Hello again everyone,
Aren't Wednesdays coming around fast now? Can you believe we are just THREE WEEKS away!? Amazing!
Anyway, here's a roundup of news, and some things for you to be looking out for and getting up to:
- First of all, in case you didn't notice, we completed our part in the production of Jawbreakers. The text has been proofed and finalised, the cover has been designed and the whole thing has been sent off to our printers. They reckon about 10 working days so, by our calculations, that puts the book in our hands round about 9th or 10th May! We are, of course, massively excited about that! When it lands we hope to be able to ship it very soon after. News will follow very soon of how you can pre-order your copy. And, if you are organising an event, we would like to you take a few copies (say 10?) to sell on the night. If you are happy to do this, please get in touch.
- Next I should mention that we have quite a lot of competitions closing in the coming week from #Flashtag, Once Upon a Time, 1000 words, Writing on the Wall, The Journal and Flash Fiction World. So, if you haven't already sent your stories in, now is the time to do so! Full listings at http://www.
nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/ competitions.html. We've also listed a bunch of new competitions, some coming up after the Day, so do keep checking the page for new goodies.
- Other events coming up that you need to be aware of as we approach the day include workshops from myself and Josephine Corcoran down in the South West (http://www.
nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/ southwest.html), Writing on the Wall in Liverpool (http://www. nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/ northwest.html), Emma J Lannie in Derby (http://www. nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/ midlands.html) and Valerie O'Riordan and Collaborate Here in Manchester (http://www. nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/ manchester.html). Do sign up while there are still places available, they all promise to be exciting and interesting.
- And another reason for signing up to those is your chance to see your work on our new blog: http://nffdflashes.
blogspot.co.uk/ which we are using to pull together featured work produced by all the various NFFD events which don't already have their own embedded publication (and the random exercises I've started to set for you all. Watch out for another one this weekend!). Do have a read of what is being produced, there's some great work there.
- Collaboration with our international friends is moving along, with some cross-pollination between us and National Flash-Fiction Day - New Zealand (http://nationalflash.
wordpress.com/), a pamphlet being produced in Brisbane which is looking for your work (http://chriswhitewrites. wordpress.com/2012/04/19/ national-flash-fiction-day/) and an event now happening in Dublin (http://www.inkwellwriters.ie/ national-flash-fiction-day-at- big-smoke/). So make sure you check those out.
- As usual, we've been updating the website with new writers as well as new events and competitions. We've added a 'Kindle' page to bring together all of the e-books available from our writers. If you have a book on Kindle and would like to be listed, do drop us a line.
- What else? Well, the posters have arrived! (Whooop!) And I hope to be sending those out in the next couple of days. So, if you want any posters, or some of the story cards (or MORE story cards if you're run out) then, again, drop us a line.
And, apart from that, it's business as usual. Please do follow and promote our social media outlets at https://www.facebook.com/
If you have any questions, queries, ideas or comments about National Flash-Fiction Day, or to sign up for the mailing list, please do get back to me at nationalflashfictionday@gmail.com. A mail will be out in the next couple of days about pre-ordering the book. Thanks, as ever, for all your support and hard work. And here's to the next three weeks!!
All the best
Calum
(PS. On a very personal note, and I do apologise for this, my project to write a flash-fiction every day for a year will have come to an end by the time of the next bulletin, with the final story on April 30th. If you're not aware of it, it's online at http://flash365.blogspot.