She looked at the neighbors and the mayhem ensuing in the mudpie their backyard had become. “Fools. Somebody should tell them that everything referenced in the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ is a bird.” Her wife reached around her from behind. Snuggled in tightly. Chin nestled into the space between shoulder and neck. The raucousness nextContinue reading “Fools.”
The Twelve Days of Christmas: Mayhem of Prepositional and Conjunctive Proportions
On the first day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree. Well this is nice, I thought. She’s a pretty bird, and I’ve heard the eggs are quite good, though smaller than chicken eggs. I’ve read that pear trees need to be planted in early spring, so I’mContinue reading “The Twelve Days of Christmas: Mayhem of Prepositional and Conjunctive Proportions”
Mason Hall. Three.
The woman who came to retrieve Cara was neither as deferential as Penny nor as icy as Ms. Carrington. In fact, with her mass of black hair held back with a white bandanna and her faded sweatshirt and denims, Beatrice Thurmond looked too laid back, too chill to be a supervisor. She gave Cara aContinue reading “Mason Hall. Three.”
Mason Hall. Two.
Days like this made Cynthia want to scream. The pounding rain. The flooded inbox. A leak in the west wing. Supply delays. State inspectors. Staffing issues. Mrs. Grant’s vendetta against Mrs. Cornelius. Mr. Oliver camped out in the great room. A dozen other residents with twice as many needs and complaints. And God forbid …Continue reading “Mason Hall. Two.”
Mason Hall. One.
“If you had only listened to Granny, you could be off to college, too,” Audrey chided as gently as she could. “If I wanted a degree in nursing or teaching or business, yeah.” “Those are perfectly respectable careers.” Audrey pushed the pantsuit into her daughter’s hands. Cara groused. “But they’re not me. I want toContinue reading “Mason Hall. One.”
Meditation: Social Media, Writing, and the Pursuit of Authorship
Hi all: I know it has been a while, and my apologies for that. I used the holiday season for some much needed rest and recuperation, and to unplug from social media a bit. But now in the past few days I have checked my Facebook (*gag*), Twitter (*more gagging*), and Tumblr (*smdh* If you’reContinue reading “Meditation: Social Media, Writing, and the Pursuit of Authorship”
Watcher
I always click the button that locks the door until my Subaru beeps. It beeps twice, and sometimes, if the mood is just right, I keep hitting the button as I sing “Tainted Love”, the timing and rhythm perfect, as if we are singing together. And that’s what I’m doing as I cross the desolateContinue reading “Watcher”
WIP Snippet: The Woods
Hi readers: Just for fun, I’ve scratched out this little piece. Not sure if it’s the intro to a current Work-in-Progress or the beginning of a story in its own right. Hope you enjoy it. PS. This photo–like all photos and art on this site–is one of mine. I often think the best days ofContinue reading “WIP Snippet: The Woods”
A Visit to October Country
Well. If you read my last post, you’ll know that I’m now shopping a novel manuscript that I thought I had completed two years ago, but then got enough similar feedback that I decided to re-teach myself the fundamentals and hire an editor so that I could revise it properly. Now that the shopping–and praying,Continue reading “A Visit to October Country”
Two Years Ago…
Two years ago this month, I shopped my manuscript to a handful of agents. By handful, I mean six. Two of them I had been in touch with via the Boston Writing Workshop. They both had the same response to my manuscript: “Loved the premise, but the writing isn’t what I’m looking for.” I spentContinue reading “Two Years Ago…”
Nicanor Abbott 