I really like short stories. I love reading them, and I love writing them. Best of all, sometimes I write one so good other people want to share it with the world. I really want to push myself to write more short stories this year.

So how shall I do that? Well, I noticed that my most productive period for short stories is when I was doing weekly writing challenges. You’ve probably read those stories, I tend to showcase them on my blog frequently because despite being written in a week, I think they turned out pretty good. So I’m going to feature more writing prompt stories. I’ve taken some inspiration from one of my favourite bands (kinda a band, it’s complicated) Toehider, who sometimes do a ‘XII in XII’ thing, where they record and release 12 EPs over 12 months on Patreon. (Official release seems more spread out though. But seriously, shout out to Toehider, go buy their music.)

My goal this year is to write and release one short story per month, based off of a prompt. I’m going to try and keep them flash fiction length, and the prompts will come from my husband at first, but I am open to the idea of prompts from the public down the line. Whilst I intend to get every month, if I write a story that I think turns out terrible I’ll pass on that month. I do have a couple of trunk stories I can share instead if that happens, but I’d rather not ‘cheat’ like that.

Hopefully, everything I write will be as good or better than my first Monthly Prompt Story of the year; Anomalous. Click here to go check it out. This is my take on the “what if we’re living in a giant simulation and we aren’t real?” idea, informed by many years of gaming.

I’m really looking forward to writing some more short stories, and I hope you’ll all stick around for this crazy ride.

~ Jayde