Writing is hard. Please love my story!

The hardest part of being a writer is being so, so proud of your work and realizing that not everybody feels the same way you do. No question. I've been participating in short story competitions just to keep me writing and keep me fresh. It's a fun exercise, but it's rather frustrating to keep submitting what I believe to be fabulous stories -- and they don't make the cut. Case in point: this 250-word piece of flash fiction awesomeness. It didn't make the top ten in a competition, but I think it's one of my better pieces. It was inspired by a short story I wrote in a writing class last fall. Thought I'd share it with you. Prompt: Fantasy/fairy tale that had to include the action of delivering a letter, and the word "parched." Enjoy! ----‐----- Obituary of a Tyrant Dracorian, Lucius Passed into eternal damnation on the eighth day of the sixth month, aged eighty-five years. He was preceded in death by his reluctant wife, Queen Alexandra of Azuria. H