Tag: contest

Flash Fiction Failure

~ Jim Flanigan

I enjoyed the NYC Midnight 100 word flash fiction challenge last year, so I decided to give it a go again this year. I just didn’t want to be assigned the horror genre like I was last year. Of course, you can be sure I was assigned horror along with using the action of tracing something in the story and the word lite. All in 100 words. My goal this year was to make it past the first round. I did not. Here are some of the reasons the judges did not like my story.

  • If you were to create a creepier tone to start with, I think it would better flow into the reveal.
  • Having so much dialogue in such a short story started to take away from what you were able to do, and meant the narrative and characters felt a little unformed.
  • The dialogue was a liiiittle bit tacky.

Well, it wasn’t all bad news, but there wasn’t enough good news to get past the first round. Here’s all 98 words of “A Drinking Problem” that I wrote in 24 hours for the contest.

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I Couldn’t Write Because I Was Writing

~ Jim Flanigan

Well, after 2+ weeks of not blogging, at least I can report I’m not dead. Not that you care. Not one of you came to my fake funeral service that I staged to see if anyone would come. Of course, it would have helped if I had notified you that I had died and there was a funeral service for me. But that would have been impossible with me being dead. I may have been fake dead, but I demanded authenticity. It turns out nobody at all came to my fake funeral. My wife blabbed to family and friends that I was faking my death. It was just a closed coffin, the funeral director, and me in a fake beard.

Yeah, George Clooney. I wish. So does my wife!

Anyway, after winning second in a short story contest, I got my head out a little bit too far over my skis. I decided to enter a favorite short story of mine in one of the Reedsy Blog weekly contests. However, it exceeded the 3000 word limit, so I did some abridging. I wonder if the story lost something in the process. Perhaps I abridged too far. Get it?

You can read my truncated story here. I wasn’t expecting to win, but I thought I had a chance at an Honorable Mention. Nope. Best I got was one favorable comment that made some sense. But did that stop me and bring me back down to earth? Nah! I decided to write and submit to this horror anthology.

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A Winning & Losing Short Story

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 3 Comments

I find I do some of my best writing to visual prompts. An author friend sent me info on a contest writing to this painting.

Anyone who knows my writing might assume I would pen one of my typical chucklefest stories, chock full of juvenile humor in an effort to elicit guffaws and chortles. But not this time. I wrote a rather lengthy (for me) story I call “Small Town America,” and it is a straight crime story. Upon writing and submitting my first crime story ever, the biggest surprise was this …

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That’s a Short One

~ Jim Flanigan

A year ago, I blogged about a micro-fiction short story contest that I was entering, and I even shared with you the story I wrote and rejected. I reread it and kind of like my story “Sk8tr Boy.” I wish I had submitted that one rather than the story I settled on using that didn’t get me past the first round of judging, which is my goal for this year. I just hoped I would not get a prompt to write a story in the horror genre again this year. It’s not a comfortable writing zone for me. So, this year, I received these prompts.

Ugh, horror again. And a slang word – lite. I immediately reached into my humor bag o’ tricks to see what I could make work. Here are a couple ideas I contemplated.

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Uncle Ed’s Toupee

~ Jim Flanigan

I blogged about writing a short story titled “Uncle Ed’s Toupee” for a contest, but I wasn’t sure I would get it done in time. However, the contest limited the submissions to 3000 words, so I thought short and came up with a nice, neat 1700 word story. As a bonus, the story will fit nicely in my collection of short stories about friendship that I hope to publish next year.

I uploaded it for the contest and was a bit surprised when I received a link to the story published online. I wasn’t expecting that because, as usual, I didn’t read the fine print. And then someone (I’m not sure who they are) reviewed it. And then some other people (I have no idea who) liked it. So, I may as well share it with you since I have anonymous strangers reading it. Maybe you can like it or review it. I have no idea if that’s possible. Anyway, here’s the link to “Uncle Ed’s Toupee.” I hope you enjoy it.

I see some changes I will make when I include it in my short story collection. I don’t expect to win anything in the contest, but it was a good experience writing to a deadline. Here’s a link to a website with a bunch of writing contests. Write on.

At a Crossroads

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t blogged for over a week. It would have felt good to take a blogcation except I was sick. Not that you cared. I didn’t receive one Get Well Soon balloon bouquet from any readers. I’m telling myself that maybe you tried but encountered some difficulties getting it to me.

Or, it may be due to what I hear is a helium shortage. Thanks, Biden. It’s hard for me to confirm such a shortage, because helium is an invisible gas.

A huge reason that I couldn’t blog this past week is because of writing.

