12 Comments

I like the short story. Especially since you've managed to invoke so much caring and compassion into so few words. Like it 🥰

Expand full comment

Thanks, Laura.

Expand full comment

I know childlessness. Others let me love on theirs.

Six word stories are a challenge to write. Interactions with readers are priceless.

Expand full comment

I'm so glad you have children you can share your love with, Jenise. You're such a nurturing person.

Expand full comment

I'm kind of all over the place. Eclectic! 🤣

Expand full comment

Mark is right, as a writer, I enjoy the challenge of doing a five or six word story. We that follow Esther Chilton’s blog do a 5-word story every Thursday and sometimes Belladonna asks for a 6-word story on her blog, Belladonnas Flashlight.

Expand full comment

That's cool. And yes, it does feel more like an exercise than anything else. On its own, it's too little to give the reader. Thank goodness I airways include something extra!

Expand full comment

Lovely image and a sweet story. It really evokes a story in the mind. It seems more like a caption, a poem. It's beautiful, but not sure where it fits.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Connie. I'm not sure either. I don't think this is something I'll do again!

Expand full comment

I did one also. Personally, I am not a big fan of the format. It seems like a writing exercise to me. I imagine writers enjoy them more than readers. (But I am frequently wrong.) 🤣 I think they work best when a group of writers all post their story at the same place. Then seeing how people respond differently to a prompt is interesting.

Expand full comment

I think you're likely right. I wouldn't have posted this without my usual below-the-line blurb. It would have felt lazy and like a cheat

Expand full comment

That is the rub with six word stories. If you have to explain them or expound on them, then they probably don't stand alone. But they are awfully short to stand alone as a newsletter. 🤣

When I started my newsletter, I tried just one very short (a couple of sentences) humor story or one microfiction story in a newsletter, and my newsletter stalled at 20 subs for six months. Then I put three short stories together and the newsletter took off.

So I have stuck with roughly a 3 to 8 minute read time for my Monday Morning Mark newsletter. With three or four stories.

But that works for me because I write short naturally.

Expand full comment