Angela Benham

Stylized blue-footed booby on a two-tone teal background. Text reads: The Booby Prize Galapagos Conservation Trust £1 from every entry will go to the conservation of blue-footed boobies £10 Entry £500 First Place October 17 - 19

Can you take home the £500 prize?

#writingcommunity #flashfiction

Silhouette of a circus with a tent, ferris wheel, and roller coaster over a dark grey and light grey striped circus print. Text reads: Writer’s Games Winner 2025

Black background with white text that lists the first place through tenth place winners as follows: First Place: MM Schreier Second Place: Alyssa Buchthal Third Place: T.C. Leigh Fourth Place: Jessica Wilcox Fifth Place: KB Jackson Sixth Place: Elizabeth Price Seventh Place: Niina Tsuyuki Dubik Eighth Place: JO Ninth Place: R.A. Clarke Tenth Place: Moira Richardson

Black background with white text listing authors in places eleven through twenty as follows: Eleventh Place: Robert Dyer Twelfth Place: Alice Black Thirteenth Place:K.M. Shapiro Fourteenth Place: Meranda Tuttle Fifteenth Place: Moss Mars Sixteenth Place: Allison Rott Seventeenth Place: Lauren Voeltz Eighteenth Place: Aalisha Green Nineteenth Place: Angela Benham Twentieth Place: Ej Sidle

What an honor to be among such talented authors! Well done to all the winners, and I look forward to competing again next year. 💜

Thanks to Writer’s Workout for hosting this challenging competition!

I’ve been following. I lived in Texas for about 8 years. Some in San Antonio and some in Waco. It breaks my heart. I’m glad your friends and family are safe. I’m keeping everyone there in my heart right now.

Holy smokes! Is this the Guadalupe River or somewhere else? I hope everyone is alright…

Image has a gray and black circus stripe background with a jack-in-the-box graphic abc reads “Event 2” Text in the image reads: First Place: Ej Sidle Second Place: John Seldon Third Place: Alyssa Buchthal Fourth Place: Aalisha Green Fifth Place: Jessica Wilcox Honorable Mentions: Angela Benham and Elizabeth Price Entries placing first through fifth will be published in volume 13 of 72 Hours

Can’t complain about an Honorable mention! And again, so many amazing writers up there. Bring on Event 3!

That’s so lovely, thank you!

A picture with circus print and two cars, one with a moon and one with a sun. Wording reads Event 1. Underneath is a list of winners: First Place: Alyssa Buchthal Second Place: T.C. Leigh Third Place: Elizabeth Price Fourth Place: Angela Benham Fifth Place: J.L. Hardy Honorable Mentions: Jacquelyn Greiff, George Jacobs, Kirsty Nottage, Elena Stain

My goal was just to not have any DQs this time around, so we’re off to a fantastic start with fourth. And what a great group of people to be in that list with!

Still just aiming for no DQs this year, lol.

Three prompt cards along the top include Genre: Fairy Tale, Character: Betrayer, and Object: Lightbulb. Text congratulates the story, Penumbra, for finishing in the Sweet 16 bracket of the Writing Battle Final Showdown. Silver trophy with pink base pictured in the bottom left corner.

One of the top 16 stories out of 365? I’ll take it. But one of these days I’m finally going to break out of the Sweet 16, I hope! 😂

The little ink drop was crying, because his mother was in the pen and he didn't know how long the sentence would be.

Thank you very much.
I'll leave quietly.

www.writingbattle.com/join-battle I joined the upcoming Spring Microfiction Battle with writers from around the world. Get Ready to Battle on May 2, 2025! @writingbattle.bsky.social
#flashfiction #writingprompts #writerslife #WritingCommunity #writersofbluesky

Join the Battle and Learn More

Do you have a survival story in the works? Ready Chapter 1 is running a contest with a publishing deal for your survival story offered as the prize. Entry is free, so why not give it a shot?

Day 12: Plunder - “Ephemeral”
Lawless men plunder villages for gold and silver coins. Trinkets turned museum artifacts centuries later. The violence of men ebbs and flows in the stream of time, but never wins.

