Tag Archives: short story

RoW80 Update: April 8th!

A useless hunk of stone, maybe, but Gilferen picked it up and slipped it into his own pouch after Jaxson had left with a flourish of his long black coat. He gave Locke a weak smile from across the table. ‘Just in case,’ he said. ‘Come on. Let’s see about getting these mugs refilled again. Might as well enjoy it while we can.’”

Happy Easter and/or Passover and/or Just Another Sunday, dear readers of this here little blog! In a few hours, I will be heading over to the home of my roommate’s very gracious parents for a lamb dinner and, despite the fact that their youngest child is twenty-seven and their only grandchildren are furry quadrupeds, an Easter egg hunt. My own family is all mostly back in Michigan, so I will be trying to make phone calls if my phone decides to cooperate, which it rarely does. I hope that it’s a glorious day over there for all the bipedal grandchildren in my family to search for eggs in at my grandmother’s house. Are there any big plans for you and yours? I’m planning to still get some work done today, so it’s a pretty casual holiday on my side of things…at least it is while I’m in a different state.

In the meantime, let’s have a look at how my goals for RoW80 have been going. I’ll admit, since Wednesday, the going has been rough, but it hasn’t been completely off kilter. It’s been an odd week, and I’m sure next week will be just as odd, my work schedule all shifted around to make way for my mini-vacation at ComicCon this next weekend. Should be a lot of fun and I’m really looking forward to it! But that’s next week. Let’s see what we’ve got this week.

Serpent in a Cage: Poor SiaC. Since I’ve been focusing on finishing my Closing Lines story from the Tuesday before last (oy), I haven’t been spending a whole lot of time on it. Or, like, any. That changes today (hopefully!) and there will likely be more exciting news regarding this book on Wednesday’s check-in. Page count: 62/97.

Bowlful of Bunnies: I’m proud to say that all the stories I know for a fact (unless betas suggest otherwise!) are going into the collection are completely edited and ready to go! Now it’s just a matter of getting a few new stories in and added. I’m hoping to finish one by the end of the day today, and hopefully a good handful of others by the end of the week. It’s so reassuring and exciting knowing that I have at least ten stories to publish. I would love more, but we’ll see how the wind blows these next few days. If anything, I could probably prime BoB for publication right now and still be satisfied, but I think I still want to to do a little bit more. I’m also going to try to finish the “Black Stones” story (aaaaaallllllll for you, Caustic Madrigal), the ending of which was giving me some trouble. Stories so far: 10/20.

The 100 Books Project: I was sitting on that Electric Michelangelo review for a long time, and I’ve made some headway on some of the gazillion books I’m reading right now, but nothing’s going to be finished within the next few days, more than likely. And then there will be a flood, as these things tend to go. I’m enjoying (almost) everything so much right now, though, so my reading journey has been awesome so far. Books read: 12/100. (1/38 for this round).

Book No. 002: Will not be Star Wars. Sorry, CM, but I’m pretty sure I need a deal with them first, though I bet I could write a pretty kick ass Star Wars book. I considered going sci-fi as a decent compromise to that….I was going to say that was out of the question because all my sci-fi are definitely series OR a project that requires a bit more time and attention, but another thought just filtered into my head to prove me wrong. So…maybe. I do have some space pirates hanging out in the wings. But, really, I have no idea yet what Book No. 002 this year will be. Time shall tell.

Other Novels: While I’m almost finished with a prologue on To Cross a River of Blood, the circus novel and the chick lit ones have barely been touched, and that’s okay. None of them are feeling like candidates for Book No. 002, so they will continue to be picked at and plucked at here and there until the next thing I know, I’ve got a rough but completed manuscript in front of me.

Featured Story: Since it’s Sunday, a new Featured Story has gone up! Finally, I’ve gotten around to editing “Just Right,” a twisted fairy tale I whipped up when I first started using 750 Words. I was planning to do a whole series of short stories from this world but, editing this story, I think I might want to build a novel out of it. Where and how Goh D. Lox’s tale fits into the broader scope, I’m not too sure, but it’ll definitely be interesting to find out!

There you have it! Decent progress, not groundbreaking, but exciting nonetheless. How are your goals going for you? Did you get a chance to support any of the other RoWers? You should! I know I’m going to try to hit up a few more myself. Until then, however, as always, Happy Writing!

And allow me to also not forget to welcome Rachel as my latest subscriber! Thanks for following the blog, Rachel! Glad to have you with us!

Flash Fiction Friday: March 2nd!

Welcome to March, everyone! Yesterday’s post had me talking a lot about being in a funk, suffering an overall lack of inspiration, but I have the whole day (and some Friday afternoon Zoup! to help me feel better. Plus? Only a five hour shift on a Saturday tomorrow. That’s virtually unheard of, and will revel in the time I have tomorrow morning to read some good books and maybe even (gasp!) write!

I’m not quite sure what I think of this new format for WordPress and making posts. Like all things new, it’s a little burdensome and I miss the old style, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. I notice the edit is still in the style….does anyone know how to make that new Quick Post function HTML script? Because I have to write HTML. It’s too weird for me to use fancy gadgets to do my coding for me. Anyway….now is not the time for WordPress talk, however. It is the time for Flash Fiction Friday! Below, you will find a picture-prompt from the fabulous Five Minute Getaway, and you’ll find my attempt to spit out a five-minute-or-so flash fiction to accompany it! Feel free to write up your own and share it as you please, too! One of these days, I might even get around to reading it like I always plan to but, somehow, never seem to have enough time. But it’s good to challenge ourselves and who knows what might come out of it? Let’s get to the fiction!

******

Every so often, you had to stop for a moment a realize how beautiful the whole world was. Below us, as we drifted in our bright red balloon, the land had pulled over a white blanket of snow, the occasional pirckle of a tree sticking out of it. The winds, however, prevented you from looking for too long, because they’d blow so fiercely and your whole vision would be obscured with just bright, freezing white. That in itself was beautiful, and I just couldn’t help being fascinated by it, pausing to appreciate the beauty.

The others didn’t appreciate me pausing, though. “Violet!” Heinrich shouted. “Wake up! Grab the rope! We’re going to blow straight into this cliff if everyone keeps drifting off like this!”

“Sorry,” I muttered, reaching for the rope and pulling it down to help balance the balloon, while Heinrich, sweating despite the cold, worked hard to keep the fire going. The wind kept trying to blow it out, and I leaned heavily on the rope, watching him sullenly now, wondering if we were going to get out of this.

“If we get out of this alive,” said Scott, practically reading my mind, as he seemed so capable of doing at time, “remind us never to let you navigate for us again, Heinrich.”

****

A little Around the World in 80 Days-ish. I might feel tempted to pull this into a full length story. Lost by balloon! Crazy adventures! Always fun.

Thanks for reading and, as always, happy writing!

Oh, and I nearly forgot! I’d like to thank Balance Through the Lens for subscribing to the blog! She has a wonderful photography sight with some pretty inspiring posts to go along with her pictures, so check her out if you get the chance!