were. I wish I had known all that when I first encountered him early on. Langston Hughes is always a go-to for me. And I've been reading as much flash fiction as possible, in indie journals both in print and online. Flash is a new genre for me, one I'm really trying to crack, and the more excellent flash stories I encounter the closer I get to figuring it out for myself.
8) What do you want to achieve with a story?
I want to paint a picture with feelings. I want the reader to experience something in their soul. I want the reader to not be able to get my visions out of their head or their heart, to replay a story in their mind. And I want them to participate in the story as well...I don't want to have to do all the work. I want them to join in and fill in and use their own selves to inform what I've written.
9) What keeps you writing?
Oh gosh, I'm just getting started. I have so much more ground to cover. I can't stop now! In addition, I find the work of it, the process, to be very therapeutic to my overall mental state. Finally, now that I've been published a little bit here and there, I have profoundly vain and lofty publishing goals that I'd like to meet before I'm done.
10) What is the hardest part of writing?
Making myself sit down and do the work. I love having finished a story. I love to have a story read by someone else. But some days it is such a chore to get myself to the desk and turn off the distracting internet and actually do the work required to arrive at the finished project. I don't write for a living, and my job and family necessarily take up a great portion of my day.
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