Making The Commitment To Write Flash Fiction

March 8, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

Many writers try their hand at writing flash fiction.  Just like many people try their hand at doing martial arts.

But to be really good at martial arts, you have to make a serious commitment to learn martial arts.  To really be good at writing flash fiction, you have to make a serious commitment to being good at flash fiction.

How much time does it take to be really good at writing flash fiction?  Usually years, just like martial arts.

One of the first things that you will learn when you commit to writing flash fiction is that its very short length does not restrict what a writer can do.  Flash fiction liberates a writer and allows a writer to write about anything in life.

You just write about it at 1,000 words a pop.

*****

Take out a free subscription or just follow the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, the most dynamic flash fiction publication on the Internet.

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Retirement, A Nude Woman And Beautiful Weather In Pittsburgh

March 7, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

I wrote this post in my little pocket notebook around 11:00 am while I sat at the bar in Armand’s in Bloomfield (Little Italy) while sipping on a draft beer.  Armand’s is about a 15-minute walk from my apartment.

The day beyond the window is beautiful.  The sun is shinning and it’s around 65 degrees outside.

I’m enjoying my retirement now that I have financial stability; but because my stable income is still small the challenge is to live within a budget which I still have to prove that I can do. 

The other challenge of retirement is to give structure to your life.  When you don’t have to be anywhere you have to find reasons to get up for in the morning.

English: A glass of draft Bintang Beer, Jakart...

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Being the editor/publisher of the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is one of the reasons why I have to get up in the morning.  I’m constantly promoting this publication online and in real life.  I’m constantly searching for writing talent online and in real life to showcase in the magazine.  Yesterday, I gave an online interview to another respected flash fiction publication about flash fiction; and I’m constantly trying to come up with ideas for posts and for new ways to get the word out about flash fiction.

And there is my work as a performance artist: karaoke.

*****

Take out a free subscription or follow the PFF Gazette with the click of the mouse.

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Eating A Woman Until She Has An Orgasm And Other Articles

March 5, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

How to perform oral sex on a woman until she has an orgasm is just one of the articles that you will find in this unique magazine.  Now you understand why the majority of the readers of the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette are women.  They get it.  Sexology is just that, the study of sex in human beings and the study of sexual relationships.  Women are not embarrassed by sex.  They just do not want to be thought less of as they explore their sexuality.  The Old Soldier, finally after all these years, gets it.

If you are a woman and you like the take this magazine has on sexology, welcome to the most dynamic flash fiction publication on the Internet.

A reader of this magazine will also find articles about blogging and writing.  There are commentaries about life and the world we live in.  There are poems and flash fiction.

Subscribe or follow.  Both are free.

*****

English: woman during orgasm

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The article about eating a woman to orgasm has been stuck to the Front Page for several weeks now.  Check it out before I rotate it to the archives.

*****

Read.  Study.  Write.  Submit.

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Karaoke Friday Night March 2, 2012

March 2, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

The Old Soldier will be at Del’s in Bloomfield tonight for karaoke.  I’ve already got the songs picked out: Send Me An Angel by Real Life, Sister Christine by Night Ranger, Here I Go Again by Whitesnake and It’s My Life by The Animals.

Now of course if there’s a crowd I may not get to sing all the songs but I’d rather for the place to be crowded.

*****

Hello hello hello, everyone.  This may be the only post I get up today.  I’ve done my breathing and stretching exercises and now I’m doing laundry.  I’m still waiting for someone to submit a publishable flash fiction story so that I can prove that the PFF Gazette is now a paying market.

Whitesnake Hammersmith Odeon 1981

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Beyond that the Old Soldier is just chillin’, stretched out on the sofa with two fat pillows under his weary head, drinking beer and reading his history of Christopher Columbus.

It’s around 4:00 pm on an overcast but mild (40s) day in Pittsburgh.

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7,256 Hits Last Month And Other Things Of Interest

March 1, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

An Amateur Doing Porn

It’s official.  The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette got 7,256 hits in February.  It averaged 250 hits every day.  Not bad for a little niche blog about flash fiction.  The Old Soldier must be doing something right.

One thing that I think I got right is that as of today this publication is a paying market.

