Last Week’s Story

Well, so much for pinky swears.

I finished my 18th story on Tuesday, because on Monday night I was watching Severance. I did not start the new story on Wednesday as I had planned, for no good reason. I didn’t start it on Thursday, because the second Thursday of the month is when my fantastic writers’ group meets (and they gave me fantastic, actionable feedback on my ninth story, which I will incorporate in order to submit it to the market I plan on submitting it to before their submission window closes). So I started my 18th story on Friday night after work, then continued it on Saturday. I didn’t work on it today because today is Mother’s Day, and I drove down to see my family. I had a splendid time despite some logistical issues on the restaurant’s side (one broken chair, one broken high chair, neither of which were found out until after someone had tried to sit on them). The food was good, though.

Anyway. I’ll finish the 19th story this Tuesday, then immediately start in on the 20th story. Right now I’m too tired to work on it, though I’m excited to see where it ends up. And for me, that’s most of the fun of writing: seeing where things will end up and how they’ll get there.

This Week’s Prompt

This week I rolled a 4 on my d4, so I drew from the Horror Expansion Deck. And here’s the prompt:

A carnival worker wants to escape the madness of a forbidden asylum, but they will forget their entire life piece by piece

I could have selected something besides an asylum, of course, since haunted insane asylums are so cliche in horror fiction. But I felt like trying something difficult, and finding a fresh take on something so tired and used up should be a quite a challenge. I don’t have an idea yet, but I’ll work on it, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.

This Week’s Recommendation

This week I want you to check out the works of Christopher Moore, if you haven’t done so already, particularly his novel Lamb, which is the the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. It’s funny, touching, heartwarming, and possibly blasphemous. Christopher Moore is one of my family’s favorite writers, and his novels come out each year just in time for Mother’s Day, so that’s usually what I give her as a gift.

I don’t know Christopher Moore personally, though I’ve met him a few times when he’s been on book tours, and he seems to remember my face each time. Yay me! I have corresponded with him a couple of times via email, Twitter (of blessed memory), and now on Bluesky. He’s delightful. I have also had dreams where he’s appeared as my writing mentor. That’s got to count for something, right?

Anyway. Have a great week. Be safe, be kind, and have fun.