A Year of Short Stories

A challenge for myself and anyone who wants to join me

I’ve learned that I write better when I’m under pressure. My mind needs to stay just busy enough to keep the distractions away but not so busy that I feel like there’s a breakdown on the horizon.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to write one short story every week for the year 2022. I need to flex my skills as well as have a deadline and accountability. The accountability comes from announcing what I’m doing here for everyone to read, as well as sharing my weekly prompts with anyone who wants to join me.

I’ll be writing these stories in addition to working on my novel, which is now back from beta readers. I need to implement some changes, then rewrite it one last time before submitting it to publishers or going the self-published route. I have ideas for a second novel but I’ve noticed that the more I’m away from writing stories, the harder it is to write a story. Hence this challenge.

I’ve been practising by writing one 250 word story per day. I’m participating in the NYC Midnight 250-word Microfiction Challenge right now (I made it to round 2 — yay!) and copied out all of the prompts they used for round 1. Every day I use my super-low-tech method of reaching into a plastic bag and pulling out a little square with a number on it. I use the prompt that corresponds to the…