Ganymeder

This week’s Friday Flash was written for the theme Animal Behavior for the 52/250 Flash Challenge. I’m thrilled that it was selected for The Were-Traveler‘s 3rd issue: Deadly Love. It’s one of my personal favorites, so I hope you enjoy my story Carnal Nature.

Also, if you are interested, my review of the short story series Lost Tribe of the Sith by John Jackson Miller is up at the Functional Nerds website.

As always, polite feedback – critical or otherwise – is welcome. Thank you and have a lovely day.

**image courtesy of Bigfoto.com

*Rules: Add one sentence to the previous sentence (in the comments) so that the story grows with each comment, and have fun!

Due to medical reasons My  Writing Niche is postponed, along with my other posts this week. My apologies.

Now run along, and play nice with the other kids.

*image courtesy of State Library of New South Wales collection via Flickr. No known copyright restrictions.

When the noble steed awoke, his surroundings were both strange and frightening…

*Use the photo, the text, or both. Just make sure to have fun with it!

My Writing Niche (podcast): episode #13

Download or Play episode *here*

I start off reading my short #SpokenSunday, The Great Outdoors, inspired by the theme Urban Convert and written for the 52/250 flash challenge. I talk about some personal news (to keep myself honest and motivated) and then move on to some reflections about the art of drawing versus the craft of writing.

Also, if you are interested in an anthology of short fiction from varying genres, I highly recommend *Best of Friday Flash edited by J.M. Strother, now available in both paperback and ebook form.

Please leave any comments or suggestions on my blog. I welcome all feedback, and I hope you will tune in again. Thank you for your time.

*One warning: Some of the material in Best of Friday Flash may not be suitable for younger audiences due to language or content.

**image courtesy of hiddedevries via Flicker.

***All podcast episodes may be downloaded from this blog (except #1-#6 which are linked from the blog). Thank you for your patience while I learn how to maneuvre in these new podcasting waters.

My story, The Great Outdoors, can be found at the 52/250 flash challenge site.

The theme for this week’s submissions was Urban Convert. When I originally read the theme, this scene played out in my head right away. I’ve camped a lot in my life, mostly as a Girl Scout growing up and later with my family to save on travelling expenses. I’ve never been a fan of the Great Outdoors. I am too enamoured of my air conditioning and microwave oven. Thus was this week’s story born. I hope you enjoy it.

On a more personal note, I’ve been submitting more stories and poems and even have two being considered (fingers crossed). I’ve been working on a couple flashes about gnomes that tie into each other, but I’m having trouble with the second flash that’s supposed to complement the first. So I’m saving that one until they’re more polished.

Don’t forget to check out #Friday Flash on both Twitter and FaceBook for some great short stories. I hope you’ll come back in a couple days for my podcast, My Writing Niche, featuring my #Spoken Sunday story. Until then, have a great weekend!*

*Ironically, the photo above was taken of a small garden next to a shopping center parking lot. I just thought that since you couldn’t see the lot, it seemed like a nice idyllic outdoor setting.

I recorded my 3rd podcast episode of My Writing Niche (twice now), but since I’ve been forced to use alternate methods due to all technology revolting against me, I will unfortunately need to post the episode late. My apologies.

On Dying

Tears trickled down Death’s cheeks as she lifted the woman from the ruins with one long, slender hand. The building had crushed her body, but the woman’s soul remained intact through the gentle ministrations of the guiding spirit.

“What about my baby?” the woman asked. Her eyes fixed upon the infant clutched within lifeless arms. Though its weak cries filled the small concrete niche formed by the collapsed rubble, no one heard them. His voice was drowned out by sirens and wails from the surrounding devastation.

The smile of the hooded figure filled the dismal scene with a blinding light. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Billy will be coming with you.” She reached down for the child and placed him in his mother’s arms. He gurgled with pleasure, and the three of them left the wreckage behind for the bright and shining unknown.

