A collection of short stories, written primarily as assignments for school.
Photo: My father, circa 2003. Taken on a visit home during my first year in college. I wrote the following short story (non-fiction) for my Ethnography class. It’s too personal and emotional for me to really edit, alter, or attempt to submit for publication, so I’ve opted to share it here. ____________ September 20th, 2006:…
Chirp, chirp! That was the first sound I heard this morning. Despite what you’re thinking, it was not an overeager bird outside my window nor my alarm clock. (In case you’re wondering, my friends, my alarm clock is actually the melodic lullabies of the talented Bruno Mars. Because, really, is there any better way to…
I stumbled across an old photo one of my former teachers used as a writing prompt in his class. While I couldn’t find the original story I had written for it (I’m sure it was awful – I was a brand new writing student and my zeal often sabotaged my storytelling abilities), I did decide…
In all of the rush and bustle of these last few weeks of school, I had absolutely forgotten that my flash fiction, “The Blue Schwinn,” was due for its second publication today in Linguistic Erosion! Well, that’s a pleasant surprise to wake up to! Thank goodness I had set a reminder in my calendar –…
A good friend of mine posted a challenge in our writer’s group to try and emulate Ernest Hemingway’s 6-word story [For sale: baby shoes, never worn] by crafting our own story in less than 10 words. Everyone contributed some AWESOME [mostly sad, surprisingly] short stories. It’s impressive what you can do with a limited economy…
Image Source: http://www.triplecrownpublications.info/theblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/get-published.jpg So, while I was Internet-less the past week, one of my short stories was picked up by Linguistic Erosion and published on Friday, May 3rd. Exciting! That puts me officially two away from being forced to fulfill a deal I made with myself: once I hit 20 publications [of any size or…
Image Source: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MJogfDaUyFw/Thofg4i_qpI/AAAAAAAAAss/geXFE71FiNY/s1600/flashfiction.jpeg I’ve been in a creative mood lately, likely the result of producing and distributing my documentary last week. That was such a step outside of my comfort zone that it seems to have broken down the stone dam blocking my creativity; everything is rushing out in a flood. The last few days,…
Image Source: http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/7/7b/Write-the-Beginning-of-a-Novel-Step-5.jpg/550px-Write-the-Beginning-of-a-Novel-Step-5.jpg I went to work this morning with a bit of a queasy stomach and a headache. I assumed it was just my weekend catching up to me [crazy hat parties do that, you know], but it turns out I have picked up the dreaded stomach flu going through the office. Woohoo for…
Image Source: http://poeticfool.com/2013/01/16/easy-reading-is-damn-hard-writing-nathaniel-hawthorne/writing/ _____________________________________________ OK, as promised, I’m going to post the modern retelling of the Grimm’s fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, here for all to see. Big thanks to everyone for their feedback, support, and constructive criticism when I posted a segment of this story a little over a week ago. Please note…
OK… just one more assignment and I’m officially on break. Ecstatic! I’m debating between revising my short story for a middle school audience or the one I wrote for a high school audience. Both are a “reimagined” telling of the old Grimms’ fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The middle school tale is more amusing,…
Victoria Elizabeth Ann 
