I try to do at least 1 new flash fiction piece every week. I have been doing them myself in word documents, but I’ve found that doing things with others really takes the tedium out of the picture and they become a lot more fun, even if they are challenging and I fail completely.
I use them to hone my writing skills and turning off my inner editor as I write. This comes in super handy during NaNoWriMo, but day to day as well. Time also plays a role. Each challenge is timed, so I have to sit down with the intent to write, hit the word count, and include all of the targets.
I make the targets as immediately unrelatable as possible. Like, include a pink ribbon, the sound of glass breaking, and the smell of a pizza fresh out of the oven. Your brain instantly gets to work trying to tie them, and a story naturally unfolds.
After a year of weekly flash fiction challenges, you end up with 52 starts, ends, or pieces in between, of larger stories. It’s a beautiful thing. Anthologies are popping up all over the place looking for short pieces and drabbles. You might be sitting on some good ones.
I’ll start doing them as blog posts and you can follow/attempt them here, right along with me.