Tag Archives: Short Stories

6 Word Short Story: Today Is Not Friday

Don’t believe the calendar – it lies!


Possession

Cold eyes, glassy and staring,
Slide slowly across,
Like a security camera,
Emotionless and remote.
They stop with chilling abruptness
Like a gasp, never heard,
A beam that freezes you in place.
The frayed lace stirs slowly
As the head follows.
Target acquired.


6 Word Short Story: Frightening Truth

“This will hurt,” the “doctor” said.


50 Word Short Story: A Quiet Dawn

            She watched the rosy glow of dawn with unblinking eyes, frozen stiff like the hardened blood that decorated her throat in blackened lace.
            “This won’t do.”
            Soft hands reached over her shoulder and removed the delicate teacup, hours cold yet still warm by comparison.
            “I’ll get you a fresh cup.”

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Happy Belated Anniversary

            Well, the three month anniversary of this project skipped right by me (actually, the second one did, too). It’s hard to believe that it’s been 3 months already (and at the same time, it’s not hard at all). I wasn’t sure I’d make it this far, but although there have been some late posts (and some technical glitches), I’ve been pretty consistent about writing for this every day. Yay! Break out the party favors!
            It’s been a little strange – I don’t usually let anyone see my rough drafts as I’m writing, so that’s pretty nerve-wracking. I’m still not sure how far I’ll get before I break and go back and make revisions… But I’ve said that before (and probably will again). Other than typos, it hasn’t happened… yet.
            Also, writing and posting each morning means that my brain tends to focus on the same subject matter. I have been trying hard not to give you too many poems and short stories about needing more sleep or caffeine. That’s about all my brain wants to think about first thing. If you see me trending in that direction a lot, feel free to let me know. If it becomes too much of a struggle, I may end up switching it to nightly posts, so be forewarned about that possibility.
            On the plus side, I did get some short stories up. I didn’t get any plays written for this yet, so that’s my goal for the next round. Since the major goal is to keep the experiment going for at least a year, I have 9 months to get a play added. (I shouldn’t have told myself that.)
            And, of course, the most important part of an anniversary: Thank you all again for reading! You guys are awesome! It’s so exciting to know that people are reading these posts, and I’d love to hear from you! Seriously, you’re welcome to send me prompts or comments at any time. If I get super ambitious (or find some free time stacked away somewhere), I may put up a survey or something. But for now, thanks for reading, and I hope you keep enjoying the random things I write!

One Month Down!

One month down – I have officially kept up with this experiment for a whole month.
Wow! (Or should I say, “Whew!”?)
It feels very good to be writing more. I have been so focused on one series that I haven’t written much fiction outside of that. I think I’ve only written poetry once or twice in the last decade (I can’t believe I can say that truthfully), and I’ve never attempted some of these styles before. It’s good to be able to flex my mind and my writing skills and try new storylines and genres. I’m hoping to add some short stories or maybe a short story series and maybe some plays and… who knows? None of that may happen, or all of that may happen.
The main point is that it feels wonderful to be creating.
At the same time, it is very strange to publish projects as I write them. What I post is first-draft-level work, and anyone who looks will get to see it (aaaaaahhhh!). Also, the fact that some of them are novels is especially strange. The poems can stand alone, but putting a novel out there for people to read as I finish a section or a couple of paragraphs is both exciting and terrifying. I have been trying not to edit what has already been posted (except for typos and grammar mistakes), which means sometimes I have to think harder about what’s coming next. I can’t go back and change the past to make the future I want more plausible. The further I get into them, the harder it will be to obey this rule.
That said, I’m going to try. One of the reasons I’m going to do my best to follow this rule is that it is an excellent exercise for me to improve my plotting and overcome the urge to edit. I have always struggled with going back and editing as I write. Although I have gotten better, I admit that I had to fight myself every step of the way to finish my first novel. I still haven’t finished the first one I started working on. Every time I worked on it, I kept re-writing what I’d already written and changing directions at the same time. Even on my current book, I find myself making pretty big changes every few months. It’s a big step from where I was, but I think I can still do better.
This project is going to push me to do better. Some of it is going to be a major struggle (all the more so since people can see it). Knowing that it will improve my writing helps keep me going.
So does knowing that people are reading. Thank you for your interest! You have front-row seats as I ride this rollercoaster of a project. Welcome to Month 2. For all that it has been a month, this is only the beginning: the beginning of these stories, the beginning of this project. Where it’s going, I can’t say. I guess we’ll find out together.

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