50 Give or Take – Miriam Drori, Author

Less Is More

Hello! I realise I haven’t posted properly on this blog for ever so long. These days, my blog posts seem too frivolous for serious times, and I don’t know if anyone misses them.

However, a tiny story has caused me to come out of hiding.

I expect you’ve heard the phrase Less Is More applied to writing. It could mean that a piece of writing could be written more concisely. Or sometimes, it’s better to let readers draw their own conclusions.

I’m sure Less Is More is the idea behind 50 Give or Take, the fifty-word stories that pop into my inbox every day.

I really liked yesterday’s story, but I’d have liked it better without the title, so I’m going to copy the story here without the title:

“Here at Greenlawn, we hope you’ll come to see yourself as part of our little community. Ah, this one’s yours, between Major Barker and Miss Lyle. Wonderful neighbors.” He gestured at the lake. “Of course, a wonderful view, summer and winter.”

“All inclusive?”

“Absolutely. A standard headstone with every plot.”

I’ll come back to this story further down the page. In the meantime, it would be lovely to know if anyone wants me to return to regular blogging.

And here’s a photo of me, taken in the UK in June with…

…Frank Sidebottom!

So about that fifty-word story, the title is: Your Forever Home. Don’t you think that ruins the story? I do.

Where’s My Trumpet?

Ah, there it is.

HEAR YE!

Do I have your attention?

Right, I have three things to tell you.

Firstly, and secondly, I’m going to blow my own trumpet. Oh, I just did.

I’m delighted to have had two recent acknowledgements of my hard work. The first is from the Australian Writers’ Centre. They run a monthly feature called Furious Fiction. Authors have 72 hours in which to produce an up-to-five-hundred-word story that meets their criteria. It’s not easy to “win”.

This time, the stories had to begin in the middle of something and include the words “locket” “pocket” “rocket” and “socket”. And they featured my story on their site! (You can scroll down or search for me.)

And my fifty-word story was accepted by Vine Leaves Press for their 50 Give or Take feature. These are flash stories that are sent out to subscribers once a day and will eventually appear in their annual print anthology. You can subscribe here.

By my reckoning, my story will be sent out nearly a year from now, and will appear in print in nearly a year and a half. But the acceptance arrived yesterday and I’m up in the clouds, as it happens, literally as well as metaphorically.

The other piece of news is that in August, I’m starting a new series of guest posts on this blog. Those guests I’ve approached so far all agree that the topic is interesting. What’s the topic? I’ll reveal that once I’m down from the literal clouds.

Enjoy your summer if you’re in my half of the world, winter if you’re not.