Refuge

December 29, 2020December 29, 2020

Refuge

Whoa. Week 52. A whole year’s worth of prompts. I think I missed two or three, but I’m still pretty impressed with myself. This is one of the weeks I missed sending in a prompt. But, I used one of the spares and came up with the bit below. I really don’t know where this came from since I haven’t fully explored some of the more interesting corners of my brain. I’m not sure I should, but then, it seems there is a goldmine of stories tucked away. Who knew? Not me. At least not me before this year. Many thanks to Cedar for creating this prompting page. It’s been a source of stability and fun in a strange year.

The spare prompt I chose was: The old man’s beard was soft and curly Spanish moss.

December 23, 2020December 23, 2020

Packs

I didn’t get this one up on time, but here is my More Odds Than Ends prompt for Week 51. I was prompted by Fiona Grey with I got him!” She waved her prize in the air and wiggled her hips, grinning at her mentor. He gave her a wistful smile, wishing they were as safe as she clearly believed. “I’m afraid they hunt in packs.” It’s short, but a niggle in the back of my brain thinks it may grow into something more. My prompt went to Mike Barker and he did a couple of different responses. Go check them out!

December 14, 2020December 14, 2020

Dancing Lights

It’s hard to believe that over at More Odds Than Ends we are at Week 50. Seems like just last month that we started down this road. In the last year of responding to and thinking up these prompts I’ve grown as a writer more than I could have imagined at the beginning of the year. This has been an absolute blast and I hope to keep doing it into next year. My prompt thie week came from ‘nother Mike: Five faeries, like Tinkerbelle, but all different pastel shades, danced down the dragon’s arm and spun around in a circle in its paw… My prompt went to Leigh Kimmel.

December 1, 2020December 1, 2020

Odd Prompts: Week 48

Another week at More Odds Than Ends and another stand-alone prompt for me. I’m working on getting book 2 fit for my beta readers, so I’ve been focusing on that. I plan on returning to Cursebreaker as soon as I send that out. Meanwhile, please enjoy this response to a prompt from ‘nother Mike: The Amazon delivery box didn’t have a book in it. Instead, when they opened it, a small elf jumped out. I did modify it a little bitMy prompt went to Leigh Kimmel.

November 24, 2020November 24, 2020

Week 47 (rah!) Odd Prompt

Wow. Week 47.at More Odds Than Ends. An auspicious number for us Pomona types. 47 is our number. It carries a mysterious significance for us all. Hence the rah after the number (as in cheering for the number. Yeah, we’re weird. Deal.) So, anyway. I didn’t get a prompt sent in for this week so I stole one of the other prompts. I looked through the spare prompts but none of them really spoke to me. I ended up stealing ‘nother Mike’s prompt even though it was assigned to Leigh Kimmel. I’m pretty sure Leigh will go in an entirely different direction with it than I did. This is also another stand-alone prompt, not connected to any of my current works-in-progress. I did manage to send in a prompt for next week, so I’ve got that going for me this week. I’m surprised at how unproductive I’ve been this week. The only reason I can come up with right now is that the lack of a semester with all its rhythms is finally catching up with me. This is usually a slower week for me. The semester is winding down, by now, Tuesday evening, most students have left campus even though there are classes on Wednesday, and I’m in no mood to be hanging out on campus either.

November 24, 2020November 24, 2020

Week 46 of Odd Prompts

I have missed the last couple of weeks of Odd Prompts. Partly related to overall stress, partly to losing track of days. This response was due last week. I actually remembered to send in a prompt and received this one in turn from Fiona Grey: The cat and the tree were the best of friends, if an odd pair. And then, one day, the other lemon dropped. Once again, I couldn’t figure out a way to work it into Cursebreaker, so here it is in it’s solo career. On the topic of Cursebreaker, I will be working that into a full-length novel soon (as soon as I get book 2 out to beta readers…). For now though, enjoy the cat and its tree.

November 10, 2020November 17, 2020

Gumming up the works

My Week 45 prompt over at More Odds Than Ends came from Leigh Kimmel. I couldn’t figure out a way to work it into Cursebreaker, so I came up with this. The prompt was: It was supposed to be a simple hard drive swap, in and out. When the tech opened the robot’s casing, what he saw inside made him yell for the big boss to come and take a look. And in our usual trade, my prompt went to Leigh.

November 3, 2020November 17, 2020

Cursebreaker Part 23

Okay. So I caught up on my prompts. This is my response for Week 44 at More Odds Than Ends. I’m still feeling a bit out of sorts, but better than the last week or so. Writing or editing every day is helping. I’m also starting to plot out a new short story today and I’m going to start working on putting this Cursebreaker thing into some sort of coherent order. When I first started it with the prompts, I used the prompts as sort of scene set-ups. Then I started putting them into a serial format. So, I need to figure out a story arc and fill in the gaps between the pieces I do have. It feels like a series, or at least a series of books within this universe. I’ll have to see where it goes.

November 2, 2020November 17, 2020

Cursebreaker #22

This is a very late response to Week 43 of More Odds Than Ends. It’s been a strange couple weeks. Not really anything I can put my finger on, but I’m out of sorts. If pushed, yes, the election is having an effect. The continued restrictions on activities, and normal life continues to grate. That’s getting tiring. Also, our moving plans are not going according to plan. I believe that I am dealing with that one pretty well. Finding a job – a job that you want no less – is difficult in the best of times. And these are most certainly not the best of times. You’d think that retreating into story-telling would get easier under such circumstances. Surprisingly, no, it isn’t. At least so far. I think that if I simply start writing, I will find myself back in the groove.

October 20, 2020November 17, 2020

Cursebreaker Part 21

I missed sending in a prompt for Week 42 at More Odds Than Ends, so I picked up one of the spares. The prompt I chose was: The architect who specialized in designing hidden rooms. I was looking for one that would allow me to easily insert it into the Cursebreaker story. I think I know where this story is going now and I’m going to be working on finishing it up. That is…I will after I wrap up Book 2 in the Academic Magic series (at least get draft one finished), and finish and submit two short stories. I am busier than I was as an academic and I don’t even have any grading or prep to do! At the same time, I am extremely grateful to be this busy and to have avenues opening up in front of me. It has been amazing to discover this creative streak in myself that I never knew existed before. So much fun!