This Kind of Dark

Something about the dark.
That 'too dark' dark.  You blink but nothing changes kind of dark.
Can't see your own hand kind of dark.
You go to bed at night?  You can handle that dark.  Shadows unnerve you there but they're welcome because a shadow lingering means a light's presence.
The moon, a street lamp, not in this kind of dark.
A window means no mercy in this kind of dark.
No familiar shapes in this kind of dark.
It's like a wrapping paper on a present your not sure you want to see inside.  It's a knife in a hand you don't trust. This kind of dark is not what gives you pause.
It's what's behind it.

Happy Halloween everyone.  :). Stay safe.

Haunted Drabble #2

Everyone has a go to shirt. The shirt that they change in to to relax at the end of the day. The shirt that gives you that boost of confidence you need to get through the day. That work shirt. That paint shirt. That go to shirt.

Alice had put one of her shirts away.

It was customary to wear black to funerals and that is what she did. However, her choices were limited and a wave of misfortune through her family and friends led her to using one shirt in particular quite often.

Though like a painters shirt collects splatters of color it seemed that Alice's shirt collect something from the each service. Every time she'd see the shirt it would bring a memory. Each one feeling fresh enough to cause her to return it to the hanger.

She convinced herself one day that she was being silly and wore the shirt for no special occasion. She was given an occasion a week later from that day.

That shirt was tainted. Alice wasn't one for superstitions but she didn't let a trend go unnoticed. That shirt was put away.

In fact, Alice was unaware that she still had it until she had some misfortune herself and was visited in the hospital.

Her sister was wearing Alice's shirt.

October Scribbles - Haunted Drabbles

October seems to be the month that gets my creative juices flowing. It must be the NaNoWriMo in the air. Being involved with two writer's groups must help too.

We've been taking inspiration from all things creepy because Halloween is on the brain, so I thought why not post some of the spooky things that come from this? Last week, in the high school writer's club I co-lead, we played with six word stories. I'll leave you with the two I came up with. Happy reading/writing/NaNo Planning and Plotting/spooking.

Her grave had two dates now.

None came to his second funeral.

Ants In Your Pants- A to Z Challenge 2017 #1

"What are you doing?"
"Picking up rolly pollys."
Tony leaned over to see them skittering over Lizzie's hand just as the teacher blew the whistle.
"Here."  Lizzie pulled on his pocket and stuffed her buggy hand in.
"Eww!"
"Be still!  I don't have enough room in my pockets."
"You're taking these inside?  To the classroom?"
"Yeah.  How else am I gonna get them home?"
Tony rolled his eyes and helped her.

Inside, they both agreed to empty their pencil boxes and make a home for their new friends.
"Get your books ready and remember the desk check for points later."
The messy prone groaned while the organizers pumped fists.  Tony and Lizzie gave eachother a look. If they took their stuff out and stuck it in their desk then they would cost their group points.  Lizzie sat down carefully and Tony followed suit.

They got through the day, got their groups points, and Lizzie was ready to rush out the door when her name was called.  Her mom asked how her day was while trying not to notice her wiggle in her seat.
Homework.  Wiggle. Dinner.  Scratch.  How could these little things be so itchy?

"Ok.  Off to the shower."
"Ok!"  She all but ran from the table.

As soon as she was ready for the shower she felt better.  Lizzie peeked into her pockets and nudged the little bugs around and they rolled back and forth but eventually uncurled themselves and moved around.

"Ok, good.  Just stay put.  You're almost home."

Her mother came in and over the sound of the water running on Lizzie's head she could hear a muffled scream.

"Elizabeth Jane!  Why are there bugs in your pants?"

"Mom!  Don't step on them!  Don't step on them!"

"You are NOT keeping these in my house.  You will get out of that shower and get these outside."

"Ah man..."

Perhaps she could get a box to keep them in her desk at school.  Maybe she would ask later.  She didn't think now was the time.

A to Z Challenge Theme: A Turn of Phrase

Welcome to the reveal of my theme for the A to Z Challenge!

For those who may be new to this, The A to Z Challenge (http://www.a-to-Z Challenge.com/) is a blogging challenge where you post once a day (except for Sundays, with the exception of the 30th this time) and each post must correspond with the days letter.  For example, your first post would be A and so you could write about air, anteaters, April (the month or Ludgate).  It's up to you!

Now as for themes, they are not required. I like to have on though, because it keeps me on track and they're fun! So without further ado, my theme is......

A TURN OF PHRASE!

Do you have butterflies in your stomach?  Do you wear your heart on your sleeve? Each of my posts will be a short flash fiction based on a phrase that you may have heard used to describe a feeling or action in a more colorful way.

I'm looking forward to getting started!

Week of the Writer Wrap Up

A glorious week of reading, writing, and relaxing has come to an end.  I'm currently posting this on break from work actually.  A severe hit from reality if you ask me.

