#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! 

#ZombieLuv Wrap Up

I'd like to close up highlighting the best of what happened during the #ZombieLuv fever. There are some things -- and people -- that deserve an extra shout out, so here it goes.

Of the 37 awesome contest entries, the great winner was Tell-tale Bit, by Nishida C. It's not for nothing that it was an unanimous decision. Really.

This story was also the debut post of her awesome blog. I suggest you visit her and read her fantastic poetry. :)

Nishi, I'm still waiting for your email/DM with your physical addy to send the second prize (book), ok? ;P

The contest's second place, Dead Flames, by Angel Zapata, is up at Flashes in the Dark, where you can find more stories from this fantastic writer. Angel has some chilling stuff in there I wouldn't miss if I were you. ;)

Also, the honorable mention and people's choice, For the Love of Mike!, by Sam Adamson is up here at Randomities. What a fun story! We're still trying to figure out what the zombie mouse eats. If you have an input, please join the discussion on the comments or through the #zombieluv hashtag. Fun! heh

If you missed the contest, there's a link to all entries here.

If you're curious to know how the fun begun, you can take a peek into my interview on The Penny Dreadful website. There you'll also find some fantastic serials and even a cool webcomic with a charismatic zombie boy. Excellent stuff!

I do babble a bit about myself on the interview, so if you want to skip that part you can read how it all begun here, heh.

During the period in which Randomities was dead, a few posts lost some of their appeal due to Randomities' grayness. They were meant to be pretty things you know? I'd like to suggest you check them out under a new light. (literally, heh)

• Oil Spill, Take Action -- where I compile some information on the Mexico Gulf oil spill, and point you to some inspiring initiatives to help dealing with its consequences. The wonderful illustrations that go with the post are part of it.

• Breathe -- where you'll follow me in a peaceful and inspiring afternoon, with pretty pictures and all. Writing bliss.

• ZombieLuv Webcomic -- although it's zombie related, I think this cool comic can be better viewed with the present (and lighter) background. I love it! heh

Finally, we've decided to compile a Zombie Luv Anthology, which will be a free ebook with the best entries from the contest, including the winner, second place and honorable mention, obviously, heh.

Now, selecting the stories, making eventual edits, asking permission to all writers and the actual ebook making will take some time, so I'll keep you posted when it comes out, ok?

Thank you everyone for your participation on the contest, either by entering, judging, commenting or reading. It was a blast! The ZombieLuv movement goes on! ;D

#ZombieLuv - The Honorable Mention

With no further adds, let me introduce you to the winner of both the poll and the honorable mention of the Zombie Luv Contest, Sam Adamson!

*big applause*

*

For the Love of Mike!

by Sam Adamson

'Ma! He's doing it again!'

Maggie sighed and, apologising to the spirits, opened a door in her circle, stepped through and carefully closed it again behind her. Picking up the candle she'd left burning on the dresser, Maggie hurried through the darkened cottage to the kitchen.

Bartholomew stood on his hind legs in his cage on the counter top, nose and whiskers quivering as Maggie snapped on the light and set the candle down on the kitchen table. Bramble sat on the floor staring intently at the mouse in its cage, swishing his tale back and forth and moaning, flexing his claws against the tiles. Mike was over by the sink, giggling.

'See Ma, Bramble's at it again,' Mike slurred.

'Bramble! What have I told you?' Maggie scolded. Bramble turned, fixing her with a pair of milky, dead eyes.

'Yes, you!' she continued. 'Leave that mouse alone. Come on, shift.' She flapped her hands at the cat, who lurched unsteadily to its feet and shuffled stiffly across the floor towards Mike, the tip of his tail hanging at a strange but jaunty angle. Midway across the floor, Bramble's left ear quivered then dropped off onto the tiles.

'Oh not again,' Maggie muttered, hunting through a drawer for the glue.

Bramble let out a low, moaning meow as he approached Mike. Mike grinned a lopsided grin.

'You hear that?' He sounds like me.' Mike stuck his hands out in front of him and shuffled towards the cat. 'M-O-U-S-S-S-S-E,' he moaned, and even Maggie had to smile. It had never crossed her mind when she'd raised Bramble that a zombie cat would retain the instincts it'd had in life.