*****

Hello hello hello, all my brother and sister bloggers, readers, writers and my Flash Fiction Fanatics.  And a special hello to the students of the University of Pittsburgh.  And just to think that the Old Soldier was a graduate student at Pitt teaching flash fiction from 2003 to 2006.  I can see the Cathedral of Learning from my window.

Those were some of the happiest days of my life.

English: Logo for the athletics teams at the U...

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But these days are pretty good, too.  I’m retired.  If I live within my budget, I don’t have to worry about money and I’m the editor/publisher of the most dynamic flash fiction publication on the Internet.

There’s a lot of excitement going on here.  Why don’t you take out a free subscription or follow this blog.  The subscription tab is at the top of the page or the follow button is at the bottom of the page.

And if you’re a writer, send me something.

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Here’s A To-Do List For Flash Fiction Writers

February 27, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

Do carry around with you something you can use to record ideas that might turn into flash fiction.  I always have a small pocket notebook and two ink pens with me.

Do “think” about flash fiction whenever you get a chance.

Do realize that your life is full of moments that would make for great flash fiction.

Do memorize the simple form of the flash fiction story.  It’s the setup, the build up and the payoff.  Or, you can think of it this way.  There’s the introduction, the body of the story and then the resolution.

Cold Sassy Tree book cover

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And finally, do make an effort to become part of a flash fiction community.  You could take out a free subscription to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette at the top of the page or just hit the follow button at the bottom of the page.

Either way, you won’t miss a single issue of the most dynamic flash fiction publication on the Internet.

*****

What a gorgeous day it is in Pittsburgh today.  The high was in the 50s and there was plenty of sunshine.

I walked to the public library and browsed through three magazines (The Atlantic, The Progressive and Time) and I checked out an old movie on tape: Cold Sassy Tree starring Faye Dunaway and Richard Widmark.

Then I enjoyed my walk back to my arpartment, breathing in the spring-like air and looking forward to this publication becoming a paying market on March 1, 2012.  Don’t send anything now.  Wait for March 1, 2012.  It’s only three days away.  Then send me your best.

Yesterday, the PFF Gazette got over 300 hits.

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Adventure: An Unusual And Exciting Experience

February 27, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

I’ll just state right up front that this magazine is definitely not for everyone.  There’s too much sex.

But there is a lot more than just sex going on here.

There are articles on blogging and writing.  There are commentaries on life, current events and what it’s like to be a writer.  And there are the flash fiction stories.

This publication is more than three years old and it has an archive of over 2,750 pieces.  No, this magazine is definitely not for everyone; but it may be just right for you.

There is a free Subscription tab at the top of the page and a Follow button at the bottom of the page.

*****

Read.  Study.  Write.

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Flash Fiction Flash Fiction And More Flash Fiction

February 23, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

Flash fiction is a wonderful thing.  A writer can write about any and every situation in life.  Flash fiction is the human condition at 300 to 1,000 words a pop.  And the Old Soldier has plenty of flash fiction for you on this site.

Not only that but if you write flash fiction I want to see it.  Now don’t send me anything until March 1, 2012.  On that date this magazine becomes a paying market.

You can’t beat that with a stick!

Then along with all this great flash fiction and a place to showcase your own flash fiction, there is the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette’s special editorial blend of articles, commentaries, sexology and the nude female form in all its glory.

Did I mention flash fiction?

Posted in Commentaries. Tags: , , , , , , . 18 Comments »

Life: Time For The Long Walk

February 23, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

This Is The Old Soldier 8 Years Ago When He Was A Graduate Student At The University Of Pittsburgh

It’s around 10:30 AM, time for me to walk to the Senior Citizens Center to get the form I need to fill out for a rent rebate.  The sun is bright and it’s a mild 40-something degrees outside.

I got my extra virgin olive oil, but I’ll have my fish fry when I get back.  Walking is very much part of my excercise routine.  The Old Soldier did his breathing and stretching exercises this morning, but there won’t be any karaoke this Friday.  I’ve been spending too freely, still celebrating my new-found stable but small income based on Social Security, a pension from the Veterans Administration and a small pension from Giant Eagle.

So, I’m going to put this post up and I’ll see you when I get back.

