First snowflake,
Chaim come quick,
Let’s trim the Hanukkah bush!
Is Hanukkah the Jewish Christmas? Not even close! Ask any Jewish kid living in a Christian neighborhood. Or any Christian kid living in a Jewish neighborhood. Or any rabbi, priest, or minister, for that matter.
Growing up Jewish and poor in my Brooklyn neighborhood meant you had two strikes against you every Christmas. Even if your parents could afford to buy you presents, they weren’t supposed to. Continue Reading
Athchomar chomakea!
In an effort to appeal to a wider audience, RoseCitySisters.com will now accept both micro fiction and flash fiction in Dothraki.
No need to feature nomadic horse warriors in every submission—feel free to create engaging characters and interesting plots as you always have. Just remember the 100-word limit for micro fiction and the 1,000-word limit for flash fiction. We look forward to your submissions!
Dothras chek.
The Rose City Sisters welcomes guest contributor John Sandel. He and Tara Samuel are the co-founders of the Script Kitchen, a small class devoted to helping writers develop stories.
John wrote features for a living, starting in 1996, for clients like the producers of Revenge of the Nerds, Tom & Viv and Arlington Road. Since the writers’ strike of 2007, he’s produced and directed small projects, including his own. He serves on the board of We Make Movies as Director of New Business. Now, on to the guest post! Continue Reading
The Rose City Sisters would love to say we discovered writer Margaret Finnegan, but that would be a major-league lie. She was a wonderful writer when she submitted the first of several flash fiction stories—one of which won our “story of the year” honors. In fact, she’s the one who suggested the languishing RoseCitySisters.com domain should be used for as a flash fiction blog.
Now we’re thrilled to announce the publication of her first novel. The Goddess Lounge is a story that will resonate with any woman who has to juggle personal goals, work, family, relationships, and…oh, wait. That’s means every female on earth will enjoy this novel!
Learn more about Margaret on her website and bookmark her highly entertaining blog. But first? Point your peepers at her book trailer.
I just finished “Dear Money” by Martha McPhee, a wonderful novel about a novelist who becomes bond trader in pre-mortgage loan meltdown Manhattan. I loved the plot, cared about the characters, and sort of binged on the luxury of the author’s well-crafted sentences. Do hunt down this book!
I like writers as characters. I’m going to share more books and films that feature a writer as a main character. If you can recommend any titles, share them in the comments.
Flash fiction is great, but if you want or need to tell a longer story, check out Randy Ingermanson’s “Snowflake Method.”
It’s an organized, logical way to build a story from a one-sentence logline to a finished manuscript.
The Rose City Sisters 2009 “Story of the Year” is “Sweet Revenge” by Margaret Finnegan. Her story is a darkly comic cautionary tale about a man who eats the last piece of cake.
More than two dozen contributors were eligible to vote for their favorite of the seven finalist stories. The votes were tallied on Monday, January 25.
Margaret will get a certificate (suitable for posting on the refrigerator where slices of cake are sometimes stored) and a rose quartz-and-pearl necklace and earrings designed by Jill Pearson for Wasabi, a Pasadena-based jewelry company.
To learn more about Margaret, visit her website or read her blog, Finnegan Begin Again.
Congratulations to all the finalists:
Belinda’s Birthday by Petrea Burchard
Glorietta and Red Bob Come to Terms by Laura L Mays Hoopes
A Losing Game by Bonnie Schroeder
(Okay, fun’s over. Please submit more stories.)
When I announced the competition in early December, Rose City Sisters contributors leaped into action and started sending readers to their their stories. Nearly 700 new visitors stopped by for a flash fiction fix in the last 30 days. Wow.
Today I used Goggle Analytics to determine the most popular seven stories of 2009. In the next few weeks, all 2009 contributors will have the chance to vote for the story of the year.
This combination of marketing and merit reflects a real-world scenario facing writers today. Writing isn’t enough—you need to promote your work as well.
The winner will receive a hand-knotted pearl and rose quartz necklace (with matching earrings) from Wasabi by Jill Pearson, a fine jewelry company based in Pasadena. The donation from Wasabi is much appreciated and far prettier than the certificate I had planned!
In alphabetical order, the finalists are:
Belinda’s Birthday by Petrea Burchard
Glorietta and Red Bob Come to Terms by Laura L Mays Hoopes
A Losing Game by Bonnie Schroeder
Sweet Revenge by Margaret Finnegan
The first story of 2010 will be posted on Friday, January 8. Please subscribe to the blog or become a follower to make sure you don’t miss any of the stories.
