Blogging One Flash at a Time

I’ll do a bit of cross-blogging today. Sorry, I don’t mean guest-blogging or blog-rolling or anything helpful like that. In fact, I won’t hold it against you if you ignore this shameless self promotion on my part. Or wait…

Is it really self-promotion when I blog about my other blog on this blog? Or do they counter each other? Confused already?

Start over. I’ve been watching  – gratefully – how both my blogs have been gathering numbers of minions, I mean followers, each one at a distinctly different pace and for different reasons. This one has blossomed thanks to my shameless outcries to fellow tweeps, and thanks to them I now have the motivation to write EVERY DAY. All is right in my world again.

The other blog, however, doesn’t seem to need my promoting it because the followers and fans seem to roll in at a steady pace on their own. Curious as to know why, I went to the Stats section on Blogger and saw that it was all thanks to Google. People actually found my blog from Google! This makes my day every time I see it, so now all my days are bright indeedy. I’m not really worried about either of my blog-babies though because I’d never let either one wither and die like my plants always do. I still don’t understand why people even give me plants. I starve them to death.

Anyway, so this rambling post is all about connecting my two blogs. Just because. This is not some ploy to make you guys follow my other blog as well, mind you, but it is a nice way to link them in eternal union, in sickness and in health, ‘till Writer’s Block do them part. In this way I'd be giving them the same amount of attention so they don’t whine about it. You know, the way you do with siblings, or twins for that matter. And while we’re on the subject, don’t dress them the same, for crying out loud! It’s just creepy.

Ahem. Now finally presenting:

THE BURNING OF INNOCENCE 

What you will find there is what I like to call Rya’s Story.

To give you an idea of what to expect here’s a short excerpt:

I saw him watching me across the crowd. My hands were clenched together as I walked, anxiously putting one foot ahead of the other in a sequence of missteps. The closer I got to the fire, the harder it was to hear people talk, the crackling was so loud. I heard something crack under my foot but I didn’t stop to look. He was too close now.

I mentally cursed my parents for making me attend Trick’s first Burning. While my stupid brother basked in the youngest-child glory, I had to settle for rebellion. But these are just labels. In fire, there are none.

What do you think? Could it be your cup of tea?

Basically, it’s a story I had in my mind around Christmas. I had a million other projects lined up, which are sadly STILL lined-up the same, so I couldn’t give Rya the attention she demanded (and deserved). Instead, I vowed to write it down the MINUTE I was somewhat free, which in this case meant Spring. And then the (brilliant) idea came: why not straightout blog it? Eureka! And it’s been amazing so far. I’ve discovered that if I have external (as well as internal) motivation to write (like a sleuth of faithful minions), it’s all the more fun and easy to write because I have to! Just showing up on the empty  blog-page and writing my weekly quota.

No excuses, no procrastinating, no inner critic.  

AND it’s useful because it helps me compress otherwise overlong chapters to tiny flash chapters/scenes of no more than 500 words! Not to mention that I have a reason to actually pick and choose my words, not just spew them on the page for everyone to read and laught at me. Talk about killing lots of rabbits with one stone!

So if you are a fan of #flashfiction and #fantasy (and Twitter rears its head again), go check it out: THE BURNING OF INNOCENCE. What is more, last week I made it easy for everyone to follow Rya’s story by adding a brief GUIDE and a widget containing the Chapters in the right order. That said, I am not fishing for new followers, really! I just like to share what makes me tick and what works for me in writing.

And whether you are already doing it or you’d like to give it a shot now, I commend you and wish you good luck. So sit back, relax, and write in flash. And if you have the time, I’d love to hear some of your experiences with the flash-fiction format and story blogging.

As always, thank you for reading!