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A Free Subscription: Don’t Let Your Creativity Die

February 19, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

You’re a writer of some kind, maybe a blogger.  You have a lot of things on your mind besides writing: family, a job, trying to find a job, trying to find a better job, a significant other and on and on.  You know, life in general.  Then there are your friends, those guys and girls you love being around.

Now a writer has to be engaged in life in order to write about life.

But then there comes a time when you have to close the door on life and sit down and face that blank page or that empty composition box on the computer screen.

What ideas do you draw upon to give you inspiration?

Well, a writer gets ideas from a lot of places.  One of the places a writer gets ideas from is from the material that he or she reads.  You know where I’m going with this, don’t you?

Take out a free subscription to the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette.  This magazine is definitely not for everyone.  There are a lot of nude women in the magazine and there is a lot of content about women: performing oral sex on them, sucking milk from their breasts, fingering them to orgasm, amateur women in porn on so on.  I’m sure you get my drift. 

Let me say two things in my defence.  The majority of the readers and subscribers of this magazine are women; and you will find lots of articles on blogging, writing and commentaries on news and social events.

Oh, I forgot to mention you will find in the magazine some of the best literary, mainstream, erotic and sex flash fiction on the internet.

So give the PFF Gazette a try.  A subscription is free.  The Subscription tab is at the top of the page.

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Many Women In Porn Videos Don’t Have Orgasms

February 18, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

In my reporting on porn videos on the internet, I’ve found out a baffling fact.  Just because a woman is in a porn video does not mean she will have an orgasm during the video.

Do you get the irony here?

The Old Soldier only follows amateurs, the young women (and not so young women) doing their first, second, third or fourth video.  They are not acting.  But often times if they are matched up with just one male talent the women do not have an orgasm, at least not with the man.

Often times these women use a vibrator to have an orgasm.  Let me repeat that.  The women have to use a vibrator to have an orgasm.

The reason that these women don’t have an orgasm with one man is because no matter how hard and often he plunges his erection into the woman’s mouth, butt or vagina the clitoris does not get enough stimulus to make the woman cum.

Now if the woman is in a gang bang she usually has several orgasms (more orgasms in a very short period of time then she will have in her real life) because just the number of erections sliding in and out of her vagina will usually give enough stimulus to her clitoris to make her cum more than once during the video.

This is one reason why some of these women agree to be gang banged.  A woman knowing she is being taped having sex with several men can be a real turn on to her.  The money is a turn on.  And the orgasms are real and powerful.  If a woman can let herself go and just enjoy the moment her gang bang video will be the most exciting sexual experience of her life.  That is if she gets out of the porn business before she becomes jaded.  If she stays in the porn business too long her gang bang will be looked back upon as a negative experience; or at least as not as great an experience as she first thought it was.

The lesson for all of us men (boyfriends, husbands and lovers) is to pay attention to the clitoris.

Posted in Pornography. Tags: , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments »

The Debate On Making The PFF Gazette A Paying Market

February 16, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

This is a shout-out to all of you who enjoy reading and writing flash fiction.  It’s the Old Soldier here doing a little promo for the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, the most dynamic flash fiction publication on the internet, a wonderland of reading entertainment.

Stay with me now.  I can prove it.

First you want to make sure that you are on the Home Page.  Then move your gaze from the sidebar on the left, to the tabs at the top of the page, then the sidebar on the right and don’t forget the middle-column.  The middle column is where I stick posts that have proven their popularity.

The PFF Gazette is more than just a flash fiction publication.  It is an entertainment center.  It is a publication of news events, social items, how to articles on blogging and writing, a celebration of female sexuality and a vehicle for concise commentaries on the ebb and flow of life.

It is a place where aspiring and veteran writers can showcase their work.

But always at the core of this magazine, you will find the flash fiction story in all its great variety: mainstream, literary, erotic and porn.  (I’m still waiting for some brave soul to submit some flash fiction romance.)  The Old Soldier is not bashful.

If you’re not bashful, this publication is for you.  Explore and enjoy this unique flash fiction wonderland.

*****

Well, that’s two posts for the day and it’s not 1:00 PM yet.  I’ve done my breathing and stretching exercises and now it’s time to shower and dress and explore the neighborhood.  I’ll phone the Matriarch before I leave.

