Ornery ramblings of a former political science professor turned author
Over at More Odds Than Ends, we’re merrily writing prompt responses. For Week 9, my prompt came from ‘nother Mike: There was a baby dragon in the trashcan, laughing as it dug through the trash… I’ve been working on a short story with Jehan Bishara, the vet at Academy Arcane, and this prompt fit right into that.
Continue reading “Trash Dragon”
“Please. Step inside,” the man said. Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” was blasting from hidden speakers. Jack looked around the cluttered office and forced down the impulse to twitch and start organizing the piles of papers and books.
Continue reading “Walk This Way”
It’s been a good week so far. A friend came down from Philly for a visit so we toured around and discovered fun and interesting places in our new home town. I didn’t get any writing done, but that’s fine. I needed three days where the most important questions were “what kind of beer do they have?” and “where do you want to eat?” Today I’m back to writing, editing, and responding to prompts. Still figuring out what I want for dinner thought.
Continue reading “Racing Roller Skate”
Davan stared out at the forest below. The snow had finally stopped. They’d been holed up in this cave for at least five days now. The addition of Utindri about three days ago meant that their food supply was dwindling faster than planned. Fortunately Pydraras had managed to find a herd of deer and after having a couple for his own meal, he’d brought one, relatively unsinged, back for Davan and Utindri.
Continue reading “Hidden Treasures”
We are moving deeper into 2022 and I am enjoying my first warm(er) winter in over twenty years. We did get snow last week and had several days of well below freezing temperatures, but this week we’re back up to the mid-sixties. I can totally get behind that! In this week’s prompt response I went back to the world of Scarwood Keep. Scenes, some longer, some no more than a quick vignette, from this story keep floating through my head. This week’s prompt inspired this snippet.
Continue reading “Snow Rainbows”
A month into 2022…I hope it’s going well for you. I am not yet as organized as I’d like, but I’m still working on it. Organization has been an ongoing battle for me. There are some things that I’m very good at organizing and other things not so much. I set all kinds of schedules for myself but they seem to fall to the wayside about a day in. Right now I’m trying to be “organic” about it and noting carefully what time of day I get ideas, or am most productive, that kind of thing. I’ll let y’all know. In the meantime, I have a snippet of Davan and Pyldraras for you.
Continue reading “Dragons & Salt Licks”
For Week 3 of More Odds Than Ends prompts I received this on from Fiona Grey: The castle was filled with the friendliest vampires [character] had ever encountered. I had to let it rattle around for a while and then this snippet (?) piece (?) popped up. I really don’t know where it came from and I’m certainly not going to go looking in those corners of my brain! Anyway, here are the friendly vampires!
Continue reading “Friendly Vampires?”
I have a new series sort of floating through my brain and recently I’ve been getting prompts that are letting me explore this idea a bit more. It started with somebody speculating about being a veterinarian at a school for wizards. My More Odds Than Ends prompt for Week 2 came from AC Young: It was raining cats and dogs and it fit in very nicely I thought.
Continue reading “Raining Cats and Dogs”The first prompts of the new year. Year Three of the More Odds Than Ends prompts. I am still figuring out a work schedule that makes me as productive as possible. My goal this year is four books. Ambitious, maybe, but if this author thing is going to work, that’s how it has to be. And, I’m very happy that these prompts are helping me get more ideas for stories!
Continue reading “Notes on Wyverns”
Here we are at the end of 2021. Another 52 weeks of prompts at More Odds Than Ends. I’ve said this before, but I’m going to repeat it. These prompt challenges have honed my writing in ways that I didn’t really think were possible. I’ve learned the most basic thing over these last couple of years and that is, writing takes practice. Yes, some people have amazing stories in their heads, but getting those stories out and on paper is a skill and one that can be learned and must be practiced. I will keep practicing and hopefully get my writing to an ever higher level.
Continue reading “Church Bells”