This one is short, imaginative, and not expensive to enter. It also has great prizes. I hope everyone will give it a try.

To enter the Booksie 2020 Flash Fiction Writing Contest, write a 500-word story about the photo on the website. The deadline is May 8, 2020, so you have a lot of time to work on a story.

The entry fee is $6.95, which is an excellent bargain for writing contests. The grand prize is $500, so it is worth it to enter.

Flash fiction sounds hard, but it is actually fun to write. All you have to do is create one scene that tells a story. There are few characters and usually only one setting.  Flash fiction is a deep dive into a moment instead of a sweeping brush over a broad story. Who wouldn’t want to focus on just one instant in time? It’s a great way to bring out the emotions of the characters and impact the reader.

As you can tell, I’m a fan of flash fiction. The other advantage of short stories is that the editing is manageable. It doesn’t take long to fine-tune 500 words, and you can share it with lots of people because it is a quick read. Once you get the response you’re looking for, and your spelling is correct, go ahead and submit.

I hope everyone will enter this writing contest. We all may look at the same photo, but every story will be unique. What story do you see in this picture?

Well, everyone who is over sixteen and can write in English.

The Lewis Country Writers Guild is sponsoring their first writing contest. All the details can be found here. The Grand Prize winner will win $100, a free ticket to the Southwest Washington Writers Conference, and the option of having their winning story printed in the conference program. Three First Place winners will win $50 and a free conference ticket each. Three Honorable Mention winners will each receive 50% off a conference ticket. Plus, all winners will get to brag that they won a writing contest.

You can find the rules on the LCWG website. To enter, write a short story between 10 and 3,000 words long based on one of three writing photo prompts found on the website (and above.) The genre, plot, characters, and setting are up to you.

Writers are welcome to enter as many times as they like, but there is a fee of $10 for each entry. The contest ends June 28th, so you have ample time to work on the perfect story. Go to the website for all the details, including the Terms and Conditions, the entry form, and the PayPal payment button.

I hope everyone will enter, but whether you do or not, I have a favor to ask. Can you share the contest information with your friends and family, both online and in-person? This contest is open to the world, and the winner might just be someone who learned about it because you passed it on.

On behalf of the Lewis County Writers Guild, I thank you.

Well, Grammar Girl probably said it some time, but the average person, even most writers, don’t like grammar. For most people, it brings back horrible memories of diagramming sentences in school (hopefully, they don’t teach that any more.)

But grammar is important, and something that we should all learn because good grammar leads to good communication and bad grammar leads to Grandma being eaten.

“Let’s eat, Grandma!” vs. “Let’s eat Grandma!”

Poor grandma her life depends on grammar.

Today is National Grammar Day. Celebrate by listening to the Grammar Girl podcast and promising yourself that you will always use the Oxford comma. It’s also fun to look at memes that have awkward typos.

If you truly want to improve your grammar, which is the point of National Grammar Day, check out Grammarly. This proofreading program has a free and a paid version. It isn’t perfect, and you still need to check your work, but it will point out a lot of errors and give ideas on how to improve your work.

Happy Grammar Day! I made a grammar error in this blog. Let me know if you find it.

There are a few exceptions, but if I can’t root for the main character, then I probably won’t like the book or movie. An easy way to gain my sympathy is a story technique called “Save the Cat.” Have the main character, no matter how evil they are supposed to be, do something kind for an unimportant reason. In some movies, such as the 2004 Hellboy*, the main character literally saves a box of kittens. In other cases, it can be more subtle. In Star Wars VII, The Force Awakens, Rey rescues BB-8. She didn’t have to and had no reason to, but it was her “Save the Cat” moment, and we automatically want her to win.

I watched Ocean’s 8 for the first time last night. I really liked Ocean’s 11 (the George Clooney version. We won’t discuss the horrible Frank Sinatra version.) and didn’t mind Ocean’s 12. I didn’t think I would like Ocean’s 8 as much, but I was surprised at how much I didn’t like it.

Technically, these women are thieves, so there is no reason to like them, but if Sandra Bullock had had a “Save the Cat” moment, I would have gotten behind her plan. But she didn’t. Even worse, she took advantage of customer service people who were doing their job and doing it well. Since I have worked in customer service for many years, I hated Sanda Bullock’s character.

I liked a couple of the secondary characters and ended up really liking one character that I thought was just a pawn. Overall the movie wasn’t bad, but I won’t be seeing it again because I had no connection to the characters.

“Save the Cat” isn’t always necessary, and anti-heroes are important characters, but for me, showing the good in a bad character can make me relate to them. Otherwise, they are just black or white, and there is always the Marvel movies instead.

(I guess in a roundabout way, this is a review of Ocean’s 8. It was just okay, and I’m glad I got it from the library for free.)

*All links are Amazon affiliate links

Every year I pick a theme and then make a goal list based on that theme. In the past, I’ve worked on finishing projects, old projects, and new projects. This year I’m working on projects that I have been procrastinating on.

That’s right. The theme for 2020 is procrastination.

I have written this blog for over three years and never missed a day. I’m going to run/walk every day in 2020. It might seem like I don’t procrastinate, but the truth is, I’m a master procrastinator, and it drives me crazy. Why is it I never forget to write my blog, but I can’t edit my stories? It makes no sense, and in 2020, I’m going to overcome procrastination.

“Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we’re thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don’t show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin’, no matter what.”

Steven Pressfield

One thing that I know about myself is that I’m an obliger (otherwise known as a people-pleaser.) I write this blog because people email me when they don’t get it. I edit other people’s stories because it helps them succeed. But if I have to do something for myself, I probably put it off.

“I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.”

Susan Orlean

I need to find accountability buddies or websites that demand accountability. I won’t break my running streak because I won’t get the badge on Smashrun if I do. I need external deadlines for my writing and other goals.

Do you have a theme for 2020? I find having a theme keeps me focused on my goals. Why not try it out and see if it helps you reach your new year goals.

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

Napoleon Hill