Chapter 12 of News from Dead Mule Swamp

I really struggled with this one, even though I knew what had to occur in it.

Because it was so hot and humid yesterday, I didn't do much except sit and read a book. It was a silly mystery- the kind I like- but it had a lot more action in it than News from Dead Mule Swamp does. That was bothering me, and I wanted to make something more interesting happen in this chapter.

I think I finally managed to make it suspenseful. Here's an excerpt

...when the phone rang. I reached for it with a sigh.

“Ana Raven here.” There was a pause, then a long raspy breath. “Who’s there, please?” I thought I was simply annoyed, but I heard a ragged edge to my voice.

“Old news... should be left... in the swamp, or you may find yourself... in too deep;” the voice was a genderless harsh whisper.

“Who is this? What old news? Do you have my newspaper?” I demanded. After two more slow raspy breaths the caller hung up quietly— the effect was more eerie than an angry click.

The microwave dinged and I jerked so hard that beer slopped all down the front of my jumper. I checked the caller ID— there was the number, with the local exchange. How could anyone in this day and age think they could make an anonymous call? An involuntary shiver ran up my spine. Perhaps he or she thought it wouldn’t matter if I could find out who they were later on. Was it someone on a cell phone...

Chapter 11 of News from Dead Mule Swamp

I went back and edited that really long chapter in News from Dead Mule Swamp. It was easily broken into two chapters of a better length.

Also, I added in something that is important to the story later on, which I had forgotten to introduce. Then I made some changes that the writers' group members suggested, and now I'm all set to begin chapter 12.

Finding "Old" Writings

Yesterday, my new printer came, and although it's about the same size as the previous one, it's got the trays and things arranged differently. This meant that I had to do a little shifting of things in that section of my office, which precipitated my checking the last (one can always hope) of the 3.5 inch floppy disks I still have to make sure I have everything off them.

Found a few things that had not been previously backed up, including a nearly finished essay about when Chips was a puppy. He was such a special dog, I'm really glad I didn't lose this piece of writing. Here's a sample:

At two weeks of age, puppies really do look like their plush counterparts, the Pound Puppies." He was a fat little ball with legs splayed out sideways, and a stub of a tail that oscillated allegro. His nose was flat and wrinkled. But his color was fascinating. You could never say that he was white, because he wasn't. You could certainly never say that he was yellow; that wasn't right either. The closest way to describe it would be to imagine swirling a little bit of coffee into a cup of milk until it was almost, but not quite, mixed. When the light hit his fur, though, he shone, like the color of fresh-split wood chips in the sunshine. His ears were short, his eyes were dark buttons, and he had one smudge of brown from his nose to his chin, as if he had just tried to lick a chocolate pudding pop, and missed. Instead, he licked my face. I knew I was hooked.

Succinctly Yours- Flash Fiction

Grandma's Goulash regularly runs a Flash Fiction challenge. Here's my next installment of 140 words. The extra credit word is "expedient." Here's the picture that is to be the inspiration:




Here's my story:

Ralph basked in the late afternoon sun. His future was an open door! It would be so expedient to enter- the odor of slightly spoiled warm bologna wafted past. He allowed his mind to drift–to become one with the enticing aroma in which he was now bathed. Eugene and Tyson had long since flown through that portal into the heavenly realm beyond. Ralph hesitated for only one reason; his scouts had not returned. It was so unlike them to selfishly sate their own appetites without returning with bits of the treat stuck to their feet to present to him, the Fly King.

What could be the cause of their delay? Ralph knew that it was not prudent to follow without the report from Eugene and Tyson, but, overwhelmed by the temptation, he raised his wings and buzzed into the kitchen.

____________

To see other entries visit Grandma's Goulash

Not Much Writing Happening

Not much writing has been happening here lately. I've been swamped with other responsibilities, and I just got two new short term contracts for other service work. Money is really good! But there is little time left for thinking creatively and writing.

I have selected my new printer and ordered it. This is the direct result of the pay for writing the article in Your National Forests magazine.

Thinking About Short Story Options

Most of us are still waiting for our digital short stories that were winners to appear on the Twin Trinity Media site. It just takes a long time for all the mechanics to happen. Eventually, I will have three stories there, in addition to six that were good enough to be chosen for books.

Meanwhile, there is one lonely story that didn't make the cut for an award. Of course, I think it's a fine story... just didn't appeal to the judges that month for one reason or another. One possibility is that it's pretty straightforward and has a happy ending. The theme was "hope," and I didn't try to twist that in any way.

I've looked up lists of the seven virtues, and found: four cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, restraint or temperance, and courage or fortitude, and the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. So, this makes me think about ideas like a group of seven stories based on these themes. These stories would be uplifting, no nasty twists or angst-laden endings. Hopefully, however, they would not be trite.

Not all of my stories have happy endings. In fact the two first stories that will be up on Twin Trinity are darker. But recently, I seem to be inundated with stories with more questions than answers, bleak endings, and tragedy. Maybe I'm just ready for some positive input.

Of course, the question is, would anyone buy these? I'm not sure how much credibility I have as a short story author until some of them actually come out on TTM.

Ivy and Midge Recommend North Country Cache

One of the prizes for a contest on my other blog, My Quality Day, was a copy of North Country Cache. It was won by Ivy in the Philippines, and after 5 weeks in the mail, she finally received it!

The fact that she likes the book means a lot to me, since I have come to count her among my friends, and sure would hope to meet her in person some day. Here is part of what she says:

I got the parcel notice from the post office on Monday, so Marguerite and I went there on Tuesday to claim it. I started reading it right away and couldn't put it down. My initial plan was to get my writing assignments out of the way first before I settled down to enjoy the book, but I made the mistake of sampling just one essay and got hooked.

Her daughter Marguerite (Midge) is posing with the book-- it's quite an adorable picture, don't you think? And she's allowing me to use it for publicity. Hop over to Spinning Lovely Days and see what else Ivy has to say.