A new flash-fiction story to be published--possibly two.
In a Facebook group exclusive to contributors to indie publisher, Black Hare Press, the admin announced a writing contest inviting writer-members to comment with an original microfiction story (200 words or fewer) inspired by an image prompt depicting a zombie touching a field of brains, with the selected winner to receive a custom T-shirt.
After a week, winners were announced, and I learned that my story, "Meatless Unlife Aftertaste Diet" had placed in the Top Five (third). The BHP editors further announced that they had decided to compile all the entries into an anthology.
So yay! My work will be another anthology!
The same, latter announcement mentioned that space remained for about ten additional stories and that anyone could submit, whether or not they had already previously submitted. And so, over the next few days, I brainstormed a second story.
Then, last night, unclear on the submission instructions (and frankly, in a rush to get to bed, already late), I posted this finished story also as a comment. Today, I kept browsing for any replies or feedback until finally, this afternoon, I read a note from a group admin/editor advising that I was supposed to have emailed any new submissions to darkdrabbles@blackharepress.com, per instructions on a separate post. So, I deleted my text and followed these proper instructions.
The proper instructions require omitting identifying information from the submission document and providing it exclusively within the submission email. This protocol allows volunteer readers to judge anonymized submissions impartially. Having posted the text and title online, it may even be disqualified before it can be rejected. We'll see.
[Update: my second story, “The Mimicry Mutation “ has also been accepted.]
Whatever happens, it's a victory to have finished and submitted yet another story. I hope this is an indication that my writing pace is recovering.
P.S. The first image was shared with contributors by BHP for promotional use; the second was generated by Bing Image Creator (AI).
