Posted on by Justin Deming

Along the Hudson

Photo by Verina Waldner on Unsplash

One of my ancestors is named Lewis Dudley Deming. He was born in 1820 and spent most of his life on the Hudson River as a boat pilot and captain between Albany and New York City. Though I will never be a riverboat pilot, I can’t help but feel the same draw to the Hudson that Lewis presumably felt. For some reason, my life has led me here, and it’s where my family calls home: the Hudson River Valley.

I’ve spent the past decade of my life either on or around this river. As a result, it provides me with a constant source of inspiration. Some of my best story ideas have come from quiet mornings, exploring or hiking along its banks.

That’s what you’ll receive if you choose to follow my Substack newsletter — my stories from Along the Hudson.

I will be updating this space with stories from my collection of archived fiction and creative nonfiction from my Substack newsletter. To check out my Substack, which has new stories and writing prompts delivered twice a week, please click on this link. If you like the material, I hope you’ll consider signing up.

Thanks so much for reading this. I hope you’ll continue this writing journey with me!

– Justin

Posted on by Justin Deming

Micro 2 Go Updates

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy.

I wanted to give a quick update regarding my Substack newsletter, Micro 2 Go. Several changes have been made – all good things!

Roughly a month ago I started to create daily writing prompts, and I named this section of the newsletter Prompts 2 Go. These prompts are sent out via email to all subscribers every morning at 7:00 AM (EST). The intended audience is for any writer, at any stage, who is looking for “story starters” or daily writing exercises. My newsletter could also be suitable for English teachers or creative writing instructors – or students!

In addition to the daily prompts, I’m sending out short fiction (or microfiction) twice a week. These stories are sent out at 8:00 AM every Monday and Friday.

If you are interested in checking out Micro 2 Go or signing up, please click here.

Thanks so much for considering. I hope your writing ventures are going well!

All the best,

Justin

Posted on by Justin Deming · 4 Comments

“New Attendance Codes” has been published by The Daily Drunk Magazine

Happy New Year, everyone!

I’m a little late getting around to posting this, but I wanted to share another publication update. The Daily Drunk Magazine published my hybrid flash fiction story “New Attendance Codes” on Christmas Eve. I was excited to add this to my list of publications for 2020.

I wrote “New Attendance Codes” in an attempt to capture the pure absurdity of this school year. Schools and families are doing the best they can – I mean that earnestly – but this year has been unlike anything we have ever faced before. Each day poses a new challenge, and the challenges are far from what we used to typically experience.

Writing this story was simply one teacher’s way of having a laugh to help find his way through an obscure time.

I hope you enjoy it!

– Justin

Posted on by Justin Deming · 4 Comments

Friday Fix Fiction: The Next Chapter Begins

At long last, I’m excited to announce the launch of Friday Fix Fiction, a standalone, online literary journal devoted to fifty-word microfiction. If you enjoyed reading or writing for The Friday Fix over on Medium, I hope you’ll consider taking a look at the new publication.

The overall concept is the same, but the model is a bit different. Instead of posting weekly prompts, a monthly theme will be shared, and accepted stories will appear on the last Friday of every month. My goal is to publish twelve issues for 2021. Each issue will publish up to twenty stories.

Here are some of my other long and short-term goals for Friday Fix Fiction:

  • Publish high-quality fiction alongside captivating photography.
  • Select a “featured” story for each issue.
  • Accept photography submissions for the cover of each issue, as well as the featured story.
  • Become a paying market. My first objective will be to pay the featured writer.
  • Host one or two annual contests with payouts for first, second, and third place. (Guest judges, too.)
  • Have two annual “mega” issues in June and December that either includes contest submissions or original stories.
  • Build an inclusive community that is accepting of all members.
  • Accept and promote the work of both emerging and experienced writers.
  • Create annual print anthologies, showcasing some of the best submissions from the year.

I won’t ramble on. Head on over to fridayfixfiction.com to get a feel for the new layout, submission process, and to scope out the site. Feel free to leave some feedback or ideas below, if you’d like. And please spread the word!

I hope to see your stories roll in soon. More importantly, I hope you’re excited. I know I am.

Wishing you all the best,

-Justin

Posted on by Justin Deming · 2 Comments

Medium and Microfiction

view of floating open book from stacked books in library
Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

I write a fair amount of content over on Medium.com. Admittedly, I used to post more work during 2019, but I still create weekly writing prompts over at The Friday Fix – and serve as the editor of the publication.

Recently, the publication has been receiving over fifty prompt-based stories on a weekly basis, and somewhere around twenty to twenty-five original works of microfiction. In total, I’m seeing seventy-five submissions roll in every single week. It’s both incredibly fun and daunting at the same time!

As the person behind the scenes doing a lot of the nitty-gritty work, I’ve realized I haven’t been writing as much microfiction lately. It also feels a bit strange to post my own stories on The Friday Fix, which has evolved into a niche community on Medium with almost 1,500 followers – not to mention over 200 writers.

For this reason, I’ve decided to create my own personal publication on Medium called Story Well. I’m in the process of transferring all of my old fifty-word stories from The Friday Fix archives (wiping some cobwebs and grime off them, too) to Story Well in an effort to rejuvenate my love for this genre. Maybe this will get some new eyes on my work, as well.

As I go about this, my plan is to simultaneously share my stories here on my recently polished WordPress site. I’m interested to see if this will bring on new readers. More importantly, I hope to create more fans of the microfiction form of writing. Who knows, maybe by this time next year I’ll have a collection of my very own stories to shop around to publishers.

Hmm…might there be a chapbook in the not-so-distant future? Only time will tell.

Get ready for a wave of microfiction!

Happy writing,

Justin