Short Stories: January 15, 2013 Issue [#5470]
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Short Stories


 This week: The Flu Blues
  Edited by: Leger~ Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The purpose of this newsletter is to help the Writing.com short story author hone their craft and improve their skills. Along with that I would like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the short story author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.

This week's Short Story Editor
Leger~ Author Icon


Word from our sponsor



Letter from the editor


The Flu Blues


It started right before Christmas. I noticed people out shopping that should have been home with a vaporizer strapped to their chest. The coughing, hacking and wheezing was enough to make me double dose on vitamins and start praying to the health gods that I remain well for the holidays. We have a little grandson and I wanted to spend it playing with him, not making the tissue maker stocks rise at an alarming rate. I made it to Christmas day.

About midday I started feeling dizzy and feverish. Everything went downhill from there. I was happy enough to spend New Year's day being able to breathe through one nostril. The good news is I had time to do some reading and think about some goals for this year. In December I wrote a newsletter regarding resolutions. How are we doing on those? Oh. Not so good, hm? Forgive yourself and revise. Goals should be reviewed often. If something is blocking one path, try another. Tell yourself "this month I will..." and every week, take a look at how you are doing. It's so easy to ignore the difficult path and choose laziness.

So while I was in bed (a perfect time for introspection when you're not hallucinating), I wrote down some small personal goals I would like to accomplish. I edited the goals into short phrases and printed them on an index card. Then I stuck the card where I set my phone to charge every night. Now I look at the card before I go to sleep. This way I can think about my small goals and find a way to move forward on at least one. I've managed to complete one and it felt great to cross it off on the card!

So my advice this month is play some small ball. Don't try to do everything at once. And when you're at the gym, bent over wheezing because you're out of shape, forgive yourself for being lazy and don't overdo it. You'll get there if you just keep moving forward. Write on!


This month's question: One of my resolution suggestions for the New Year was to read more. Any book/story suggestions?


Editor's Picks


 
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Dear Me: Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. (E)
What are *your* goals for the new year? Think it over, write a letter and win big prizes!
#597313 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Do you have big plans for yourself this year? Will you finally finish that story that's been haunting you for so long? Will you try your hand at a brand new genre? Do you want to read and review a certain number of items by April? Will you take that first step toward self-publishing your latest masterpiece? Set some goals and resolutions for the new year and you could win big prizes!

 All the Money Open in new Window. (18+)
A moment that changes your life
#1913121 by SueVN Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: The first thing I noticed that night was the sound of the broiler shutting down behind me, twenty minutes before closing at midnight. I turned to the crew through the window and three wide brown eyes looked back at me. One pair of hands were frozen on a Whopper, half finished, one filling a coke at the drink station, one holding the salt shaker over the fries. I thought of mimes, frozen, then jerking in movements.

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God's Telephone Open in new Window. (13+)
2012 Quill winner ~ it will make you cry
#1875288 by Nixie Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Whenever Shea showed up, I knew he brought trouble—trouble in the form of my son, Max. I opened the door to the garage. A gaggle of twelve-year-old kids, pushing, hollering, and laughing, silenced when they saw my face. Shea spoke up.

The Hint Fiction Contest Open in new Window. (ASR)
Can you tell a story with only a few words? Hint Fiction requires a silver pen.
#1253724 by Storm Machine Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: All stories must be exactly 55 words.

 Under a Wider Sky Open in new Window. (18+)
Cowboys & Witches...naturally.
#1908895 by Raven Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: As I dished the food onto an enamel plate, I sighed. Here I was on a Monday, with the wash flapping on the line outside, all the marketing to do, and a demon sitting up to my table. I didn’t have time to bind demons, let alone go to figuring who in town could be the cunning man.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1891412 by Not Available.

Excerpt: Hannah’s friends hadn’t understood why a petite, toned twenty-two year old girl fresh out of med-school decided to date a forty-year-old New Gaian man. She’d tried to explain she wanted an exciting life crossing the galaxy with this tall, broad-shouldered exobiologist.

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1517815 by Not Available.

Excerpt: he clan knew she was a pet, not a human who'd escaped from a meat ranch. On the planet she came from years ago, it wasn't unusual for humans to speak, or walk around freely, or have jobs. She'd never seen another human here -- not alive, anyway.

 
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Ask & Answer


This month's question: One of my resolution suggestions for the New Year was to read more. Any book/story suggestions?

Last month's question: What goals would you like to achieve in 2013?


blue jellybaby Author Icon replies: For 2013, my first goal is to stick to my goals! I, probably like many others, start out with great intentions that fall by the wayside as life intervenes. I know I'd like to finish a novel I'm working on and hope to edit my NaNo novel too. They're things I always think, oh I'll do just a few more reviews first, then I look up and realise it's home time or so late that I'm almost at work. So those are my two writing goals this year! I know that I have other things to work on too...

BIG BAD WOLF is Merry Author Icon answers: Goal to achieve- finish the stories I've gotten started but not done.

Quick-Quill Author Icon responds: New Years Resolution-This year I AM going to finish revising my new novel and work on rewriting last years NaNo. Be more active reviewing on WDC and maybe even enter more contests.

dwarf2012 tells us: I want to submit to a paying publisher:short stories, novel or even poems!

Dawn Embers Author Icon submits: I would say that for 2013 my big goal is just to get further in my life plans. That includes having one of the novels I've worked on ready to submit to an agent. I want to keep writing, reading and doing more with the site but also to develop offline life goals too.


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