writing

Allison

Mall Rats: An Anthology

I’m excited to announce that Mall Rats: An Anthology came into the world on December 7, 2021. Many writers gathered together to celebrate this birth with a reading, as is the custom. Everyone is so talented and it was a treat to hear everyone’s words in their own voices, spotlighting each personality.

Something I’ve come to realize this year is that the writing community is flat-out amazing. If you’re reading grumpy takes on Twitter and trying to figure out who’s subtweeting who, you’re doing it wrong.

Find yourself a group like the writers in this anthology who laughed, clapped, cheered, and left supportive comments in the Zoom chat, making you feel like you were actually all together even though it wasn’t possible. I pictured us in the mall food court, stealing chairs from surrounding tables, huddled together making other patrons nervous.

I never thought I’d miss those days of walking the mall for hours because we had nowhere else to do, but this collection elevates the mall to something meaningful. Don’t miss it – get your copy (or ebook!) from the Daily Drunk.

Allison

Flash Fiction Contests During Quarantine

It has been interesting to see how small businesses and non-profits, especially in the arts sector, are getting creative and innovative with our usual forms of self-expression and entertainment not open for business. Many are adapting with virtual museum tours and art gallery exhibitions. Since Playhouse on the Square can’t have shows onstage, they are having Instagram takeovers by their company members, and last week they started Flash Writing: A Digital Play Festival.

I love any kind of writing contest, but flash fiction is my jam. Short and sweet, and even if you wanted to, you can’t spend too much time overthinking it because… there’s just not enough there to edit to death. Playhouse is announcing a new theme each Monday morning, with submissions due Friday afternoon. Actors read submitted writing on videos posted on Facebook Sunday evening. Short and sweet, with deadlines for those who thrive with deadlines (coughmecough). It’s something fun to do during this time, it’s innovative, it’s engaging.

Week One’s theme was “I dreamed that I…” Click below to view my submission, read (a million times better than I heard it in my head when I wrote it) by Eileen Peterson.

I dreamed that I