The closest I am going to get to formal training in regards to writing, is forcing myself to do things I wouldn’t normally do.
That is the idea behind “Ricky’s Quickies” - a writing practice that I can do every single day to help me hone my skills.
The task is the same format every day, but the subject matter will be slightly different. This will allow you to follow along from day one of my journey, if you would like to.
The posts will be EXACTLY 100 words long each day. That is the restriction I have to tell a short story. At 9AM my AI assistant will give me an assignment to accomplish. This will make sure I can not use the excuse that I don’t have any ideas.
Each will includes the following:
- Premise: The setup. Who, where, what’s happening.
- Constraint: A rule that I have to follow while writing.
- Tone: How it should feel to read it.
- Turn Target: What the last line should do. A Quickie’s ending flips the meaning of everything before it.
I will show you the example of what my task was for “The Handoff”, which is the first Quickie that I released earlier today.
Quickie #001 · Saturday, April 18, 2026
The Handoff
- Premise: A father teaches his daughter to ride a bike in the cul-de-sac while the neighbor across the street watches from his porch.
- Constraint: Told from the neighbor's POV. No dialogue.
- Tone: Quiet, literary.
- Turn target: The last line reveals why the neighbor has been watching every evening this week.
The early support has been amazing. I love your comments, messages, and if you haven’t, sign the guestbook.
If you have an idea of something I should write, you can submit one on the idea page or vote on others submissions.
And you can subscribe to Quickies, Notes, or Shorts if you want!
Thank you!
Rick