But that doesn't mean that I have to completely live in the real world!  (Ok, that sounds like I'm in denial.  I'm not in denial.  Promise.  Hey.  A girl can dream can't she?)

Later this evening I'll be posting the reveal of my A to Z Challenge theme!  I had the week to come up with the letters and I have most of them down.  All that's left to do is write the posts.  I'm looking forward to it and checking out everyone else's posts too.

Because working doesn't mean I can't daydream, you know.

Week of the Writer: Day 4

It's another day in the Week of the Writer. This one will be short. I'm currently taking up post in my cousin's place having a Harry Potter movie marathon. Currently on 'Goblet of Fire'. I'm winning at the nerd game right now.

I did do some writing yesterday. Not much but it was better than nothing. I imagine that very little will get done today so I'm hesitant to set a goal. Perhaps I'll make a point to write some more and share a line or two tomorrow.

Until then, Harry's fighting a dragon. Better go.

Week of the Writer- Day 2 (Hotel Edition!)

Is it really Day 3?  I think it's technically Day 3.

Week of the Writer continues to be successful!  I only have 7 letters that are not filled in for the A to Z Challenge. Which is really good for me.  I could go ahead and get started on some of the posts, which isn't cheating right?  My NaNoWriMo trained brain wants to say it is but I don't think it is for this challenge.

I haven't written anymore on my story, but I hope to change that right now.  It's currently 6:24 in the morning and I'm sitting in the breakfast room of a hotel working like an actual little adult. (Because I am an adult... But not little.)

I'm actually really proud of myself.  If I didn't get up then I probably wouldn't have gotten my post done by now and I would have rushed it later.  I also wouldn't get any writing done. (Because hotel beds equal a sleeping Black Hole.)

I'll admit that this makes me a little self-conscious though.  Not sure why but thinking anyone is watching me do something when I'm not with someone else makes me nervous.  (Being in my pajamas still might have something to do with it.)  I really want to go back to my room and be lazy but I can't.  I'm writing.

Take that procrastination and unproductivity.

Tomorrows Challenge:
Get them words on that page.

Week of the Writer- Day 1 Success!

I did it! I have a theme and now all that I have to do is look up all my letters. Theme Reveal Day for the Challenge is March 20th so you'll find out what mind is then.

New challenge!
- Get a bunch of my letters filled in for AtoZ
- Write a good portion of the next scene I have in my head for the story I've been working on for AGES.

Week for the Writer- 2017

Its Spring Break! Time for a Week of the Writer!

One week. A time for focus. A time to push ones self. A time to put my butt in a chair and actually do some stuff.

Now this is the point where I usually make a list. But this time I think I'll do things just a bit differently. I'm going to name one thing a day and that is what I'll work on. One post every morning and hopefully one completed task before the next post.

First thing first, what in the world am I going to do for the A to Z Challenge??

These things creep up on you fast. I haven't really had the time to think about it yet. So I will spend the rest of the day thinking on this and tossing ideas around hopefully, HOPEFULLY, something will stick by tomorrow morning.

Happy Two Week Old New Year!

Yeah, I'm a little late on that. But yea! New Year!

I've tried and failed at a lot of things last year but I'm not disappointed that I tried. If anything, now I have a lot of things to look forward to giving another go at this year.

Last year I attempted InCoWriMo, and well, while I wrote all my letters I didn't get all the envelopes put together and didn't actually send them out. I'll try again next month!

In April, there's the AtoZ Blogging Challenge and I didn't even get past E. That one has always been a challenge for and I've never made it to Z but every year I come away with something I'm proud of so I'm definitely giving it another go.

Around May was The Writer's Games.  I tried individually and fell behind and I did what I could for the group is was in on the teams portion and they came in fourth.  That was awesome!  I hope that I can put a better effort into it this year and really pull my weight with the group too.

I'm always a little on the fence about whether or not I want to try Camp NaNo in either month but sometimes I do. I think (and no, don't remember. Why does that seem so long ago??) I tried it last April and I didn't get too far. I LOVE NaNoWriMo but Camp lacks the community, events, and  camaraderie that the official event in November has. I can't seem to write that much in that time without a little push. But I'm willing to give it a go again because another thing I want to do is be able to write a short story every month. Maybe I'll just set my goal to something lower than usual.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo...  This year did not go too well for me.  It was a struggle just to get to 20k.  That was the worse that I had ever done in the history of my NaNo-ing years.  I was really disappointed at first but I told myself that it was good that I did even that much or was able to try it at all.  At the time my job had me getting up at 5 in the morning and not leaving until around 7 that night.  Add one day a week that I use to tutor after that.  Yeah, it wasn't great for my sleep much less my writing.  But now they found someone for nights and I'm on a tutoring hiatus so several of my hours have come open so assuming that mt hours stay th same next year (I work at a school.) I should be able to pull it off the next time around.

I'm looking forward to all of these writing endeavors this year.  Let's show 2017 who's boss!