I love micro-fiction. I love contests. So excited to hop into this one for the first time! The Spring Fling Kidlit Contest has a 150-word limit (I'm in at exactly 150) and requires a gif to accompany the story. I decided to illustrate and animate my own gif because learning new things is fun.

Thank you Ciara O'Neal and Kaitlyn Sanchez for hosting this fun opportunity!

​I hope you enjoy my tiny story about about a little witch struggling with imposter syndrome :)
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As a new Certified Daylight Saving Witch, Solina’s time to shine had arrived.

She had carefully collected sunbeams in preparation for her first official Daylight Saving Day. That day, Daylight Saving Witches around the world release sunbeams to add an extra hour of sunlight to each day for months.

On the big day, Solina took a deep breath and her golden jar outside, then lifted the lid.

Nothing happened.

She shook it.  Whacked the bottom. Jabbed inside with a spoon.

“Come out!”

The sunbeams refused.

“Aarghh! I already failed.” She threw the jar down. Then…

A little beam reached out…toward a flower! The flower’s leaves stretched to soak in the warm light.

Solina remembered her training.

​“The extra sunlight is for the plants! Holding the jar near flowers encourages the sunbeams to go!”
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 She scooted the jar closer to the flower and beamed as her sunbeams went on their way.

UPDATE: Winners were just announced for Vivian Kirkfield's 2023 #50PreciousWords Contest, and my story was on the list! 

I read through the list of Honorable Mentions, feeling a bit of disappointment at the end when I didn't find my name. Then I read the list of winners and unbelievably found my name there!

I set a goal of entering two writing contests this year. #50PreciousWords is my first! This is the micro-est micro-fiction I've ever written, and it was super fun. Thank you Vivian Kirkland for the opportunity!

For anyone who has never heard of this, I encourage you to go to twitter and search #50PreciousWords. Then simply enjoy reading through all the delicious bite-sized stories talented writers have posted. You won't regret it.