Friday Comes On Mondays
If you follow this blog you know that we are fast approaching the one year anniversary of the launch of #fridayflash. My first story, Plus Tax, was posted under the #FictionFriday hashtag on May 29th, 2009. Only later did I discover that there was another nice group of writers already using that name. So we brainstormed, trying to come up with another name for our Twitter meme. I was leaning toward #thefridayflash. It was Laura Eno who suggested the more economical, #fridayflash. So, #fridayflash it is.
We’ve grown over the intervening months, from a handful of early adopters, to close to seventy new pieces of flash fiction every single week. Some of the authors who currently post have been regulars since the beginning. It’s an amazing feat, if you think about it. That’s a lot of flash fiction, and a huge commitment.
I regularly receive Twitter direct messages and emails from people who tell me how #fridayflash has significantly touched their lives. I’m humbled and awestruck by these messages.
So, with our one year anniversary coming up, I think this is a great time to have our very first #fridayflash Writing Contest. Since I have a disturbed and twisted mind, this will be a contest with a twist – it will be nonfiction, and not done on Friday.
The contest:
Write a nonfiction post on the theme: What #fridayflash has meant to me. Keep it to 1000 words or less. I’m looking for creative nonfiction here. Please give it an original title, not What #fridayflash Has Meant To Me. Ack!
Post your piece on your blog any Monday between now and May 24th.
Come back to this post and add a comment announcing your entry, complete with a link.
On May 25th I’ll compile the list. I hope to have a poll up by May 29th, the one year weekend anniversary. I’ll leave the polls open for one week, and then announce the winners.
Who can enter?
The contest is open to #fridayflash authors and readers alike. I always say it takes both to make #fridayflash work, so readers get the same opportunity here as writers. Don’t worry, pretenders (those who have never read a #fridayflash in their lives) won’t be hard to figure out. As to people who are just jumping on the bandwagon – that’s fine by me. Those of you who do #fridayflash know how addictive it is. If we pick up new readers and writers for this contest, I’m convinced a significant number of them will stick around and become regulars too.
Three cheers for three prizes!
So, you want to know what you get out of this, besides lots of new web traffic and some great essays to read. Well, there are prizes, of course.
- First place wins $50, a PDF copy of The Best of 2009 #fridayflash Anthology, and gets their essay published here on Mad Utopia.
- The second place winner gets a $10 Amazon gift certificate, a PDF copy of The Best of 2009 #fridayflash Anthology, and a link to their essay.
- The third place winner gets a PDF copy of The Best of 2009 #fridayflash Anthology, and a link to their essay.
Ties will be broken by the Random Number Fairy. Trouble makers will be dealt with by the werebeagle.
Have fun. Get writing.
~jon
via jmstrother.com