creative-writing – Page 17

Friday Five: ‘writer of short things’ Emily Rinkema

‘I love everything about flash fiction, as a reader and as a writer.’

On her website, Emily Rinkema introduces herself as a “writer of short things.” But if the cliche “good things come in small packages” applies to the craft of flash and micro fiction, Emily’s work exemplifies it.

Take this gut punch of a first paragraph from “Amy’s Mom,” which took third-place honors in Frazzled Lit‘s 2025 short story contest:

After Amy’s mom drops dead, like literally drops right in her driveway, groceries spilled all around her, we sit in my basement and get high and plan what to do if ours do too. Meaning our moms. Meaning if they just drop dead.
Emily Rinkema, “Amy’s Mom”

On ‘wrediting’

‘Write first, edit later’ is common advice. But how does it work in the real world?

I have a confession: Try as I might to follow the writer’s maxim to “write first, edit later,” I just can’t seem to stick with it.

“Write first, edit later” is one of the more common ground rules for writers. If you want to be a great writer, you’ve got to create that first draft without inhibition. Just vomit those ideas out on the page. Don’t even think about editing, fixing grammatical errors or problems with syntax, or other stylistic issues. Just write. Just “give your creativity free rein” as you create your first draft, knowing you can go back and fix it later.