A Last Hurrah

Today my goal was  to combine the Thursday Threads phrase that ties our tales together  (“I’m terminal, not contagious.”) with the Story a Day prompt (keep your MC offstage).  Are you up for either challenge?

Tana grunted as she pulled the oversized envelope out of her apartment mail box. Which was immediately followed by a snort as she read “DO NOT BEND” stamped across its crumpled middle.

It was from Kaileen. Tana hadn’t seen her in almost a year. They’d been what Tana always thought of as situational friends. Took the same aerobics class and were part of a group that would occasionally go out for a drink afterward. Nothing personal. Certainly not send cards in the mail type friends.

“I’m terminal…”

read the front of the card in big letters. Below was a picture of Kaileen, with a big smile, arms flung wide, and looking like she was finishing a tap dance. Until you noticed her head. You could always tell someone who was in chemo.

Tana opened the card and couldn’t help but laugh to find:

“…not contagious!”

But sobered as she read the rest of the card:

You’re all invited to join me this

Saturday, 6pm at

Ben’s Bar

for food, fun, and liquor.

Come help send me off in style!

Kaileen had invited Tana to her parties before – and been turned down. But this time Tana knew she would be going and quit smacking the hand of friendship that was being offered.

Stretching Grammar in Fantasy Writing

I found this morning’s DailyWritingTips  intriguing.  Today’s topic is Archaic Adjectives and Adverbs.  Among the words are things like “heretofore,” and “nary.” Certainly not words you’re likely to hear around the dinner table tonight.  The piece advises  using these words sparingly to avoid sounding like a “Renaissance Faire refugee.”

Fair enough but it also got me to thinking about how far the fantasy writer (thinking more  high fantasy and less urban fantasy) can stretch this idea. How many times can words like  “forsooth,” or “puissant,” get thrown in before even fantasy writing is considered trite?

A little story for Valentine’s Day

It’s Tuesday Tales Time

A picture, a word, and a 100 word limit. What can you do with this week’s offering at Tuesday Tales? Thanks to Stevie McCoy for this fun weekly writing challenge.

You might win a great badge and a week’s worth of bragging rights. What’s not to love?

Mid-Month Check In

Before you read on, don’t forget it’s Donation Day for NaNoWriMo! If you can help out please do. Today’s goal is $100,000. I’ve got my halo – do you?

As of  last night I’m on track to hit the 50,000!  I’m also only about 25% of the way through my outline, which is even better.

Today is Wednesday and I usually don’t get much/any writing done.  So I’m not expecting that number to move until Thursday.

We’ve had three wonderful Young Writers, Write-Ins. Yesterday we had 7 writers – all girls – for our Tuesday morning get together. Nothing like getting spanked on percentage completed (and sometimes word count) by 12-14 year olds.

I’ve been two five grown up Write-Ins and consumed enormous amounts of hot chocolate. I love the camaraderie but must admit to getting less done then when I’m alone.

However, under threat of guilt monkeys,  I am maintaining a healthy sense of panic where my word count is concerned.  My 25,000 words are actually pulling down our regions word war average count. This year there are three regions competing.  We have a two part scoring system around here. It’s not just the average word count but also the percentage of “wins”. I’ll be there for the win but know that my word count will be on the low side.

I’ve put my November Flash on a separate page. You can find it here. Haven’t kept up with the two a week pace I set for myself. Resolving to do better.

I can happily say that we’ve mostly kept to the food calendar. Did trade a couple days around. Then yesterday I got creative with leftovers and turned a planned sandwich night into shredded chicken burritos smothered in chili. Yummy and easily ported to dance classes.

Oh – and I’m happy to say I’ve only had to beat up on the damnit doll once!

How are you all doing?