Mike stooped awkwardly to pick Bramble up and Maggie froze. As he straightened up she released the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding, nothing important had come adrift. While Mike wasn't looking, she poked his eyebrow out of sight under the table with her toe; she'd stick it back on later while he was sleeping.

Seeing the love Mike still had for Bramble brought a lump to Maggie's throat, casting her instantly back to the night of the accident. She'd been driving them back from the vet's after getting Bramble's booster injection when their car had been T-boned by a drunk driver in a horse box. Mike and Bramble had died instantly, yet she'd walked away without a scratch.

It had taken her months to perfect the spell, Bartholomew was proof of her first successful attempt. She preferred not to think about the previous ones, and wouldn't be caught outside after dark for love nor money. Even so, it was neither as simple, nor as quiet a procedure as she'd thought, so Maggie had sold up and moved to the cottage – nothing for miles around in all directions except fields. The perfect place to re-build her family.

She'd done the best she could with Mike, even shopping online for a preparation popular among undertakers, which really did seem to help arrest the decay. It had even seemed to help Mike retain his speech, at least for a few weeks, but recently she'd noticed his vocabulary diminishing and he seemed to be having increasing trouble forming words. Regular baths of strong-smelling herbs helped with the odour, whether Mike enjoyed them or not. The only thing that saddened her was she could do nothing about the ugly gash running across Mike's face, loosening his right eye, which had ended up in his dinner on a few occasions.

Mike seemed happy to be back, though isolated as he was in their new home, he was lonely. When the nightmares had got so bad he'd stumbled into her room and tried to wrench the top of her head off, Maggie had resolved to get him another pet. A zombie mouse was hardly the pet for a growing lad she thought, so Maggie had performed the ritual again to bring back Mike's beloved Bramble.
Seeing Mike cuddling Bramble and tickling him behind his remaining ear had Maggie all misty eyed. She recalled vividly as she dabbed her eyes on her sleeve, their first night together again as a family. A pet-food commercial had played on TV featuring a small boy and his cat. Mike had dissolved into hysterical moaning, which Maggie took for laughter, and when she'd asked him what was so funny, he'd fixed her with his lopsided grin and moaned, 'My cat loves braiinnnsss, and I love my cat.' He'd even emphasised the “t” of cat, just like the little boy in the advert.

* * *

Completing the ritual for the final time, Maggie exhaled slowly as the body of her husband William, dead from leukaemia these past four years, began to twitch within the circle. As she lay down next to him, Maggie prayed this ritual would work. William had been dead longer than anyone, or anything, else she'd raised, and she'd had the devil's own job exhuming his body and driving it to the cottage by herself.

A single tear slid down Maggie's cheek as the spell took the last of her life-force to power William's awakening. It would be okay, it had to be, she thought as her heart finally stuttered and stopped, she'd built into the spell that she would join him, an undead wife to an undead husband, undead mother to an undead son. The spell had been complex to construct, but after all, a growing boy needed both his parents. William's eyes flickered open slowly, his head lolling to the side where Maggie lay entwined in his arm. Recognition seemed to flicker across his face.

'Hello, love,' he moaned softly, planting a passionate, foetid kiss on her lips, his cold, clammy tongue tentatively exploring her mouth. Maggie shuddered with elation – it had worked, it had! Her family was complete again.

We will have to do something about that formaldehyde breath though, Maggie thought as she returned the kiss.

*

Sam Adamson is an aspiring writer, blogger and fountain pen enthusiast from England. When he’s not enjoying a good cup of coffee or writing, Sam is engaged on the perpetual hunt for the perfect writer’s notebook and pen combination. His hobbies include medieval Britain, herbal medicine and cats…there has to be cats.

You can find more of Sam’s writing at his blog Future;Nostalgic. You can also follow him on Twitter at @FutureNostalgic.

#ZombieLuv Contest - Winners Announced!

Today is the big day!

Besides announcing the winners and the honorable mention I'll give you an inside scoop on the judging, I'll point you to yet more zombie luv stuff, and I have an important question to ask at the end of this post, so stick around. ;)

First of all, I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to the judges, Lori Titus, Jodi MacArthur, and Jim Bronyaur, who did a fantastic job! They've helped me not only with the judging, but also with the organization, with spreading the word and whichever issue that arose during the contest. It was through Jim that we got this super cool logo and he even wrote a piece on the theme! Click here to check it out. ;)

Now for the inside scoop.