*****

I’m debating with myself about making the PFF Gazette a paying market.  You know, will it be a paying market for poetry, non-fiction and fiction or just for fiction?  Any monthly budget for the magazine has to fit into my personal budget.  It has to be sustainable.  Is $5.00 an acceptance sustainable?  Is $10.00 an acceptance sustainable?

And the beat goes on.

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Occupy Wall Street: Can A Leaderless Movement Succeed?

February 4, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

Members and admirers of the Occupy Movement are proud of the fact that the movement is an affiliation of individuals, a true democracy at work.  The occupiers are proud that there are no leaders; or, that anyone at any time can be a leader.

I am definitely one of the 99%.  I am an admirer and a supporter of the movement.  This news magazine sympathetically covers the movement.  The Old Soldier recently purchased a book about the movement, the price of the book going to the movement.

But for the life of me I cannot imagine the occupiers succeeding without identifiable leaders or without some sort of leadership structure.  Imagine India without Gandhi or the Civil Rights Movement without the Rev. Martin Luther King.

*****

I wrote this post as I sat at the bar in Del’s waiting for karaoke to begin.  Getting out of my apartment and bringing my small pocket notebook and two ink pens with me seems to free me up.

The ideas are flowing.

*****

English: Occupy Montreal on Saturday, October ...

Image via Wikipedia

I’m writing this part of the post in my apartment on Saturday morning.

Last night karaoke at Del’s rocked.  The place was packed out.  Everyone had a good time.  The Old Soldier got to sing People Get Ready by Rod Stewart, My Prerogative by Bobby Brown and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2.

******

Read.  Study.  Write.

*****

Snow is falling.

*****

The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is a news magazine about writing and sexuality.

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The Life: A Strange Night

February 2, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

I’m writing this in my small pocket notebook as I sit at the bar in Del’s Wednesday night.  It’s 8:40 PM.  Karaoke begins at 9:30 PM.  It feels strange to be here in the middle of the week.

No one knows if karaoke at Del’s on a Wednesday night will work.  Del’s has had karaoke on Friday night for around 15 years.  I’ll be here this Friday night.  Karaoke is my key to a better social life.  I meet women of all ages.  For me, karaoke is performance art.  I’m really good.  No one believes I’m 65.  I’m a freak.  65-year-old men are not supposed to have that powerful of a voice or sing that well and move that well.

I shaved my head and face and I have my black bandana in the inside pocket of my black leather jacket and I’ve been doing my breathing and stretching exercises during the week.

I’m ready.

*****

English: Karaoke stub icon

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I’m writing this in my apartment Thursday morning.  Karaoke last night at Del’s was a bust.  No one showed up.  I left around 11:30 PM and walked to Sonny’s Tavern which is closer to my apartment.  Sonny’s Tavern was packed.  No karaoke.  Just a DJ playing music and running a contest of some kind.  A young crowd.  A young woman sitting at the bar next to me had a tattoo down her right arm.  The young female bartender had tattoos on her arms and chest.

I had one beer and then walked the three blocks to my apartment.

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The Life: Walking Through Little Italy

February 1, 2012 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette

I’m writing this in my pocket notebook in Armand’s in Bloomfield (Little Italy) which is next to the neighborhood (Oakland) that I live in.  Armand’s is known for its cheap beer and huge fish sandwich.  I’m drinking a draft beer at the bar, no sandwich today.  It’s around 11:00 AM.

There’s only one other customer in the bar.  He’s probably a retiree like me.  Outside it’s overcast but unseasonably warm, in the high 40s to low 50s.

I got my pension check from Giant Eagle by snail mail on Monday.  My military pension check was deposited in my account electronically this morning and my Social Security check will be deposited in my account on Friday.

English: Giant Eagle in Stow, Ohio

Image via Wikipedia

For the first time in years I can pay my bills and have enough money left over to socialize.  I must not squander this opportunity.  Life is short.  I’m 65.

This blog is now the focus of my attention.  I may be retired but I want to be a successful full-time blogger.  I have work to do.

Karaoke at Del’s tonight.

*****

Read.  Study.  Write.

*****

The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is a news magazine about writing and sexuality. 

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