, Jon, for making me feel at home here, and Happy Anniversary, #FridayFlash!
~2
This is my submission for the Friday Comes Monday contest on Mad Utopia. Readers, there is a contest for you too, check it out: HERE
Continue to checkout the #FridayFlash hastag on Twitter for great flash Fiction each week. If you're confused about how all of that works, hit me up on IM and I will walk you through it ;-)
MSN: tomaral@hotmail.com Yahoo: mara_barz or shoot me an email tomaraa@gmail.com