This is how the judging went: each criterion was graded from 1 to 5, being 1 the lower and 5 the highest score. The winner entry was chosen using a mixture of objective and subjective criteria, weighted as below. The judges' highest weighted averages (above 4.0) were discussed to define the winner entries and the honorable mention. For the honorable mention the judges also considered the poll's result.

Criteria and weighting:

• Weight 1: plot, title, overall quality
• Weight 2: grammar, spelling, pace
• Weight 3: originality

Before the big announcements I'd like to inform you that h.lee (Charcoal Muse) formally withdrew from the contest due to website restructuration. I appreciate you submitting in the first place h.lee, and I'm sorry that you couldn't stick around to the end. Thank you!

Also, I'd like to point out that of the 37 entries, 6 were giving a first try to the zombie theme, including the big winner, and many were stretching their writing wings either for the romance aspect or the combination of zombiness and romance. I applaud you guys; in my opinion experimentation is a fundamental part of the long term writing process.

Finally, I'd like to thank two great writers who chose the Zombie Luv Contest as debut post (or almost debut post, heh) for their blogs. I'm honored! Thank you Nishi and Lexx, you guys made my day! :)

Now, the honorable mention will be published here at Randomities tomorrow. We had a hard time choosing, I gotta tell you. Since this story scored very well for all judges, showed up on almost everyone's favorites list, *and* it was the poll's winner, we couldn't award the honorable mention to anyone else but...

*drumroll*

For the Love of Mike, by Sam Adamson

Congrats Sam! You popular guy, you, heh.

Come back tomorrow to enjoy this original and funny zombie luv tale! :)

Now to the big announcements everyone is waiting for. Yes, you have not been reading wrong and there's no typo in this post. (hopefully, heh) There were so many entries with a high level of writing skill and originality that we decided for a second place as well, which -- wow! -- is also going to be published at Flashes in the Dark!

Thank you Lori for you generosity! :D

After some discussion with virtual hair pulling and fingers in the eyes, we came to the conclusion that the second place, which comes out next Tuesday, July 26th, at FitD should go to...

*drumroll*

Dead Flames, by Angel Zapata

Congratulations Angel! :D

It's time to present you the contest's winner! But first, I gotta tell you that despite the many high quality entries we had no problem choosing. The decision was unanimous!

Soooo, the Zombie Luv Flash Fiction Contest's big winner is...

***DRUMROLL***

The Tell-tale Beat, by Nishida C.

Many congrats Nishi! *applauses and huge ovation*

Click on the story title to read it at Flashes in the Dark. ;)

Nishi, please DM me with your physical address, so I can send you a brand new paperback edition of Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. :)

*pops bottles of prosecco to celebrate all contestants, readers, judges and general zombie luv fun!*

A glass, anyone? ;D

One last thing. I'd like to ask your opinion about something. I was suggested to gather some of the best entries in the judges opinion and publish a Zombie Luv Anthology.

Dear readers/visitors: what do you think about it?

Dear writers/contestants: would you like to have your story featured on such anthology?

#ZombieLuv - Poll's Result

That's it folks. The Zombie Luv Flash Fiction Contest is officially over.

Tomorrow I'll announce the big winner and the honorable mention, but in the mean while I'll tease you guys with the poll's results, heh. *evil grin*

The poll had:

-- 37 entries (candidates)

-- 52 voting people

-- 93 valid votes

Thank you everyone who read the entries (they were many!), who voted, and who spread the word mainly on twitter. The contest's success is due to your participation as well, dearest readers! :)

Now I'll leave you with the most voted stories. Many congrats to the most popular #ZombieLuv writers! :D

1º For the Love of Mike - 9,7%

2º Rose - 7,5%

3º Tainted Love & Till Death Do Us Part - 6,5%

4º The Balad of Nate and Carla & Dead Flames - 5,4%

Finally, I'd like to remember that, as I mentioned, these results will influence the decision of the judges on granting the honorable mention.

