The Anthology is Out!
Woot woot! My first published stories have been born! Welcome them to the world :)
The Northern Connecticut Writers Workshop is my little island of misfit writers. My merry band of wordsmiths. Fellow broody, cerebral, sarcastic creatives. Every two weeks we get together to laugh, cry, scratch out heads, and delicately pick apart each others’ writing, looking for the juicy bits and tossing out the scraps. I couldn’t be more grateful for them. They inspire me, confound me, push me to be better, give me the courage to keep going when I feel like an uninspired fraud.
This anthology is a collection of work from present and past members. Over a year in the making, we have the talented Chris McAuliffe to thank for his exhaustive efforts. It includes twenty-nine short stories, flash fiction and poetry in fiction and fiction and non-fiction. Free of charge, a gift from us to you, readers.
Two of my stories are included, both of which emerged from my summer short story writing exercises. The first, Not For You, was a product of a prompt given to me by my ten-year-old: “a pencil that’s been sharpened so much it can’t write anymore.” I thought about the symbolism of that. I thought about kids I’ve worked with who became attached to those kinds of objects. I wondered what they’d be like as young adults. Not For You, a contemporary fiction short story, was the result.
The second, Heroics Derailed, emerged from a three-part flash fiction prompt. I was challenged by a fellow writer to write a 1000-word story in the steampunk genre, including a tournament and an acorn. First of all, I knew nothing about steampunk: a sub-genre of science fiction that incorporates steam-based technology and a Victorian-era aesthetic. But I’m not one to back down from a challenge. I used the opportunity to explore two characters from the YA fantasy novel I was writing. This little story inspired me to scrap my novel’s plot and start again with a new storyline!
The Northern Connecticut Writers Workshop Anthology is available for free download on Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books
