With all this undervaluing of literature that's in the air, there's nothing for it - I must strike a blow on its behalf.
Last summer I ran a short story (very short story) competition, which went pretty well. The winners of it were announced in this post, and the longish shortlist from which they were chosen here. If you follow that last link, it will enable you to read all of the stories I posted should you be so minded.
Anyway, I must do what I can to encourage you all in the path of Jane Austen, George Eliot, Fyodor Dostoevsky, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Saul Bellow, Cormac McCarthy and... er, Salman Rushdie. It's the same deal as last time. Your story must be...
... no more than 250 words, excluding your title - for which, however, you may not use more than 10 words. I will post a selection of the stories sent (and sending one will be taken as giving your permission to post it); and if there's enough of an entry, I'll put them before a panel of judges, not including myself and to be announced in due course, for selection of the best three. There will be prizes.All I need add is that, whatever its quality, your story will be received at normblog as a vote in favour of the glory of literature.