Things have been happening in my life that have made me reflect on what I really want to go on doing. My day job will be ending in October with the retirement of my super boss, the internationally respected education expert, Stefan T. Hopmann, with whom I’ll still be working on the Journal of Curriculum Studies to wind up our participation. My Schubis, the doctoral students in Education Sciences (Schu-le und Bi-ldungswissenschaft) will for the most part all have completed their studies, the ones in English at least, thus my washing machine will no longer be needed. So, it will be writing full time, which brings me to flash fiction and the choice of my path.
Interestingly, when I chaired a panel on flash fiction at the International Conference on the Study of the Short Story in North Little Rock in 2012 – with Robert Olen Butler, Sandra Jensen, Nuala O´Connor, and Tania Hershman reading flashes from 1,000 to 200 words, the form was still looked upon warily by scholars and short-story writers, but I felt comfortable with it as my own cruising speed was under 1,000 words.
Despite this, I´m still drawn to longer works and completed an antifa novelette in flash, Winds of Change, after working with Nancy Stohlman whose lockdown year flash nano allowed me to complete another novelette in flash, Romeo & Julia in Corona, which is in English and German, inspired by a local charity I support. PCs für Alle upcycles laptops and computers for families who can´t afford the equipment, primarily for their kids’ schooling. Winds of Change will soon also be out in German and as an audio book in English and possibly also in German.
Although I´ve been writing and teaching flash on and off, I´ve also been reaping rejections in the flash area that make me aware of not really fitting in, with the only cure being to do my own thing. So I´m going hybrid!
I still have my PhD novel, Ambergris to revise yet again, but I think that this time I´ll nail it. So there I will persevere as before, but for all my other projects, my own imprint, Flo Do Books Vienna-Sydney, will take care of things. It will stay small and beautiful, as all I want really is to let the spice flow. I´ve had interest from writers on my wavelength, one in Austria for an English version of some of his work and possibly also a German audio, as well as another in the UK for a German version of one of her books.
My own brand of networking has come into its own – people I used to have a beer with when some of us were just starting out are now on board for their own areas of expertise – translation, audio work, cover art and design, PR, website and hosting, …
Always amazed at the places from where support for my ideas and work is coming, I’m proud to have had an article on flash fiction published in the spring issue of World Literature Today, with another on Vienna, due to appear in the summer issue.
My novel, All the Beautiful Liars, received a super review in the Yorkshire Times with Angela Readman´s poem highlighted in the title of the review.
Also keeping me on my toes and exposed to international fiction in English is my work as fiction editor of the bimonthly (every two months) WordCity Literary Journal.
Please excuse me now as I turn to my notebook and leave you as always with onwards!
