Friday Fictioneers - "What's That?"

After a month-long hiatus, I checked back with the Friday Fictioneers and was delighted with this week's photo prompt. Read my 100-word story below the photo and enjoy others' flash fiction at http://rochellewisofffields.com

WHAT’S THAT?

By Beth Carter

Tommy kicked a pebble down a dusty road near the mostly boarded-up town square. When will this boring vacation be over?

“Why can’t we go to Disneyland?”

“It’s more important to visit your grandparents,” said Tommy’s father.

As Tommy walked in step with his shadow, he ran into a large metal box with a cord.

“What’s that?”

“A telephone.”

Tommy stared at his dad’s iPhone. “Were people giants? As big as dinosaurs?”

His dad ruffled Tommy’s hair. “No, son, technology has improved.”

Tommy instinctively reached into the coin dispenser and pulled out a shiny quarter.

“Some things never change."

A Bad Hair Day - Contest!

To celebrate the (fairly) recent release and the just announced "Show-Me Best Book Award" honorable mention by the Missouri Writers Guild, I think a contest is in order. Congrats to Mozark Press who published this anthology and to all of the authors!

One lucky winner will receive this humorous collection of, what else, bad hair day stories from writers across the nation. Award-winning authors, professors, teachers and reporters represent some of the

featured authors in A Bad Hair Day anthology. My story is entitled "Mr. Perfect."

Rules: Tell me about your worst bad hair day in 25 words or less. Deadline: May 17, 2013. Good luck.

My Three-Line Pitch

I told you I'd share my three-line pitch from the recent pitch opportunities via Savvy Authors. Without further ado, here it is (and it showed up as four lines on their site! However, many were three paragraphs!)

Author: Beth Carter
Title: Thursdays At Coconuts
Genre: Women's Fiction (with elements of contemporary romance, humor and suspense)
Word count: 86,000

As the go-to wedding planner, Suzy puts on a brave face with neurotic brides and a racist, pretentious mother of the bride, yet cannot find her own wedded bliss. Alex, a banker, falls for a bad-boy cop who's married and possibly stalking her, but he sure is sexy. Hope, a frumpy, self-deprecating high school counselor, enables her hippie parents and discovers a secret that almost went to the grave. These thirty-something Midwestern women meet every Thursday at Coconuts where they humorously cope with meaty issues--OCD, tragedy, homosexuality and a stroke.

Care to share yours? It's a good exercise to condense 300 pages down to a few powerful lines. Side note: I'm still waiting to hear from a couple of agents and an editor. I also pitched two picture books while I was at it. Fingers and toes crossed.