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Friday Fiction – The Beginning of a Love Story
* * * This week’s prompt asked us to begin with one simple sentence, which was this: The old house, with its wildly overgrown garden, was silent, secretive. Clearly, the weather on the East Coast this week influenced this story. Featured among the paragraphs are falling leaves, browning hydrangeas, and a good breeze. While it’s a little warmer here today than it is in the story, I was inspired mostly by the scenery and then by a love story. I wanted to give the first line of the prompt, with its use of the word “secretive” some clout; I wanted this to feel a bit secretive, haunting, and sad. So,…
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The Witch’s Memories | Friday Fiction
The Witch gathered up her things—the cauldron, the potion mixer, the wide-brimmed hat—and stepped over the woman she had just put into a deep sleep. The Witch left the woman lying on her back on the carpet, her form in an unattractive spread eagle position in her yoga attire, a bit of her belly flopping out of the waist of her pants. The truth of the matter was, the sleeping woman used to be her friend. Not any longer, however. The Witch did not care for her at all. It had finally come to that. The woman could never be trusted, and The Witch had been used for the…
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Fiction Friday | A Not-So-Happy Story of Love
For this week’s Fiction Friday, I used a prompt that asked us to write something we don’t normally write. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know I’m a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic. I usually write stuff that ends happily. However, today I didn’t. Today’s prompt asked me to write something about two people that doesn’t end well–that they do not end up together. I have to admit, I just wrote this, and I’m depressed now. It’s like I want to go back and and change the ending, but I’m not allowing myself to. This time I’m allowing the characters who have been married for a while to…
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Withdrawal and The Staircase
Today I decided that I would write a little something. I haven’t written anything creatively in a while, and it’s sort of getting to me. I’m going through withdrawal and I don’t want to go through withdrawal. I want to write something, and while I am far too busy to spend time writing what will be my next novel, I will tackle some short fiction, or what some deem Flash Fiction. Here’s the prompt that I got from the 3 a.m. Epiphany written by Brian Kiteley. It’s my “go to” book of prompts I use when I want to write a little something but need a push. The beauty of…
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The Fortune Teller—Flash Fiction
What is Flash Fiction? It’s telling a short story in a limited amount of words. Some call Flash Fiction a story in 300 words, 500 words, or under 1,000 words. There are varying degrees of word counts for this type of writing, and some Flash Fiction definitions include a word count of 1,500 words. In today’s case, I’ve told a little story in 646 words. Usually with Flash Fiction, there is a clear beginning, a middle, and a wrap up. I wrote this story a couple of years ago, and polished it up a bit. Sharing it again because it’s one of my favorites! THE FORTUNE TELLER “That boy loves…
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Fictography #22—Vivi’s Summer
* * * * * * /FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). The above photograph was taken by a dear friend of mine, Chrissie Werzinsky, in Rome at Piazza Navona. Chrissie works for the Baltimore Orioles, and has for years, which is how we met many moons ago. Chrissie and I have a lot in common; we both love the Hallmark Channel, Pinterest, baseball, our Orioles friends, and novels that make you feel good. Luckily, my husband and I traveled to Rome before we had children, so I got to spend time visiting Piazza Navona. I was excited to see the…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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Fictography #21 — A Scene in a Bar
* * * * * * /FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). The above photograph is of the bar at The Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore. Jenny and I concocted the premise of this story together the other night as we observed some interesting behavior at the bar. Our imaginations went a little wild, and I hope I do this one justice. For those of you who ask me why I don’t write sex scenes, I just don’t have it in me to do it. However, I can lead up to the moment, and allow you to take it from there.…
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Fictography #20—Red Light Doctor
* * * * * * /FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). The above photograph was submitted to me by one of my former students, Katie Wagner Vogel. This lovely shot is of the Red Light District in Amsterdam. Katie likes to travel, and has been to some very cool places. She was always a great addition to the classroom and was a member of our public relations club. Now, grown up and married, she is working as the Creative Director for Agora Financial in Baltimore. I appreciate her willingness to submit a photograph, and I can honestly say, I’ve never…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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Fictography #19: Beneath The Mimosa Tree (An Excerpt)
* * * * * * /FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). As I was combing through my photographs this morning, I came upon Jennifer Bumgarner’s shots from our cover shoot for “Beneath the Mimosa Tree.” There are so many gorgeous pics she took, and they are wasting away in a file on my computer. I decided to use one of her photos for today’s FICTOGRAPHY segment—a photo that was captured as a scene from my novel—and I pulled that part of the story from the book. Therefore, today’s FICTOGRAPHY is an excerpt from “Beneath the Mimosa Tree.” To set the…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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Fictography #18: Eat More Bananas
/FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). With a two-week break from writing this segment because I’ve been up to my eyeballs editing and working on preparing my novel, I’m back today with a piece of fiction. The photo above was taken by my daughter on the Baltimore Beltway. She hates bananas, so this piece of work is inspired by knowing someone who can’t stand the food. This piece of flash fiction comes in at 283 words. * * * EAT MORE BANANAS The flu. It had taken over her life for the last few days. Sick in bed and vomiting, her…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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Fictography #16 – Little French Market
/FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). Truthfully, this week I’m on a little bit of a hiatus. On campus, we are down to the last two weeks, and I’ve been inundated with work and grading and attending events, not to mention that it’s Easter weekend. Therefore, I had little time for creativity this week, so for this week’s Fictography, I pulled one out of the archives and dusted it off. I actually took this photograph myself. This cute little coffee shop is situated in Historic Ellicott City, and I used to frequent it all the time when I lived…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
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Fictography #15—Finding Paul
/FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). This week I’m featuring a shot from my friend, Jenny Bumgarner. Jenny and I have been friends for…we counted…over twenty years. We met when we worked at the Orioles way back when, and have remained close friends ever since. From attending Opening Days together, to sharing our Hippodrome Broadway Across America season tickets, to getting together with friends when we can, our friendship has remained strong and true. When I needed a cover shot for my novel, “Beneath the Mimosa Tree,” Jenny came armed with camera as we trespassed on a piece of property…
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Friday Fiction: Strike Out
