Topic: SHORT STORIES: the next chapter / A shiny little bit of something wonderful for Short Stories writing challenges.

thank you for being my inspiration this morning .. they keyboard was bare x

Charlie was here

Topic: SHORT STORIES: the next chapter / A shiny little bit of something wonderful for Short Stories writing challenges.

All hail the conqueror, word! In my view, everything we need is already inside. We just have to turn around and look at it.. Sorry. once again, it’s easy for me to elaborate because I’m new. Ugly things like writer’s block are apparently scared off by my dogs. If we all just tell ourselves to “begin,” Our subconcious minds will follow suit. After all, they do work for us! Even so, sometimes we need a jumpstart, like maybe a challenge. Sorry. There I go again. Please forgive. JH

Topic: SHORT STORIES: the next chapter / A little introduction: keeping the Short Story wheel turning...

Thanks for renewing my faith in Short Stories, Sph., having another challenge soon. Sometimes I struggle to hold the door of my creativity closed, lest the monster walk unimpeded upon the Earth. Sorry, I guess I watched too much TV when i was younger. Be it known that we all needed to hear you say this. I can only hope to live up to my own expectations and those of others. It may not seem like it sometimes, but we do appreciate what you do. I know I speak for all bubblers when I say we need you to lend your guidance and expertise to we, your flock, so to speak. Once again, thank you. JH

Topic: SHORT STORIES: the next chapter / A shiny little bit of something wonderful for Short Stories writing challenges.

Along with developing our next challenge, something I’m currently working on for our group is some little cyber trinkets to decorate your words with when you win or place in our group writing challenges. I think acknowledgement is really important, and while our prize offerings at the moment are having your winning work featured on our group overview page (which of course makes you extremely fabulous) I’d to have something else I can add to your work so that long after the features have changed, there’s a shiny little bit of something wonderful to leave behind that will hail your accolades and participation in Short Stories.

So bear with me scribes! One step and then the other…

In the meantime… here’s a little writing exercise for you…

You often hear of writers who rely heavily on their daily journals of their own lives to feed their fiction. Helen Garner has bookshelves of journals that she has kept and used as a main resource for her novels. Often though, keeping a journal can be a difficult task to start if you haven’t diarised your thoughts before. To approach this concept, try this:

Write “I Remember” at the top of a page and start fleshing out the first memory that springs to the front of your mind. Why did you recall that memory first? What are the specific thins you remember? If you take a step back from the narrator, what is their story?

Spill your ink without any caution you glorious mob of wordsmiths!

Holly

Topic: SHORT STORIES: the next chapter / A little introduction: keeping the Short Story wheel turning...

Hello wordsmiths and scribblers,

Between the change over in our group hosts earlier this year and the continuing changes that have been made to Red Bubble (particularly to the disruption of group/host communications) getting myself started as a new host of Short Stories has been a little bit of a mish-mashed dog’s breakfast.

At first, I thought I would try and pick up where the incredible efforts of Damian and Kate left off… so I poured through old forums and challenges to get a feel for the Short Stories pilot controls. We had a challenge in over the April Easter long weekend that received three entries – thank you so much to Alison, Zolton and Dark for jumping in and participating. Since then, activity has been waning in the group and I realised that I needed to start a-fresh here, especially since the changes to our Bubble feeds and interactions with each other seem to have settled (for now).

My grandmother always told me that the best way to start anything new was to take a wander first for fresh air. So today, I’ve wandered through the last ten pages of stories in our group and plucked a fresh now bouquet of snappy pretty lovely little words as our group features, along with featuring the authors as well. Nothing like a little injection of kudos and motivation to get the wheels turning.

You might also have noticed that works submitted to Short Stories are moderated now: this is mainly because there was too much poetry clogging up our short story shelves. I love poetry… but this is not the place to best display your delicious stanzas. The same goes for artwork – any artwork accepted will have to relate very obviously to the craft of your short story to be accepted. This is group has an amazing collection of words and a strong group integrity so I don’t want to go diluting it now.

Make sure you keep an eye on this new forum thread for the next group challenge that’s on its way – and keep your pretty peepers watching for new group messages in your My Bubble group listing as that’s the only way I can alert to you group goings on without bmailing you all individually ;) For maximum exposure, when the next writing challenge is launched, I’ll be posting details and forum thread links on our group overview homepage.

If you have any suggestions, please make sure you plonk yourself here and let them be known.

However it’s unraveling, I hope today’s the wordy kind for you. What part of it could be the first few strands of a new story…?

Holly :)