The Iron Writer

Two weeks ago, a fellow author from Virginia asked me to guest post on her blog. I have done several such posts and was expecting it to be some sort of author interview. She explained that she was involved in a blog tour and requested I write a 500 word flash fiction piece involving four elements. She said I have until March 18th to complete my little piece. The story had to include a dead gypsy, a swordfish, a jug of moonshine and a 1959 ZIL III.

I went to bed that night pondering how I could incorporate the elements a five hundred word story. I had no idea but the challenge was intriguing. I fell asleep with no idea what to do. Luckily, I thought, I had plenty of time.

The next day I was still at a loss. As I considered the elements, I decided I had better make sure I knew exactly what is a 1959 ZIL III. I googled it and had the entire story in my mind a minute later. Seriously, only a minute. I took about 5 hours to write and polish it. When I was finished, I found a strange satisfaction for what I had created in such a short period of time. I read it once again and smiled, amused at the creativity. I emailed the piece to her and I am interested to how she uses it but I will have to wait another month.

Then, and this is the really exciting part, in an unguarded moment last Wednesday, my muse Ida (named after Ida Pierpont, my English teacher at Pleasant Grove High School back in the 60's) did another drive by dream drop and flew away in the same breath. She does that. What if I created a blog using the Iron Chef format, but for writers. I would invite four writers to compete each week, using four random items, with a time day time limit to complete a five hundred word flash fiction story. I did a quick internet search, using 'the iron writer' and found not only the url was available, but no one had created a blog or website with that theme. Nothing. I was surprised, considering all the reality shows on cable. $18  and two days later, I had the blog up and running. It is not polished yet, but it a beginning. I posted it on Facebook, tweeted about it and blogged on it on my writing blog.
If you write and are interested in taking the challenge, just email me using the link on the web page and sign up. This could be fun. If you are a reader, I hope you find the flash stories amusing and maybe a little challenging. It is a great way to bring your creativity from the back burner.

The Iron Writer Challenge

Hope to see you there.

B Y Rogers