Who put this brick wall where my brain was making words???

I've been stuck for at least 2 days. I just can't get the words from my brain to the page.  I never did 'Plot All the Things' like my last post suggested. I think that's the problem. If I don't have things written down then it's like having permission to over think it and end up like this. Almost 3 days behind.

I'm going to bed early tonight.  Going to bed so that I can wake up, eat, make coffee, and write like the wind.  But hopefully, whether before bed or while in bed, I can get get some semblance of an outline written out so I don't have to 'think' (stare at nothing and end up watching YouTube) so much and hit the ground running.

We'll see! Maybe I'll update tomorrow. Until then, keep writing!

Hello, October.

With October comes fall, Halloween, pumpkin flavored everything.

It also means its Plot all the Things month.  Well, unofficially of course and only for me that I know of.  National Novel Writing Month starts in less than 29 days and I like to give myself the extra challange of not plotting until October hits.

I know.  Pantsers around the world might be saying 'You give yourself a whole month?'

Yeah.  The problem is if I don't outline stuff I then have a reason to stare into space and call it 'thinking'.  And the problem with ploting is that you have to have a solid idea in the first place.

Anyone else in the plotting boat with me or are you simply waiting till November to go where ever it takes you?  Either way, here's to getting those creative juices flowing.

A Marathon Unfinished

Well, I fell short again this year in the A to Z Challenge.  But also just like last time I had a lot of fun!  I wrote stories that might have otherwise never come to my mind.  I might have even found my inspiration for this year's NaNoWriMo.

I'm hoping to get better with my writing habits, as it was no fault of anyone's except my own that I didn't get further than I did.  In fact, I had two post ready to go that for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to put up.  What is it with me lately?  I haven't been writing.  I haven't even really been reading.  Am I just not that in to my work or my current book?  Am I just becoming that lazy?

I digress.

The A to Z Challenge, though I tried twice and have to follow through to completion, has brought a lot of more things to my attention than just a few interesting plots.  I'm glad for that.  Besides, you can't leave something unfinished if you never started it in the first place.  At least I tried.

Jilted (A to Z Challenge Day 10)

It’s been like clockwork.  The sound of the school bus stopping, followed by it chugging off, and finally…

“Hi, Ms. Carson!”

Through the front door and right into my office comes the neighbor girl.  I’ve had to change my schedule to fit her distraction if I want to get anything done with my day.  I think about shooing her away but somehow I keep the door unlocked and let her in.  Kids and their fragile, doe-like look of innocence…

“Good afternoon, Taylor.  What brings you in to my office today?”

“Nothing.”  She smiled.

Honesty.  That’s appreciated anyway.

A strong scent wafted by as she circled the room pawing things that I wish she wouldn’t touch.  An overwhelmingly fruity scent.

“Have you, uh, been in your mother’s perfumes?”

“Yeah!  Now I smell like she does when she goes to work.”

“Mmhmm.”

She shuffled her feet.  “Moms been at work a lot.”

“I’m sure she’ll be home soon.”

“She hasn’t been home yet.”

“It’s only four.”

“But she’s usually home in the morning…”

This gave me pause.  “Are you saying she hasn’t been home all day?”

She nodded.

“Has she talked to you?”

“Well, not recently.  She put me on the bus Monday…”

It was Wednesday night.

I tapped my desk, thinking.  Dad was never in the picture as far as I knew.   If he was then he could be any of the suitors that I’ve seen holding her mother’s hand on the way out their door…

“Are you hungry?”  She nodded enthusiastically.  “I always make too much for one person.  You’re joining my tonight.  Start on any homework at my desk while I get it started.”

I grabbed my phone and slipped out of the room.

It's not the perfume that you wear
It's not the ribbons in your hair
And I don't mind you comin' here
And wastin' all my time

--Just What I Needed by The Cars

Intimidating (A to Z Challenge Day 9)

“Welcome the Pit Stop.  What can I get you?”

