SUMMER EKPHRASTIC FLASH FICTION CONTEST WINNER!

The Little Deer, by Frida Kahlo (Mexico) 1946

Thank you to everyone who entered our How I Spent My Summer Vacation ekphrastic flash fiction contest. We are pleased to announce the winner is Jennifer Leigh Selig with her story, "Resignation Letter." Congratulations, Jennifer! 

Please share this story on your social media and help spread the word and the work of our amazing writers.

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Resignation Letter

Dear Memoir Students,

As you know, I took the summer away from our ongoing course in order to finally fully tend to my own writing. I spent two months trampling through the forest of my memory, leaving many a broken branch in my wake. I wrote nine pieces in total, and each one cost me dearly. Hear no hyperbole when I tell you this—each piece felt like a near-death experience. 

I am writing to offer you my deepest regrets. Now that I fully understand the costs of memoir writing, which I have been so ignorantly extracting from you for years now, I cannot in good faith continue to mete out such punishment. I apologize for dismissing your cries of but this is hard. It is hard, outrageously so. The past is full of too many slings and arrows. It is to be avoided. 

Therefore, I am pleased to inform you that I am resigning as your writing teacher, effective immediately. In the words of Frida Kahlo, “I hope the leaving is joyful; and I hope never to return.” I set you free, my little dears. Run, run, run—run for your lives. Run away from your past, and run into your future. Run for, run with, run toward your own joy. 

Stay present,
Your Teacher

​Jennifer Leigh Selig

Jennifer Leigh Selig is a lifelong educator with 33 years of classroom experience, teaching in the fields of literature, psychology, creativity studies, and the humanities. She’s also a prolific writer, authoring dozens of newspaper articles, book reviews, journal articles, 3 screenplays, and is either the author, editor, contributor, or publisher of over 40 books, including Deep Creativity: Seven Ways to Spark Your Creative Spirit. To see some of those titles, visit her publishing company, www.mandorlabooks.com.