More Authors Helping Flood Victims

With one day to go until the final deadline I'm still not quite finished my submission for 100 Stories For Queensland. Flash is tricky to write! It's hard to bring a story to a satisfying conclusion in just 1000 words. I've written flash before of course, but it was mainly erotica, and I find that easier because, without wishing to sell my chosen genre short, there's a more obvious conclusion for events to come to (no pun intended), so it's just a matter of trimming away some of the preamble. Wow, that really is selling erotica short. I don't mean that it's easy to write, because it's not (well, no more so than any other genre), or that it's less worthwhile somehow (there are some seriously brilliant erotica flash stories out there). I suppose I just find it easier sticking within my comfort zone. This exercise has been good for me and I probably should practise this kind of thing more often.

Fellow Goodreads author Sean Williams is involved in another initiative by Aussie authors to help flood victims. Visit Writers on Rafts if you'd like to help out and go into the draw to win some pretty awesome prizes donated by various authors. These incluce author visits, book packs and the chance to have a character in an upcoming book named after you.

100 Stories for Queensland

A couple of writers are putting together an anthology called 100 Stories for Queensland to raise funds to help victims of the recent flooding in the area. They're calling for submissions of flash fiction, any genre as long as it's upbeat and not about death and destruction. It's not my usual genre but I will see if I can come up with something suitable.

In terms of loss of life the floods aren't on the same scale as other disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, but the damage to homes and businesses is in the billions and it is likely to take the state a couple of years to recover. There are people out there right now sweeping out their homes and emptying everything they own onto the footpath to be taken away in a garbage truck. Many of these people were insured for everything except flooding because they couldn't get flood insurance due to their proximity to the location of their homes. Click here for photos. So please, if you can help us out by submitting a story, buying the anthology when it's finished, or preferably both.

If you'd like to donate to the Premier's disaster relief fund directly you can do it here. Thanks in advance for your support.

Floods

Half of my city is under water at the moment, so I may not be online much for a while. Hopefully we won't lose water (it's ironic having none to drink when it's everywhere!) and the river will subside soon. In the meantime I have a roof over my head at least and plenty to read when I can't go anywhere due to all the road closures. My heart goes out to those who aren't so lucky.