Do you remember that woman you emailed about writing that article? You know, the one you met on that website the other night. Remember, she had that really cool email address, you were sure it would be easy to remember, it's on the tip of your pen... if only you had kept track of that information.

Been there? Been there a few more times than you care to admit? Me too. Let's do something about it.

Let's work on getting organized. If we do it together it won't hurt quite so much. Yes, I'm lying but just pretend you don't know that.

Start with contact management. I know you have a whole pile of papers you're itching to sort out right away, all those great ideas you intend to make into that really great and ever so useful idea folder which we discussed in a previous newsletter. But... let's work on managing your contacts today. If you can remember who you promised what to and their email address you're ahead of the game. Plus, you won't drive yourself crazy wondering what you missed among the clutter on your desk and in your brain.

I found a freeware contact manager/ address book last night. It looks good, really good. Plus it's freeware, how can you go wrong with that? (Shh, I like some illusions). You can find it at JB Enterprises. I'm including a link below with the newsletter. It will also be with my current BW column once I get that far.

Another program which seems to offer more than contact management and is geared to writers is The Literary Machine. I haven't done more than download that one. But, it sounds worth an exploration. That link will also be below.

Check around yourself for other contact management and PIM (personal information manager) software. You might get lucky and find something exceptional. I just look for the freeware, that's the kind of grrl I am.

Here's something I found among a list of jobs for writers:

We are looking for writers to work on the following project:

• Author many short (100-200) word articles on a variety of keywords (keyword list will be provided).
• Author site map for your work.
• Ensure the content achieves an 8-12% keyword density rating.
• Ability to crank out at least 50 such articles a week

Qualifications:

• Use Dreamweaver or Frontpage
• Know how to FTP content to a site
• Previous web writing experience (send URLs)

Compensation:

• Paid on a per article basis.

Is this the job for you? You can find it on Craigslist.org if you want to. It sounds like they want someone to write spam, to me. I guess I still have a bit too much pride in my writing to consider it something I'd "crank out".

I'm not being stuffy, just thinking of the work and creativity and craft involved in creating a readable article and then comparing that to something you'd crank out 50 times a week.

Could you do it? Even if you would take the job, could you write 50 short articles about random topics each week? I guess if it really didn't matter how interesting or unique they were, you could. Of course, you have to consider how dense the keywords are. That seems to be the only content that matters.

Kind of sad if web writing comes to this, cranking out keywords for search engines to latch onto.

The funny thing is that search engines don't all use spiders any more. Some have real people who aren't impressed with a lot of half assed articles full of keywords. Even if those sites get listed and show up at the top of the search that's no guarantee of getting clicks. Not real clicks that stick around and actually look at the site. After all, getting clicks isn't enough. If people come to the site, find nothing and leave. You're not ahead of the game.

So, it's paying work for some writer. Not me though. Not that I couldn't use the money. I just don't want to be known for cranking out articles when I could be creating something unique, with real value.

It's about writing flash fiction, geared to erotica but good points for anyone writing a story in 250 words.

Writing Erotic Flash Fiction By T. Myer

You've seen these little powerhouses of narrative everywhere. Short little stories (1000 words is almost too long) that convey a powerful story while implying an entire novel's worth of story, characterization, and conflict. The flash fiction (or short-short story) market is gaining in popularity, as editors can pack in more variety with each anthology or zine they publish.

But how do you crack this market? Anyone who has tried to write a piece of flash fiction (erotic or not) quickly realizes how difficult it is to build a good story in so little acreage. Here are some tips for getting off on the right foot.

1. Start strong. Flash fiction in many respects is like advertising copywriting. Without a strong headline and lead sentence, there's no way anyone will pay attention to it. Same with flash fiction. Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

· Dialogue. An excellent beginning, especially if we are thrust into a conversation halfway through it, as though we'd just entered the room where two people are talking. This draws us in, makes us want to read on to figure out what's happening.

· Description. More than other prose forms, flash fiction attracts a lot of poetic diction. Many flash fiction pieces can sustain lyrical prose because of its brevity. An effective beginning for an erotic piece is to describe in depth one of the character's physical characteristics. This will lead you to other discoveries.

· Metaphor. Again, flash fiction can sustain higher levels of metaphor, analogy, and allegory than other prose forms because they're so short. Readers will forgive_{even enjoy}the tangents you take. Beware, though: if you have something allegorical to say, don't dawdle. Economy of words is everything.

2. Forget plot. Let your characters and situations take their natural course. Especially if the piece you are writing has to be 100 or 200 words. Don't cranialize the experience, get it out on paper. The best way to approach this kind of writing is to get the hell out of the way of the first draft. You'll have plenty of time later to edit and shape. With just two or three characters, a situation, and 300 words, you'll have no trouble at all getting the words out.

3. Imply as much as you can. Every word, every action, every sentence should imply way more than it actually says or expresses. If your two characters are divorced, try not to say this outright. Show us, show us, show us. Their words and actions around each other will tell us not only if they are divorced, but whether it was amicable, painful, etc.

4. Think tone. Flash fiction pieces are about tone, not just form. They are more like poems than prose in this way. Although flash fiction pieces can take many forms (letter, diary entry, vignette, slice of life, anecdote, joke) it's their tone that sets them apart as a literary form.

What is tone? I can take the easy way out and say "You'll know it when you see it," but I won't. Tone is what underlies any of your writing. An emotion or edge. Maybe the entire tone of the story is hurried and paranoid, but the characters themselves are placid. This sets up a nice conflict. Or maybe the tone is comic, although the matter is tragic.

Tone is painted with diction, rhythm, and syntax. Most prose writers find these fields hard to master. Take a poetry class or write some poetry that doesn't rhyme. Paint a picture with word choices, word phrases, word arrangements. A delicious conflict arises when one character tra-la-la's while another feels like a dead anvil sitting in the middle of the page.

5. Conflict and contrast. I've said it a number of times, but it bears saying again. Always throw yourself into the path of conflict. The conflict can be physical, emotional, spiritual, internal, external, whatever. Same goes with contrast--the bolder, the better.

6. Twist the hook at the end. You open with a hook to reel in the reader. By the end, you need to twist that hook in the reader's mouth. Because the form is so brief, the twist will be no more than a paragraph, and is usually just a sentence or phrase.

The hook at the end is what will make your flash fiction totally unforgettable. It can literally seal the memory of it in the vaults of your reader's mind. But don't overdo it. Sometimes a quarter turn of the hook is enough.

7. Forget everything I told you. Someone will come around and break all these rules, and that's fine. This form is ripe for harvesting unusual fruit. Just write and see what happens. I think you'll find the form very gratifying.

Editing Advice Now that you've got a first draft down, more than likely you have too many words, either for your own liking or for the editor's. Here's how you can knock down the word count.

1. Murder all adverbs. Keep the emphasis on the nouns and verbs. Instead of saying "he ran quickly" say, "he sprinted." You just saved 1 word.

2. Likewise with redundancies. Instead of saying things like "she moaned with pleasure" say "she moaned." We'll figure out from the context that it was pleasurable. Double kudos to you if the piece becomes a little more ambiguous (maybe she moans from pain? despair? fright?) because of the edit.

3. If a word doesn't add to tone, conflict, or the upcoming hook-twisting, then flush it. There's no room for excess baggage in this genre. Every word must lead to the conclusion, even in a roundabout way.