Carrot Ranch

#Twitterflash: A burst of 99-word #flashfiction stories celebrating #FFRodeo

Yes, I am a little #hashtaghappy, but that’s because for the next 10 days I am working as a wrangler over at Carrot Ranch, hosting a Twitterflash party. Curious? We’re challenging writers to tweet a 99-word story in 11 sentences that are exactly 9 words each. If you want to read some great stories, check […]

A World of Sounds Enveloping Us

Once a week I like to go sit in a local restaurant and write in my notebook. I go during their downtime (between lunch and dinner) and write whatever comes to mind. I usually work on a couple of different stories each afternoon. The staff have become used to me sitting quietly in one of […]

Silent Lucidity

I don’t know if it is the absurdity of the news coming from those elected into power as of late or the thousands of fireflies enjoying the unmowed jungle surrounding my house, but lately I keep thinking back to summer nights spent on the wraparound porch of our house on Bayard Place. The porch encircled […]

Breakups: The downs and ups

I’m feeling kinda goofy this week. It could be the ever-present caffeine or the full 8 hours of sleep I am getting each night or the 10,000 steps I keep taking each day, but I think it’s actually the fact that I have been Facebook free for 72 hours. Yes, for the last week of […]

A Zombie Walks Into a Bar…

Yeah, I don’t really have a follow-up on that title. I’m the zombie, but I’m not walking into a bar. I’m crawling into bed.   This past weekend I participated in a weekend flash fiction competition that required me to write a 1000-word horror story that takes place in a prison. It wiped me out […]

Frayed, Fireworks, and the 4th of July

I don’t understand the Fourth of July. In its purest form, it is a day to celebrate our independence from colonial rule and the birth of our nation while remembering everything we have sacrificed to ensure that we remain free of monarchs and dictators. Yet somehow it seems to have morphed into an over-the-top nation-wide […]

Love & Kisses & Freedom

I am not the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day, which is ironic as it is very likely the date I was conceived all those decades ago. You’d think that I’d be at least a little excited about the date I became a twinkle in my parents’ eyes. I liked Valentine’s Day when I was in […]

Do you have a moral right to that voice?

Nobody wants to hear what I have to say… These words have haunted me the last few weeks, and not because I worry that I don’t have a voice or don’t have something to add to the conversation. Rather, I have been questioning my right to speak on certain subjects. Okay, I know. Let me […]

The Pain of Creation

I”ve been having such a hard time writing anything lately. Part of it is the snowy winter, part of it is my messy house, but most of it is my chaotic brain. So I am taking baby steps, trying to put words on paper even when they aren’t what I want to say. (But when […]

The Day My Soapbox Burst into Flames

Anybody who has talked to me for five minutes or who has read any of my social media posts knows that I have a serious issue with human trafficking. Many people think human trafficking involves transporting people across borders (or continents). They also think it’s a “big city” problem (meaning it doesn’t happen here, only […]