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Jody J. Sperling's avatar

I discovered flash fiction by accident when I walked into a Barnes & Noble almost twenty years ago. My eyes were drawn to a seafoam blue book cover with a simple illustration of a girl wearing pigtails. The book was Girl on the Fridge by Etgar Keret. I devoured those stories and as any ignorant youngun will do, I started writing the most profound flash fictions the world had ever seen. They were, in fact, so profound mere mortals couldn't grasp their transcendental symbolism.

Since then, I've gotten a lot dumber, and now I can't even understand my old flash fictions. They're so complex and mercurial.

I see me now seeing me then, and I wish I had had an essay like this one from you, Kathy, to help me understand that profundity is a trap, and a false target. The truth is, I'm scared people will judge me shallow, vapid, and dull. If only I'd known to slow down on those fears, the pain I feel at wanting to be equal to my heroes, and craft flash fictions from that.

Well, there's always today, right?

Great essay, and thanks for sharing.

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Antonia Reed's avatar

Thank you so much for this Kathy. I'm using it right now to work through an idea I've had!

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