However, please bear in mind that the poll is not the sole criterion. So, if your story amongst the most voted, please don't take for granted that you're running for honorable mention. ;P

The poll's result means that people loved your story, and not only, they took the time to come to Randomities and say how much they loved it. This is great by itself!

Many congrats once again! You all deserve it. :)

#ZombieLuv News!

Aye, aye! We have news, zombie lover folks!

We've got almost 40 entries on the Zombie Luv Contest, which in our view is huge! We're totally *doing crazy dance*, heh.

There's some great stuff there, which makes it all the more difficult to judge and choose a single winner, even if there'll be at least one honorable mention.

We need more time to decide, so we'll make the winner's big announcement on July 22th.

Please bear with us. It's just an extra week. ;)

Also, we feel that the poll was too large in options and too short in voting time. We'd like to give you more time to read and choose your favorites, this way you can also help us out with our dilemma. (the honorable mention one ;)

That's why we're extending the poll up until July 20th, midnight EST.

Another reason for this extra time is that the blogger widget wasn't working well for everyone, the lazy bastard! heh

The solution I came up with is transferring the poll to the comments. I'll consider all votes accepted by the widged so far, and I'll compile the votes you leave on the comments in a spreadsheet.

The poll's result will be announced on the same day as the contest's winner.

Here are the guidelines for voting:

• You may vote for as many entries as you like. Just name them on the comments.

• Anonymous votes will be disregarded.

• Contestants may vote for themselves, but they must vote for at least one other entry as well.

• If the widget has decided to work for you, please be a good sport and refrain from voting again. I have no way of controlling this.

You'll find the complete list of entries at the bottom. Have a great reading time! :D

*

Now, since you'll have an entire extra week to read all these fantastic stories, you can also take a peek at the my interview at The Penny Dreadful twitter chat -- Tuesdays, at 4pm EST -- where I talked about how the contest came to be and other things.

I had much fun and I hope you'll have some reading it too. :)

Psst, don't miss the chance to explore the TPD's website. Awesome stuff in there!

Finally, I'd like to show you the funny poem Tony Noland wrote on a single tweet.

I loved it and felt most honored, Tony. Thanks! :D

#zombieluv contest is done

be weeks 'til we find out who won

but lose or win

it all made me grin

Thanks, Mari, this contest was fun!

It seems you have some foreseeing ability, as originally it should take only a week to know who won, heh.

*

List of entries by order of submission:

-- Forever, by Angie Capozello

-- At the End, by AJ Brown

-- Island Nights, by Laura Eno

-- Love After Death, by Joanie Rich

-- Romeo and Juliet are Dead, by Tony Noland

-- Heartless, by Monica Marier

-- And Then There Were None, by Emma Newman

-- Three Steps, by Tomara Armstrong

-- Scent of a Zombie, by KeMari

-- Love is Just Another Weakness, by Mia Hayson

-- Dead Flames, by Angel Zapata

-- Lloranda, by David A. Hernandez

-- Advantages, by Rebecca Thompson

-- Burning Zombie, by Erin Cole

-- Yes, by Casper Wood

-- Light, After All, by Mark Antony Crittenden

-- Cooties, by Donald Conrad

-- Rose, by Delia

-- Undead Love, by David G. Shrock

-- Gonna Fucking Do Ourselves In, by Lee Hughes

-- Chained Love, by Eric J. Krause

-- A Small Misunderstanding, by Gracie Motley

-- Benching a Wolf, by Cathy Olliffe

-- Tainted Love, by Melissa L. Webb

-- For the Love of Mike!, by Sam Adamson

-- Something Not Hunger, by Matt Merritt

-- The Tell-tale Beat, by Nishida C.

-- Til Death Do Us Part, by Stefanie Howerton

-- All-consuming Passion, by Barti Ddu

-- The Lovely Tale of Toothgroan, by Nathan Dean

-- The Balad of Nate and Carla, by David D. Sharp

-- Chick-Chick-BLAM: A Headshot Love Story, by Gabriel Gadfly

-- Leaving Gary, by Jason Beymer

-- Marrying the Dead, by Lexx Clarke

-- Charcoal Muse, by h.lee

-- Dead, Long Dead, by Tim King

-- The Forgotten Thing, by C. Dominique Gibson

Zombie Luv Contest Closed for Submissions + Poll

Edited to add: Except for the list of entries and the gratefulness for the people quoted here (check them out!) the dates and voting system have changed. For more information click here.

