Yesterday, I received some interesting writing contest prompts from Reedsy in my inbox, all dealing with form, and I decided to give one a shot. As the prompt creator, author Erik Harper Klass, describes, considering form is a different way to attack fiction writing. I’ve always been intrigued with the form and structure of stories—as…
A few months ago, I entered a rhyming short story contest and progressed to the second round. A few days ago, I learned I didn’t progress further.
Kind of a bummer but not surprising. Competition is tight, and there are many, many great writers out there. That said, I feel I did my best. I wanted to share my story.
I was assigned a specific genre, theme, and emotion. Can you guess what they were?
In September, I entered NYC Midnight’s first ever rhyming story challenge. Over 3,000 writers were placed into one of 88 groups, and each group was assigned a genre, theme, and emotion, about which the writers had to complete a rhyming story with a plot. My group’s assignment was Science Fiction, Forbidden, and Abandoned. Last night,…
In the late afternoon sun, we head away from the car parked alone in the dirt lot, quickly reaching the shade provided by the rock face. Caleb walks toward the nearest cliff, glancing behind him. “You sure you’re ready for this?” I nod, peering beyond him for a hidden crevice or cave I might have…
Today’s the day! The Note: A Historical Mystery is officially part of the literary world. When I started writing it over a year ago, I had no idea how timely its story would be or how its release would be scarier than any I’ve done. Why would a book release be scary, you ask? For…
It’s been a hot minute since I had a new book out, so this is very exciting. Allow me to introduce you to The Note: A Historical Mystery. The ebook is now available for pre-order at a reduced price and will be released August 2, 2022! The paperback won’t be far behind. Here’s the official…
Last month, my friend Heather Kindt and I sold books at Albuquerque Comic Con, our fifth event where we shared table space, learned and relayed each other’s pitches, and vied for the attention of new readers. This being our fifth time selling together, in addition to each of us attending writing- and book-related conferences individually,…
*creeps up to dusty, neglected blog* *blows dust off neglected blog* *coughs* Much better. It’s strange to discuss the past year, isn’t it? For me, it was divided into two parts. The first part was filled with remote teaching and online tutoring, which, given the circumstances requiring those things, made me loathe my computer. Not…
Alternate title: You want me to drive where?? So over the holiday weekend, the fam and I went camping. It was the first camping trip for our now 4-month-old puppy, Brin. She is in the tent pic. It’s a “when you see it” kind of thing. I’m sharing this because the real story is in…
Last Friday was the last day of school, AKA my last day of work for the summer. I’ve been chewing on this post since before then, but because remote teaching has made me loathe my computer, it took this long to actually get the words down. I’m not saying my feelings are like that. But…
More horror in the form of anthologies, that is. It’s no secret that pandemic times have been rough for everyone. For me, a year of remote teaching along with editing and tutoring side gigs, which require almost constant computer use and related technological adventures, has made me want to do this at the end of…
Last November, I entered a 250-word flash fiction contest hosted by NYC Midnight. Thousands of writers entered, and we were placed into groups of 50-or-so and assigned an action, a word, and a genre. Our story had to include all three parts, and the top ten in each group would advance to the second round.…
This happened on Twitter last night, which was New Year’s Eve: My Gen-X heart may or may not have skipped a beat. The year 2020, which I can now happily say was last year, will be famously remembered for being largely horrible for general reasons I don’t need to expand on here. Personally, it presented…
I open the closet and lug out the vacuum for the third time today. Creeping around my heels, Rylie grabs the dustpan and 3-year-old sized broom. “I seep!”
This week’s prompt over at Carrot Ranch is a fun one: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about snacking. It can feature crunchy snacks or creamy one. Who is snacking on what and why? My take may be esoteric, but enough writers follow this blog that I think it will be…
Allison Maruska 