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Write Right Now

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

I haven’t written much other than this blog recently. Personal and professional issues keep getting in the way. And an election is coming up. I was grateful when a writing buddy emailed me a link to a short story writing contest. No, I don’t think I’ll win.

Editor’s Note: Ugh, he’s feigning modesty again. This egotistical dummy is 100% certain he’ll win. You can be sure when he loses and the contest judges burn his entry in disgust, he’ll feign shock and surprise.

Anyhoo, I do have an idea for a short story. And the contest is 5 bucks to enter. Cheap, like me!

It involves writing to an artistic prompt, specifically this painting.

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Jim’s Poetry Corner

~ Jim Flanigan

I was going to warn you that you may not find this blog post humorous, but I am sure that regular readers are used to that by now. I had planned to enter a poetry contest, but decided against it. Great story, right? The contest was sponsored by Rattle.com, and while I didn’t enter their contest, I did submit my poem to them for publication consideration. Pretty smart, huh? I can still be rejected while saving money in the process.

So that you, the reader, can feel like you’re part of the rejection process, I will share with you my poem below. It’s titled “I Did Not Win The Masters.” Now you can read it and pass judgement on it, too.

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Plot Twist!

~ Jim Flanigan

I had excitedly blogged about a short story writing contest that I was entering. It sounded fun. They gave us the first line, last line, and a plot twist to incorporate into the story. I settled on a science fiction story idea that I had, although I had never written in that genre before. That was my first big mistake. My second was that it turns out that it wasn’t a contest. I went to submit my story only to find it was not a contest but a “challenge.” That second mistake probably negated my first mistake, because in a real life plot twist, my story sucked.

First, my apologies to anyone who took my advice and spent the time to write a story in order to win the contest that didn’t exist and a Pulitzer Prize. Can I get a show of hands as to how many of you that was?

Thank God there’s always one as dumb as me.

Anyway, my wife, my editor/cousin/godmother, and I all hated it. It’s a story that just lies there like a dead fish waiting to be fileted. What’s the logical thing to do with such story? I guess share it with you as a cautionary tale of how not to write a short story. So, here it is in all its mediocrity.

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I Participated!

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

The judges’ results are in, and I definitely participated in a 100 word micro fiction short story contest. If you are too lazy to click that link, I don’t blame you, but you’ll miss out on rereading the thrilling story I wrote, rejected, and did NOT submit to the contest. Here’s the 100 word micro fiction short story that I deemed contest-worthy and entered in the contest.

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Me Write Science Fiction?

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 3 Comments

I blogged about a writing contest where they give you a first line, last line, and plot twist to use to write a story. Well, here they are …

First Line – The attack was over in seconds.

Last Line – Far too many people put their faith in me.

Editor’s Note: That last line is so perfect for this dummy.

Anyway, I was okay with those lines and constructing a story inside of them. But then, the Plot Twist was revealed.

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Ready? Set? Write!

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

Attention writers who can’t get motivated to write. What better way to get writing than with the hope of winning a major award? Maybe that will get you off your lazy ass and writing something. I’ve blogged about some FREE writing contests in the past, and I’ve got another one for you. Here’s the link below to click.

Destination Unknown Challenge Registration – AutoCrit Online Editing

It sounds fun. They provide the opening line, a plot twist, and the final line. You supply the rest. And everyone who registers is entered in the prize drawing for what are described as “awesome prizes.”

The real prize is getting some writing practice. Sign up and write something. Maybe it will turn into an award-winning book of short stories like I wrote that I am practically giving away by selling it for only $0.99. Clicking my book link will be a prize for me for telling you about prizes for you. Does that make any sense? That’s why we need writing practice. Click, write, and maybe even win something.

Winning Time

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

If you use blogging to practice writing like I do, then this may interest you. I stumbled across this writing contest and entered on a whim. Correction, I entered on my laptop. It costs nothing. Just to be crystal clear, here is the link below.

Writing Challenge 2022 Registration Page v2 – AutoCrit Online Editing

Your story must be submitted by the 22nd of May, so I know time is short, but what else do you have to do? You already missed the deadline for filing your taxes, so what’s another couple weeks?

I have decided to enter a story that I penned for my next collection of short stories to go along with my collection of award-winning stories you can purchase on Amazon. My story is called Mount Driveway and has a real neighborhood feel to it, so I think it meets the theme of community. Oh, and it’s hilarious. Maybe you have some half-written story that also fits the community theme. Just finish it. Hey, how about that story you were writing about a small town mayor who is actually an alien and smites her political opponents during debates using lasers that shoot from her eyes? Yeah, that story. You know the one I’m talking about.

