Last Week’s Story:

First, a confession. I did not finish last week’s story, “To Dream of a Forgotten Blade”. Rather, I have not finished it yet. I will Hopefully later this evening or possibly tomorrow. And it’s not because it’s too grandiose and epic; no, it’s because I started it yesterday in spite of my determination to start it earlier in the week. Last week just got busy, between DayJob and other commitments. I think it’s going pretty well, though; it’s got good bones, and it just needs some more construction. Prompt No. 18, of course, involved a forgotten blade, and I’ve chosen the blade to use; it’s a historical blade, one that readers might even recognize if they saw it. Of course, the story might never be published, but my two or so blog readers are welcome to guess.

I don’t actually feel guilty about not finishing the story, nor do I regret it. I’m not even annoyed. Oh, sure, there was a time in my life when I would have, when I would have simply beat myself up and down because of it, but, as Clint Eastwood said so often in Unforgiven, “I ain’t like that no more”. Years of therapy, medication, and, of course, extremely supportive family and friends have helped me figure out how to get past that.

Unforgiven, by the way, is a brilliant movie. You should see it if you haven’t.

This Week’s Prompt:

I rolled a 3, so I drew my next prompt from the Science Fiction deck. Here it is:

An influencer wants to restore the lost memory of an infested network, but an innocent person will be executed.

This is, of course, wide open to interpretation, and it involves some elements that I know little or nothing about. What, for example, is an influencer? Oh, sure, an influencer is someone who has a big ol’ presence on social media and who influences thoughts, purchasing, culture, and so on. I don’t follow any influencers, though, so I don’t really know how they work or what they do.

I’m more savvy when it comes to computer networks, though, and since this is going to be a science fiction story, it probably will be a computer network. Or something more insidious. And who says it has to be a computer network at all? And what does it mean for a computer network to be infested? Normally when we think about infested computers we think about computer viruses, of course, but there are plenty of other hazards out there.

When it comes to prompts like these, I like to think about what other authors have said: toss the first idea you come up with, because it will probably be a cliche. Toss out the second idea as well, because it may be a cliche as well, though a less well-known one. Make use the third idea you come up with, since it’s more likely to be original. Generally, when I’m working on these prompts, I rush through them, but I still take some time to follow this advice. Or at least I try to.

This week, I pinky-swear that I will start this new story as soon as I finish the last one, which, as I say, should be this evening or tomorrow.

This Week’s Recommendation:

I’ve been watching Severance on Apple TV. It’s brilliant. You may or may not already know the premise, and I won’t spoil it for you here. Suffice to say, you should watch it.