About a year and a half ago, the amazing women behind the online magazine Spark Flash Fiction invited me to join their team as an editorial assistant. In the past 18 months, my role has grown to include acquisitions as well as editing. I love this group of ladies and call them my Spark Sisters. Each of them is talented as a writer and gifted in other areas, such as promotion, graphic design, production, teaching, and more.
This summer we celebrated the fifth anniversary of Spark Flash Fiction. As a gift to our devoted readers and authors, twelve staff members—a mix of current and former—wrote celebration-themed romance stories to commemorate this milestone in A Celebration of Romance: A Flash Fiction Anthology.
For my contribution, I decided to try something I’ve never done before. I adore historical fiction and historical romance. I’m in awe of writers who painstakingly research and gather details to deftly weave throughout their stories set in long-ago times. The very idea of writing a historical story has always intimidated me. But our Spark managers challenged us to try something new or different for this special publication. And one of the many reasons I adore this short form of story is the freedom to experiment and play around with different genres, tenses, or points of view with the low-stakes investment of 1,000 words or less.
So with great determination, I penned my first historical romance, set during the Vietnam War era. Even though I only had 1,000 words to work with, I needed to get it right. I conducted a fair amount of research and pray I’ve done justice to this tumultuous time period. The Homecoming is the result, and I hope you enjoy it and that it might even move you.
The digital anthology will arrive in Spark’s newsletter subscribers’ inboxes on Friday, September 6. Make sure you’re on the list by Thursday, September 5, 2024, to receive your exclusive copy!