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Now, Allie! NOW!
“It’s time to go, Allie,” said Jack. He stood beyond the boarding gate looking at her; she had not yet followed him on board. “Where is this thing going?” “Away from here.” The steel platform on which she stood was so broad that its far edges disappeared into foamy...
A quick one
This is a writing exercise written in response to the prompt of the photo above. I have modified the description of the item in the picture for the purposes of the story. "David! Would you come here please!" David's mother stood with her hands on her hips by the front...
An Interview with Satan
[Brassy up-tempo music plays. The studio audience welcomes the host from behind the curtain with enthusiastic applause. He waves, blows two-handed kisses to the crowd. He stands before the crowd.] Hello folks and welcome to the show! We've got a great show for you...
3 Shorts
Here are three more shorts written in under 15 minutes each at meetings with a Writer's Group I belong to. 1. Write about your favorite character in literature entering a library or book store (John Grady Cole, the young protagonist from All The Pretty Horses) The...
Writing Prompt
11/19/24 Prompt: Write about something you've never done before. (15 minutes) Grayson sat in the kitchen in his boxers and moth-worn undershirt with a fresh cup of coffee, alternately blowing gently across the steaming surface and slurping a tiny sip, risking searing...
My AI pledge to you
I want to make a statement and a promise to my friends and family, and to all my readers: I have never used and promise never to use AI to write or even enhance my fiction. My short stories, poems and novels will always be 100% original from my own noodle. (I use an...
The Parable of the Lesbian and the Christian Nationalist
The Mystic told this story: Two people went up to the holy grounds to pray, a Christian nationalist and a lesbian. The first stood by himself with his hands held up to the sky and said, “Lord, I thank you that you have made me upright and holy, not like this lesbian....
Start a Book Club
Last month, when I wrote here exhorting everyone everywhere to take up reading again, I meant it. I hope you, if reading has fallen off your radar, if it has been choked and throttled and stomped by social media into a whimpering orphan like Tiny Tim begging for food,...
Take Up Reading Again
You know you ought to. Perhaps you have even told yourself, say, in the evening after someone convinced you to go with them to see Shakespeare in the Park, or some classical concert or ballet—The Nutcracker or The Messiah at Christmastime, and you came home and said,...
More Reflections on Death
Do suicides experience relief from the painful circumstances that led them to such extreme measures? What if they cross over and find it's somehow worse than staying in their physical bodies? What if people who commit suicide actually find themselves in a place of...
