FREE DOWNLOAD FRIDAY!

Today, my supernatural thriller, Devil's Creek, is available for free download from Amazon. It will only be free until midnight (PST) tonight (January 13, 2012).

Devil's Creek has gotten consistent 5-star ratings on Amazon and Smashwords. Bibliobabes.ca called it a "f***in' clever story". If you're curious, and own a Kindle (or a Kindle app), check it out -- what have you got to lose? After all, it's FREE!

You can reach the ebook's Amazon page HERE

Feedback and reviews are always appreciated!

Friends & Flash Fiction

I've been dabbling in flash fiction as an exercise. To increase the challenge, I decided to begin each attempt with a sentence provided by someone else.

I tackled using writing prompts found online, but for some reason they didn't jog me enough. When you're provided a list of a hundred first sentences or prompts and can pick and choose which one to utilize, it's easy to just glance at a prompt, say, "Nope! Can't think of anything for it." and move on to the next. Plus, the fact that some random person posted a random prompt for anyone to use makes it so . . . impersonal. I felt no desire to meet the challenge.

So I tried something different. I asked friends to each provide the first sentence of a story. When the replies came in, my brain finally chugged into action. These were prompts by people who knew me. They were curious to see what I came up with, thus providing me with accountability. They produced prompts specifically for Paul Maitrejean. All these factors gave me undeniable drive to accomplish the mission.

Sure enough: Despite work, kids, a pregnant wife, and other family drama, I managed to churn out roughly one short story a day. The friends who provided the prompts got a kick out of seeing their sentences turned into full stories. And I had a blast while building literary muscle.

I might end up making this a semi-regular practice.

Breaking From The Norm

On a whim, I whipped up a very short short story this morning.

I'm not sure if I'll do anything with it, but it was a fun exercise, and of course I derived satisfaction from getting to the end of the tale and wrapping it up. When one works on longer stories, one gets a little tired of writing, writing, writing, and not seeing the end.

If nothing else, it was a break from the norm and a way to flex my writing muscles a bit. Breaking out of a groove can be quite inspiring.

And this story was a real break from normal writing for me. Crime scene, cops, FBI, and . . . well, another element that I thought I would never employ in my writing but -- tada! -- just did. I won't go into too many details just in case I do decide to make it available in one form or another.

So, fellow writers -- what have YOU written that was a huge break from the norm for you? I'm curious to read your reply!