*Last Saturday, September 11^th, I was sitting in a hotel room in Columbus watching footage of the World Trade Center disaster. We had to turn it off because my son was afraid of nightmares. The next morning, I woke up from a dream with this image burning in my brain. This story was inspired by the events of nine years ago and dedicated to the victims and heroes of that day.

**’Ruins of Richmond, VA., 1865′ image courtesy of The U.S. National Archives via Flicker. No known copyright restrictions.

***Even though the photo I picked was very old, I thought the completely ruined building fit the theme of the story.

Ramblings and Musings and Nanowrimo 2010 Prep

Yesterday on Twitter, some fellow writers and I discussed (read: PANICKED) how Nanowrimo was only (just over) two months away, how excited we were, and what prep work (if any) we planned to do. This naturally got me musing about all I’ve gleaned from my three previous years and possibly sharing some of this experience to help other Nanowrimos (or is it just Wrimos? I can never figure that one out).

It’s true that I’m no Shakespeare, though I do happen to think that I’m not bad. If you want to see bad, just read my very first Nanowrimo! It’s okay, since everyone’s first attempt sucks. That’s the beauty of November. You give yourself permission to write utter crap. And something beautiful is born from it like a Phoenix from the ashes – even if it’s only a deeper appreciation of books and the fact that they’re a hell of a lot of work! Fun and rewarding work maybe, but still work.

So I’m going to share some techniques I’ve used in the past. They might not work for you, after all everyone’s different, but I’m putting it out there in case it helps. I’m also thinking of blogging about Nanowrimo, both before and after, on Audioboo. It seems like a simpler way to get the point across without so much typing! I can just post the highlights of the Boo on my blog with the audio embedded on the page.

I have all sorts of lovely strategies to get myself to meet my daily word goals, but before the actual month begins I have a short to-do list too. Number one might not seem to tie in, but in my mind it does. I give myself a deadline to finish any other writing projects that I’ve stalled on over the course of the year. Right now I have a couple short stories that I haven’t finished, some flash to edit, and I want to write at least eight extra flash (4 #Fridayflash, 4 52/250 stories) so I can keep posting for those commitments during November. Last year I took the month off from flash which I really regretted. If I have the stories prewritten, I don’t need to break my stride by switching from one story to another.

There’s also some books I’d like to read first. They’re by no means a requirement, but at least I’d like to finish the books I’m already on. I know it’s months ahead, but as November approaches I switch to reading books I’ve already read many times so I can stop without feeling bad about it. Miscellaneous things come up too, so I keep a notebook handy to remind myself to include them.

Right now though, for anyone who wants to do some easy preparation for National Novel Writing Month, I suggest you listen to some podcasts in your car or while doing something else. I found some from last year on Audioboo that I downloaded. I’m already getting excited!

For anyone who is interested, I can be found at both the Nanowrimo site and Audioboo as ganymeder.

Have a great day!

a small orb

-of captured moonshine,

-of Diana’s loveliness caught within crystal waters

-or

filled with a wisp of cloud

whose delicate lining fell to earth,

its flakes gathered and carefully stored beneath

the smooth unbroken surface

like a dream

or

thoughts of love

*

a vial

of polished simplicity

containing shining chaos

*

my thumb traces

its black capped tip

i feel

its coolness in my palm

i hear

the lovely chime of silver upon glass

as my ring

-            skates

across its surface

- A kind gesture made solid

and held within

-          my ink stained fingers.

*I wrote this last week during the Writers’ Workshop and drew upon lessons from my poetry class. This was my first attempt at using enjambment to create tension. Unfortunately, WordPress didn’t like it, so I was forced to put dashes into the poem when I wanted to leave spaces at the beginning of a line (except for the 1st 2 lines which was intentional).

I don’t usually use a lot of similes in my poems, but these phrases kept echoing in my head so I went ahead and put them in. It’s a little more flowery than I usually write, but I like it.

My husband and son went to gem mining while I was in class, and they brought back a little bottle of silver flakes for me.  I used this ‘Abiding Image’ as the inspiration for my poem. Feedback is encouraged and welcome. Thank you for your time!