‘What can I get you’.  I’ve been avoiding this guy and the Pit Stop for months, even though my co-workers go there every week for lunch, and this was all I get from him.  I ordered, but otherwise kept my mouth shut.  That resolve didn’t last long though.

“You don’t remember me, do you.”  I said.

He looked up like he wasn’t sure I was talking to him. “I guess not.  Should I?”

“Does the name Carl sound familiar?”  Or Crybaby Carl which is what you called me when I rode the bus the first time in kindergarten and cried.  Or Carlie Temple when my mom let my hair grow out too long in elementary.  Or Clumsy Carl when I tried out for the high school track team and tripped.  “Carl Young.”

He thought for a bit.  “Uh, no I can’t say that it does.  Where do I know you from?”

“Highschool.”

“Wheatfield High?”

“That’s the one.”

“Alright, man!”  He tossed a box of cheese bread in a bag and handed it to me.  “The bread’s on the house for a fellow Pioneer.”

Cheesy bread.  I endured basically my entire elementary and high school academic career dealing with you breathing down my neck and my reward for that is a box of cheesy bread.

This was supposed to be my moment.  Your working at a fast food chain taking my order when you spent that whole time trying to make me feel like you’re better than me.  Now you can’t even remember my name?  Not even my face.

“Thanks.”  I took the bag and left.

I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me in the end

--In the End by Linkin Park

Half-breed (A to Z Challenge Day 8)

Disoriented was only half of what I felt when I woke up.  A rough blanket stuck to my skin over patches of dark red splotches.  In front of me was a corpse.

“No…”  I shoved myself backwards until I hit a wall.  Someone moved in the corner, lit only by the coming sun through a window.  “No!  This was not what you promised.  You’ve broken our agreement.”

“I have not.”  He said.

“Do you think I’m a fool?  Look at what you’ve done!”  I couldn’t even look at the body’s face for fear that I could tell him who it was.

“It was not I who did this.  Our agreement was that you would come with me and I would not kill any more.  This is your doing.”

“Mine…” The blanket.  I examined my body.  No injuries.  And yet the red splotches were blood.  I ran my hands along my arms, my neck, and finally I found several raised scars just above my shoulder, a semi-circle above and one below.  The healing wounds of a bite.

“You will have a lower rank than me as your other form.”  He continued.  “Your instinct will be to bring me back food.  What yours is mine and what is mine, well, you can have the leftovers.”

“And what if I leave.  I could leave this place and if you are reliant on me than you will have to follow.”

“And where would you go?  Another town full of families with loved ones?  If that is your solution then you’re no better than me than you think you are.”

“But there are animals—“

“That are being hunted by the people.  There are not enough for the both of us anymore.  If I hunted the animals then the people would not eat and even more would die.”  If she cared enough she would be able to read the notes of regret in his voice.  “This is our curse.  We must feed.”

I'm-a make a deal with the bad wolf
So the bad wolf don't bite no more

          Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) by Awolnation

Game Plan (A to Z Challenge Day 7)

“I saved you a seat.”

“You always save me a seat.”

“Well, you always take it.”

She sat across from him in the sad excuse for an office building’s cafeteria.  “Yeah…  I’m going to miss that.”

He paused, a sandwich half way to his mouth, then continued.  “Huh, they give you one full weekend off and you feel like you’re leaving forever.  Can’t decide if that’s sadder for this company as a place of employment or for you as a person.”

“I put in my two weeks notice.”

“Funny.”

“I’m not kidding.”

He put his sandwich down for good.  “What?  Why?”

“Look around.”  She motioned vaguely at dim room.  “There’s nothing left here.”

I’m still here, he thought.

They ate the majority of their lunch time in silence until she got up to leave.

“I think that you should change your mind.”  He told her.

“Give me one reason why that would be a good career choice.”  He had time enough for her to dump her food out in the trash can and wait a while at the door.  She sighed.  “I’ll see you Monday.”

He had two weeks to turn this company around.

Give me one reason to stay here
And I'll turn right back around
Said I don't want leave you lonely
You got to make me change my mind

                Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman