-
Prompt and Podcast – Day 2 #nanowrimo
Yesterday, I published my first PODCAST. You can check it out here [Podcast 1]. Admittedly, I was pretty proud of myself. I am not too technically savvy, but I watched some YouTube videos and was able to finagle it all by my lonesome. I texted my former boss, mentor, and dear friend from my days at the Orioles, Charles Steinberg, and said: “See what that internship in Orioles Productions helped me produce?” LOL. I had worked at the Orioles for two years when I needed an internship for credit at Towson University. I had never worked with audio or video equipment before, and Charles agreed to take me on as…
-
Flash Fiction: A 500-Word Short Story About An Apology
Fellow writers–I don’t know about you, but after I’ve written a novel and it takes everything out of me, I need a break for a while. In my time of decompression, I like to stay in touch with the craft by writing short fiction. You never know where it could lead, and it keeps you thinking and telling your stories. Today’s story is about saying your sorry…to the person you need to say it to when an apology is owed. Especially a big one. Out of the Circle He always knew he’d be back. But when you make as many mistakes as he did, he certainly wasn’t expecting to be…
-
Writing Prompt Challenge
So, last night I posed a writing challenge to see who wanted to try and write a short piece of flash fiction (300-400 words) around a prompt. I posted three. I got no takers. But I did it. I chose the third. I love writing prompts because they force you to immerse yourself in a scene, setting, or situation right away. They force you to be creative, and to use your creative juices in the best possible way. The challenge was to write approximately 300-400 words. Here’s my result of Prompt #3. The Young King The young King’s hair was a rumpled mess, his clothes strewn across the floor, his…
-
Nobody Has Ever Loved Me As Much As I Loved Him—Friday Fiction
NOBODY HAS EVER LOVED ME AS MUCH AS I HAVE LOVED HIM The light grows dim. I have been sitting in the dark for nearly four hours with only a flickering candle on the table. The storm has quelled a bit, but the winds rattled the house until midnight, the trees and bushes bending as the snow accumulated and the winds whistled. It’s four in the morning now, and I realize I’ve been sitting in this chair in the kitchen motionless practically all night long. There is an eerie stillness inside the house that mirrors the uncomfortable quiet of nature outside—serene and undisturbed . Upstairs, he sleeps. He has…
-
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,…
-
Fictography #11 — Callie’s Letter
/FICTOGRAPHY/ def. — The intersection of photography (submitted by readers) and fiction (written by me!). This week’s selected photograph comes from another student of mine, Courtney Hastings. Courtney is a business communication major, she loves to write and has taken many courses with me. She is also a member of the public relations club, of which I serve as the advisor, and is a member of our honor society, Lambda Pi Eta. She is very involved in campus life, and performs with the marching band as well. She is multi-talented, and appears to be a pretty good photographer as well. When she posted this photo on Facebook, I asked her…
-
A Comedy of “Goofy” Errors
We should have known better. We should never have taken the second trip. Our first vacation had been so amazing—everything ran like clockwork and all had been right with the world—why did we tempt fate? Because we were glutton for punishment. Like all seemingly well-meaning parents, we decided to take our kids BACK to Disney, because, well, once was not enough. And so we ventured back in the month of May because it suited our schedules. We had taken our first trip in October a year and a half before. As soon as the plane landed, it was all downhill from there. On Day #1, my daughter became ill. It…
-
Shoulda Woulda Coulda — Daily Prompt
Today’s WordPress Daily Prompt entitled Shoulda Woulda Coulda asks us to tell about something you should do…but don’t. * * * So…here goes…complete honesty… I was going to write this post today and call it something else, but then I saw the Daily Post prompt, and I knew it was perfect for me. What I should do, but don’t do, is stop worrying about aging. Seriously. I think about it every day. It can often consume me. I’m not a fan of getting older, and the thought of the number 50 is just daunting. It’s two and a half years away for me, but I’m not at all enamored with…