That's it folks! The winner will be announced on July 15th, so stay tunned! ;)

We had 37 entries to the contest, so I think I can call it a success? heh

Thank you everyone for your awesome entries, for all the tweets and shout outs, and for your hilarious zombie-talk.

A special thanks for these people who kindly helped spreading the word about the contest in their own special way:

>> Jodi McArthur, of Fiction Author Jodi McArthur, for her awesome blog post.

>> Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn, for a most generous tweet.

>> M. Jones, of Zombie Romance webzine, for her enthusiasm and shout out about the contest.

>> Jon M. Strother, of Mad Utopia, for sharing the news to the awesome #FridayFlash community.

>> Anne Tyler Lord, of Don't Fence Me In, for featuring the contest on her weekly writing news, the Coffee Klatch.

>> Roland D. Yeomans, of Writing in the Crosshairs, for being such a gentleman and spreading the word about the contest on his blog. Roland, I forgot your twitter name! *head on desk* Please tell me on the comments (or elsewhere) so I can add a link? :)

>> Chris Allinotte , of The Leaky Pencil, for his hilarious zombie adds.

>> Jemi Fraser, of Just Jemi, for her kindness on twitter.

>> Jason Warden, of Experimental Muse, and Shane Benavides, of I Amuse Me, for being such good sports. :)

Soo, I had much fun, but it's time to get me and Randomities back to life.

"What? You can't undo death!" you say.

Of course I can't!

However, since I know some very powerful wizards -- who you'll get to know on the zombie dragon series ;) -- I've asked them to work on a potion or spell to help out on my condition. These guys are good!

I took the potion just after midnight GMT (as per instructions) and after some weird stuff happened all my limbs are perfectly attached again and I can actually breathe! Hurra! heh

See how Randomities got its looks back? The wizards said that unzombifying Randomities was much easier than making my concotion. *grinz*

Now that I'm alive again and I can think better, it's time to get to work on judging the entries.

Hey, why don't you help me out?

I've mentioned that there'd be an honorable mention published here at Randomities, right? Tell me which is your favorite entry and influence the judges opinion on the honorable mention!

Since I really want to know your opinion, the pool will be up until July 14th, midnight EST. There are so many good stories that you can vote for more than one entry. ;)

Here's the list of entries. Happy reading! ;D

-- Forever, by Angie Capozello

-- At the End, by AJ Brown

-- Island Nights, by Laura Eno

-- Love After Death, by Joanie Rich

-- Romeo and Juliet are Dead, by Tony Noland

-- Heartless, by Monica Marier

-- And Then There Were None, by Emma Newman

-- Three Steps, by Tomara Armstrong

-- Scent of a Zombie, by KeMari

-- Love is Just Another Weakness, by Mia Hayson

-- Dead Flames, by Angel Zapata

-- Lloranda, by David A. Hernandez

-- Advantages, by Rebecca Thompson

-- Burning Zombie, by Erin Cole

-- Yes, by Casper Wood

-- Light, After All, by Mark Antony Crittenden

-- Cooties, by Donald Conrad

-- Rose, by Delia

-- Undead Love, by David G. Shrock

-- Gonna Fucking Do Ourselves In, by Lee Hughes

-- Chained Love, by Eric J. Krause

-- A Small Misunderstanding, by Gracie Motley

-- Benching a Wolf, by Cathy Olliffe

-- Tainted Love, by Melissa L. Webb

-- For the Love of Mike!, by Sam Adamson

-- Something Not Hunger, by Matt Merritt

-- The Tell-tale Beat, by Nishida C.

-- Til Death Do Us Part, by Stefanie Howerton

-- All-consuming Passion, by Barti Ddu

-- The Lovely Tale of Toothgroan, by Nathan Dean

-- The Balad of Nate and Carla, by David D. Sharp

-- Chick-Chick-BLAM: A Headshot Love Story, by Gabriel Gadfly

-- Leaving Gary, by Jason Beymer

-- Marrying the Dead, by Lexx Clarke

-- Charcoal Muse, by h.lee

-- Dead, Long Dead, by Tim King

-- The Forgotten Thing, by C. Dominique Gibson