For the past couple of weeks, I’ve spent at least as much time helping my daughter polish her query letter as working on my novel. One thing of my own that I have managed to complete is a piece of flash fiction. For those unfamiliar, flash fiction is a story told in (typically) 1,000 words or less. The one I wrote (for submission to New England Crime Bake, a writers’ conference I’m attending in two weeks) had to be (gasp!) 150 words or less. Now, I have never been known as A Woman of Few Words, so to say this was a monumental task for me is to woefully underestimate the quantity and volume of the voices in my head.

As they say in the late-night infomercials: But wait!

Since it’s already Friday and I am irretrievably short of my weekly writing goals anyway, I — never known as A Woman of Few Words — have taken up the Flash Fiction Challenge put forth by author Dan Alatorre: A haiku.

What could possibly go wrong?

Three lines. Seventeen syllables. 5-7-5. Using the Dan-provided “random topic generator” (yeah, it’s a thing), I drew “What is your favorite smell?”

Sounds straightforward, right? But I see he’s offering extra credit if I write it while drunk. As they say in Washington, DC, I can neither confirm nor deny, but here’s what I came up with …

Pine-scented salt air
Mixes with autumn’s wood smoke
Pour me a Bailey’s

Second random topic generated was “What is your favorite season?” …

A riot of leaves
An impressionist painting
Because tequila

So, Dan, how’d I do?