But First a Quick Con Report:

We went to WorldCon this past weekend, and had a blast. I saw friends I hadn’t seen since the last con I’d been to, I encountered wonderful new people, I met authors and game creators (including one of the creators of the Coyote and Crow TTRPG), and generally had a great time. I went to some amazing panels, too, and got some wonderful ideas from some of them (both for my writing and for blog fodder), and just generally enjoyed the heck out of it. I will probably write up a separate blog post about this event.

Last Week’s Story:

I finished “Yes They Are” last Tuesday, because I didn’t want to have to try writing it while on the road. It works better as a romance than the other romance stories I’ve attempted, but still not as close to the genre as I’d hoped. I’m getting better, though. I’m really intrigued by the two main characters I created, and will probably return to them at some point. Maybe the next time I roll up a science fiction romance.

I did a quick Google search at the beginning of all this to find romance short stories, but didn’t find too many. I think this is a genre that lends itself better to longer-length works, just because the emotions need some more space to grow and burn into.

This story uses plot elements I created for story No. 12 (“Innocuous”) and No. 13 (“Bertrand Saves the Day”), namely the central technology and one of the side characters. I am intrigued by these elements as well, and will definitely be bringing them back.

This Week’s Prompt:

This week I rolled a 7 on the d8 for genre, and a 1 on the d6 for sub-genre to generate Historical Horror. This should be interesting. I have some ideas in mind, a couple of characters, and a setting. I’m not sure what a demonic barn is, or what makes it demonic, but I will figure these points out as I go on in the story.

An innocent wants to escape a trauma involving a demonic barn, but they must cross a line they swore they would never cross.

This Week’s Recommendation:

It’s a simple one: if you can, go to WorldCon in 2026 (from August 27 – 31). It’s in Anaheim, so it’s an easy drive for us, and just across the street from Disneyland, so you have something to do in case the convention gets boring.

That’s it for this week. As always: be kind, be safe, have fun, and be weird.