Just to be clear, you have nothing to lose, except I guess this contest. Good luck and write on!

Micro Fiction Short Story

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

I continue writing this slog of a blog to hone my writing skills. No, seriously, stop laughing. It’s true! Okay, maybe that’s not the case with the weekly, award-shunning Mite Be Funny cartoon every Sunday. But this forum keeps my writing skills sharp as an eraser.

For an added test of my writing skills, I entered a contest for a 100 word micro fiction short story at www.nycmidnight.com. I learned of that website from the person who plagiarized my Elvis story for one of their other writing challenges. I thought the 100 word limit with a 24 hour time limit and writing to prompts would be interesting.

The prompts I received were that it had to be of the horror genre (Yes!), include the word “tell,” and involve riding a skateboard. Easy peasy. I got not one, but two stories written. My wife and I rejected the first story, because I had misread the directions and thought I needed to include the phrase “riding a skateboard” in the story. I had incorporated that phrase, but in sort of a stilted, clunky way. Why do I have to read and follow instructions anyway? Isn’t this the US of A, land of the free? Don’t take my freedom away to write whatever the hell I want to write. Must be a writing contest run by Socialist Democrats.

Anyhoo, I liked the second story better as it seemed more horrific to me and the ending was more clever (cleverer?). So, what do I do with the first story after I tightened it up a bit? Give it to you, I guess. I mean, if you read the normal drivel in this blog, you’ll read anything, and this will be a definite upgrade. So, click the “Continue reading” link to get to the unused story.

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Chip In Your Thoughts

~ Jim Flanigan

I do my best to avoid Nestle brand products in protest of their ravaging of western Michigan’s groundwater. Click HERE for details in case you are interested in why you should buy a Hershey’s Krackel bar rather than a Nestle’s Crunch bar, besides the superior Hershey’s favor.

So, when Nestle announced a contest to find the most unique recipe for their semi-sweet chocalate chips, I was unmoved. Someone is going to win a year’s supply of chocolate chips and probably 50 extra pounds of fat in their ass for some weird receipe using chocolate chips in a mole sauce. Ugh, I hate that. This is how to eat chocolate …

chocolate chip eating gif

And if you must eat chocolate chip cookies, buy Chips Ahoy. They taste great and do not use Nestle chocolate chips. But stay away from this version …

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Time Monopolizer

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

Ugh. It is that time of the year again. The local grocery is encouraging us to play their Monopoly game again, the biggest time waster I have ever encountered. Sure, we have won every year, about a net $25 worth of gift cards + free products for about 100 hours of work. It is so much work that when it ended last year, I filed for unemployment benefits. Denied.

I had initially resisted the Monopoly game’s siren song this year. I actually passed on taking tickets after checkout. I was a reformed man. Then my wife came home with this stack.

Monopoly stack

Thanks a lot to my wife for enabling my filthy habit. As I spread the game tickets out on my bed and rolled back and forth over them, I casually grabbed one. It wasn’t long before it was open, and what did I see?

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Football Frenzy

~ Jim Flanigan

My fantasy football season was a disaster this year. My excuse is that I was so distracted by the mid-term elections and the need to elect a Democratic Congress, that my early season effort and concentration suffered. Thanks Obama, for not running for a third term. But I have enjoyed the resurgence of the Chicago Bears as they won the NFC North this season.

chicago bears

I get all choked up about it as I type this as will Bears fans that read this.

Sportswriters Todd Pork Chop

Or maybe it was just a pork chop. I don’t know. I do know I never expected the Bears to be this good. To amuse myself during the football season in case the Bears have a bad team, I play other football games like Pick ‘Em games where you just try and pick the winners of each game each week. I normally do okay in those games, and I usually just hope to win a weekly prize. My dreams got a little bigger this last week of the football regular season. Take a look at these standings.

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I Kissed My Sister

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 2 Comments

Figuratively, not literally. I don’t even have a sister. In fact, I’m an only child which explains a lot. But I recently figuratively kissed my sister. I have had a short story published. Yes, you will be able to read it. Be patient and read on. No, it is not a story about kissing my sister.

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Milestones

~ Jim Flanigan ~ 1 Comment

I’m off to Orlando on a business trip which once again underscores the complete lack of glamour in business travel. There is no place I would like to be less than the land of heat, humidity, and screaming kids at the height of summer. The trade show I am attending used to be held in Miami Beach in the summer. It was a lot easier for me to justify heading to the ocean than staying in the Mouse’s house nowhere near the ocean, but right in the midst of tens of thousands of vacationing kids. I truly dread this trip.

As I prepped for this trip, I realized that I had once again surpassed a couple milestones.

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