Semi-Daily Scribbles

I'm my own best challenge

smart and talented women rarely realize that one of the toughest hurdles they'll have to overcome to be successful lies within. Compared with our male colleagues, we judge our own abilities not only more harshly but fundamentally d...

Daily Exercise

For Your Review: Wendy the Whippet submits a snippet of her WIP. “What did you say?” Zoë kept her composure as angry faces closed in around her. She had seen bulky, nondescript club dwellers when she and Ben entered the End of the Line...

Naming the Beast

The “Frankenstein” results are in, and I'm happy with the peer assessments. The downside I see to the comments offered up is that only three fellow students weighed in. This is the fewest respondents I've had review my work, so perhaps...

Finish

The grandfather clock told Clementine she needed to set down the tablet, stash her phone in the sock drawer, and unplug from all her well-managed distractions. Though it was May, Clementine made a pact with herself at the beginning of t...

Cultivate

It wasn't the healthiest pastime to cultivate, but Mary developed an obsessive infatuation with the driver of the #63 she rode every day to work. The bus driver's name was Frank Reynolds, and he grew orchids in a hothouse he built in hi...

Portal

Jo often walked along the tracks of an abandoned railway tunnel, its silence and dank darkness helped to put in order Jo's jumbled thoughts. One day, which had started out like so many other hazy beige days, Jo saw someone ahead of her ...

Components

Tossed out in plain view for everyone to scratch his head and state an opinion. This is exactly why Georgette recoils when she is asked: "What are you working on?" She doesn't much like: "When's it gonna be done," either. But th...

Workshop

What have you turned to gold in your workshop this year? Did you write a happy ending? Did you build a solid beginning? Did you set out with Right Intention when you created your Invention? If none of the above ring true, you're invited...

Secondhand

I don't like telling another person's story. Not if I wasn't an active participant in it or given written permission. Reckon it's due to my dislike of fictional memoirs and the scourge of humanity: fake news. I also realize this self-im...

I have to stay before I can leave.

"You always ask me. But what about you? Why are you here?" "For the paycheck. But seriously ... I'm here to be me and shine a light in dark places. Like this office. Plus I'm a runner and need to learn how to do that surrender thing. Y...