Today is my day to post a seasonal short on the Fiction with Friction blog. I posted “Soul Song” – another of the Bran’s Visions series.

You can read it here. As always, I’d love to know what you think!

The fabulous gay romance authors on the Fiction With Friction blog start TODAY. Stop on by to see daily free offerings through Valentine’s Day!

So, back to the subject of Flash Fiction! (You can stop clapping now, I’m trying to get back on track, really.)

Over the last year of doing a weekly piece of flash fiction, I’ve come up with the following list of guidelines that I follow. By no means am I saying these are the rules for flash fiction, these just happen to be mine. Many of these are

Yank the Reader In
You only have a very limited number of words and you don’t have time to coax your reader into your world slowly and carefully. Instead you need to write words that reach out from the screen and yank the reader in. This can be strong action, emotion or even description but it MUST be compelling.

Keep it Simple
If you have a complex story idea, only use part of it for a flash fiction. There isn’t enough room to get really complex so focus on one aspect, one person or one relationship.

Be Strict on Word Count
If you set a word count limit, stick to it. It can be a challenge but it will actually teach you a lot about how to condense or tighten things so you can squeak in just one more paragraph or one more description.

Don’t Stop with a Whimper
Either write a true flash fiction (complete the story in the allotted word count) or leave the reader with a hook. Whatever you do, don’t just peter out and trail off.

Be Willing to Experiment
Friday Flashes are a great place to experiment with ideas, concepts and characters. Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. You can hone great new skills by playing with them in these small flash projects.

Pay Attention to Feedback
Watch the reactions your various pieces of flash fiction get from readers. This is a great way to discover what resonates with your audience and you can use that information to help hone your other work.

Just to put this out there – while I’m looking for a new job, I’m currently taking on freelance fiction editing jobs. I’m an experienced fiction editor for two e-publishing houses and can edit pretty much any type of fiction.

If you’re interested in hiring my services, drop me a message via my contact for or to maura at realmsoftheraven dot com.

As part of the “use or lose” benefits before my layoff is complete, I made an appointment to see my eye doctor. I knew my eyes were getting worse – some things were just fuzzier. Knowing it and admitting it or doing something about it are, of course, different things.

Now I’ve worn glasses since I was a teenager and quite near-sighted. As I’ve gotten older, my vision has slowly become less and less near-sighted. For a whole year I sat at a lovely 20/20 and didn’t need to wear any correction at all.

Alas, that time is behind me. I’ve crossed the border into far-sightedness. I can still drive and do most things without correction but being on the computer for many hours means my eyes tire quickly and I should be wearing computer glasses. Trust me, I heard all about it.

Since I was unable to remember where my prior computer glasses went, I had to buy new frames. Now normally I pick fairly conservative and plain frames. But my eye doctor has a new dispensing optician and he talked me into a wild (for me) pair of lime green glasses.

They are a brand called Kaoli and the style is “Orchid”. I picked them up today and, you know, I’m glad I took a chance. They make me smile to look at them and the color is really cheerful.

The cats, however, are appalled. They keep looking at me like they want to know why I have stuff on my face. I’ve cleaned several nose prints off them already.

And I do have to remember that if I’m going to glance at the tv across the room, I need to look OVER the computer glasses, not through them.