Andrew Careaga

It’s June 1, the start of a new month and, for writers wanting to hone their flash fiction craft, National Flash Fiction Month–an opportunity provided by the Flash Fiction Institute for writers to write a flash story (typically 1,000 words or fewer) each day this month. (I’m behind already.)

Here are sine details, via the Flash Fiction Institute’s announcement (linked above):

Thirty days of prompts on their Facebook, Instagram, and Substack Notes.
You write a story—any length, any style, any genre, as long as it’s flash.
Share it with the hashtag #NationalFlashFictionMonth and we’ll repost our favorites.
Writing sessions on Substack Live (dates to come).
A free flash-fiction Zoom class with Grant Faulkner and Kim Culbertson on Tuesday, June 16, from 2-3 p.m. Pacific Time.
A culminating flash “Open Mic”—and celebratory happy hour!—on June 26 from 4 – 5:30 Pacific.

Interested? Sign up at the National Flash Fiction Substack. Or if you, like me, prefer no accountability, just follow along on the social media links posted above, you rebel.

Photo by Vlad Panov on Unsplash

Years ago, when this website/blog was mainly dedicated to higher ed marketing/PR/branding/etc. and I read mainly non-fiction books, I would occasionally post, around Memorial Day, a Friday Five about some of the books I planned to read over the summer. Now that I’m attempting to carve out a “career” (*cough, cough*) of sorts in the creative writing arena, I thought it would make sense to share some of the books I plan to read this summer. Note that not all of my selections are current or even new-ish, as I am a notoriously slow reader and always am behind on my reading of the latest trendy or anti-trendy thing, so if you’re looking for recommendations on the latest summer reads, I suggest you look at LitHub’s “19 Novels You Need to Read This Summer” or The New York Times’ hyperbolically headlined list of “The Novels Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer” (gift link).

Andrew Careaga

I’ll make this short: it’s National Flash Fiction Month

Friday Five: summer reads edition