Today begins the Story A Day challenge!

I wrote today’s story first thing this morning and even though I was a big groggy while I was writing, I managed to get through it.  The story came out to about 600 words*, but I haven’t gotten up the nerve to reread it just yet.  (*Note: Word counts are approximate since I’m doing all my first drafts by hand.  This count is based on the estimate that I can fit around 200 words per handwritten page.)

In order to keep my inner-critic in check, I’ve devised a system using a notebook wherein I will write and store all my stories for this challenge.  After each story, I’ll be leaving 3-4 pages blank before starting a new story so that I can come back and write notes on previous stories later on.  This way, I can give myself a few days away from a story before going back to it and making changes or comments.

It’s also occurred to me that given the daunting task of writing a new story every day, most of my stories this month will probably be flash fiction.  In light of this, I’ve also decided to do some reading in this category so I picked up a copy of Shapard and Thomas’ Flash Fiction Forward, a collection of short-short stories.

Question to flash fiction fans out there:  Any suggestions for good flash fiction reads?