#FridayFlash, NaNo and Writing About Writing

It's funny how things go.  When I first started writing there was no way I'd show my stuff to people. I also knew there would be a long way until I could muster the courage to do so. Although, I knew that nowadays writing doesn't have to be a strictly lonely activity, so I signed up for Twitter and started talking to like minded people. 

This is when I first learned about #FridayFlash. Oh boy, how badly I wanted to be a part of it!  But I was still shy, so I watched, read and learned. 

On May 2010 I finally gathered my wits and wrote my first flash fiction, Zombie Walk.  The response was so great that it even got published on an e-zine, Flashes in the Dark, and it inspired me to run a contest Zombie Luv, which was so very funny and a great success! Recently, to my surprise, it was accepted in the anthology The Best of Friday Flash vol. 2, or as we affectionately call it, BOFF #2. (I strongly suggest you follow the links and buy the thing. The stories there are... Wow!)

After that first push I got a little bolder. I wrote weekly stories and made great friends in the #FridayFlash community. I even joined WeSeWrimo (Web Serial Writing Month) and NaNoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month), and got some great writing experience from it. 

WeSeWrimo I "won" kind of easily, since you're the one setting your own goals. I was very modest and made the best of it. NaNoWrimo is something different altogether. You have to write 50K words in a month, and if you have never tried something like that, let me tell you this is no easy task. NaNo flunked very early on, but I wasn't too upset about it. 

A few months later life got the better of me and I stopped writing. It took me over a year to put it together so I could even consider the writing venture again. No matter, in due time I got back and I do write a few stories now and then, and even, *cough, cough* poems. O.o (Not showing those publicly, sorry! :P) 

Ironically enough, now that I write much less than I used to, I find myself writing about writing. Back when I started Randomities (this blog you're reading, if you're new here ;) I set a goal of sharing only my stories and other random stuff. What I least wanted was to write about writing, because I thought that such meta-writing was for the likes of Stephen King, not people like me. 

Well, life got the better of me again! Recently I was humbled and honored to be invited to join the #FF staff as a contributing correspondent. I hope I'll be up to the challenge! You can make your own mind about it by reading my first article: "NaNo madness this year? Thanks, but no thanks".

So, if you're curious to know why my NaNo experience flunked, and more importantly, why I'm totally okay with it, follow the link above. I hope you'll find it somehow useful. ;) While you're at it, I suggest you browse through the Friday Flash website. It's full of information and links to uncountable wondrous stories. Have fun! 

Darkening - #FridayFlash

Partial picture credit
(can't find the original artist in this website or anywhere else)

I'm coming back home on a spring day. The sunset increases the contrast of city colors; the horizon is plastered with blues, oranges and yellows. I twist my nose at the garbage on the street and hear the voices behind me. 

"Bro, it was so easy!" 

"Dunno, man..."

"Swear ya. It was, like, pitch black, like. No way they saw my face. Girls are easy to do, bro." 

I feel him smirking and my fingers roll tightly into fists. They seem not to notice me. 

"Really, it was like... two seconds, bro! They were coming like right at me. The street was dark already and there was those trees. Kinda scary. But it was like a desert so no chance the cops could get there in time. Irress... Irressis - You know!" 

"Irresistible." 

"Yeah! You're the brain-man! Like that villain in the cartoon. Superman, like."

I start thinking of alternate ways. I certainly don't want to lead these two to my doorstep. I don't want them having brilliant ideas.


"I mean it, bro. I took one grand like that!" He snapped his fingers. "Easy as shit."

I relax a bit but my indignation stabs me like a broken beer bottle. 

"A G?" 

"Yeah." I feel him grinning, his rapper sneakers, the below waste jeans and his sideways Yankees. I feel his pride and his friend's greed; another crook coming to life. I feel them closing in and my eyebrows have a nice little gathering on my forehead. I stop to cross the street and contemplate the alternatives. There are still two blocks to get home and the week's work is collecting its toll, weighting on my shoulders and dragging my stomach down. Is it worth walking one extra block or they don't even know I'm here? Such a stupid idea to wear a skirt today... I hold my breath, the stoplight flashes green and I hear their voice dissolving in the past. I breathe out and carry the weight home.

*

This is a translated piece so please forgive any strangeness.  Besides, I'm rusty!