#30words30days #writingcommunity #flashfiction #microfiction #microlit

Day 11: Wander - “Untethered”
Cut these ties. Set me free. Let me wander this world, tasting its wonders, basking in its beauty. When I close my eyes, I’ll leave it behind with no regrets.

#30words30days #writingcommunity #flashfiction #Microlit #microfiction

‘What activities does she like?’

The walls are hung with bright, daubed paintings and clumsy needlework.

The care home nurse smiles; I fight back tears. The parent-child switch is complete.

#30Words30Days #Switch

This is beautiful 💜

Belated Day 10: Switch - “Perspective”

Dread fills her daily drive into her soul-sucking job. Until another driver blows a red, a near miss. She’s given a second chance to switch paths and pursue her dreams.

#30words30days #writingcommunity #flashfiction #microfiction #microlit

So excited for @victorcabinta.bsky.social and his new book!!! Get your copy of Superstring, I promise it will be worth it! 💜

Okay. There's a lot going on right now, and I do mean a LOT. And while it's important to stay aware, stay informed, a doomscrolling spiral won't help you or anyone else. So.

Pick one thing. One thing you can do now, one action you can take, no matter how small. Do that. That's where you start. ❤️

Libraries aren't a luxury. They are a right.

As publishers, we are unwavering in our support libraries. We remain committed to a literate, informed society and democracy, during #NationalLibraryWeek and beyond.

Read our full statement: simonandschuster.biz/p/IMLS-Lette...

I watch the cormorant dive into the sea and surface with a live fish flapping in its bill. I will the fish to escape, but death is a one-sided battle. ✍️ #30words30days #writingcommunity #amwriting #writing #flashfiction #microfiction #30wordstories #30words30dayscommunity #bluesky 9/30 #dive

Day 9: Dive - “Dissolution”
She had plans. But none involved him leaving her for a younger woman. Now she’s a fixture in this dive bar, looking for answers at the bottom of a bottle.

#30words30days #writingcommunity #flashfiction #Microfiction #microlit

Day 8: Jangle - “Illegal”
Men shuffle in a line, heads down. The jangle of their chains as discordant as cheers from the desensitized multitudes. The wolves wait, licking their lips, anticipating their unwitting feast.

#30words30days #flashfiction #microfiction #microlit #writingcommunity

lol, I loved this. I thought for sure it was an entrance exam or something. Entrance exam to adulthood is more like it. 🤣

Day 7: Flip - “Worship”
Decks shuffling and dice rattling provide percussion for a slot machine choir. This casino is my church. I whisper my prayers for fortune’s blessing before the flip of a card…

#30words30days #writingcommunity #flashfiction #microfiction #microlit

Day 6: Swivel - “Nascent”
I wanted a fresh start. Now I’m in a foreign cobblestone street, crying over a suitcase’s broken swivel wheel. A man’s warm voice interrupts, offering help. A handsome fresh start.

#30words30days #flashfiction #microfiction #microlit #writingcommunity

Butterflies Inside

Noses brush. Eyelashes flutter. We’re just a breath apart, until our lips reach for each other like flowers to the sun. A kiss. One kiss that releases a thousand chrysalises.

Nothing.
Inky black. Dark blue at the edges.
Faint streaks bled through the void from an indiscernible somewhere.
Something.
An image. Collecting in waves, forming in blobs, it trickled in from all sides as new cells settled.
#1stlinepit #wip #a #h #sf

"The second sun crested the sky, and the forest smelled of death.

There was a saying, in the mountains, that to walk carelessly through the woods was like attending a funeral; the acrid scent overwhelms, but wild flowers offer their condolences."

#1stLinePit #SF #WIP #YA #CMe

Rain fell from the same starless periwinkle fog that the infinite rows of buildings seemed to descend from. The polluted haze was a splotchy rainbow glow of neon signs advertising pasta shops, holo-phone outlets, and defunct video game corporations.
#1stlinepit #a #sf #com