No Water

My most recent Carrot Ranch Communications entry for the 99 word flash fiction challenge. Happy to be one of the Congress of Rough Writers. Once again, I owe this entry to Sarah Brentyn who gave me the idea. 

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The glass felt heavy in her hands; a welcome weight in contrast to her racing thoughts. Inhaling, she felt her heartbeat slow. Amber and toffee and a dash of pepper invaded her senses with nostalgia. Every breath reminding her of his warm, rich voice, his large hands showing her how to tie her shoes and catch tadpoles. Hands that had tucked her in each night with a kiss and prayer to a god he didn’t believe in. “No water,” he’d said. “If you want to experience something, don’t dilute it, dive in.” She drank the scotch in his memory.

Rainbows and Unicorns

This week's contribution to the wonderful Carrot Ranch Communications flash fiction challenge. Thanks for getting me back in the game, Sarah Brentyn. 
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The woman smiled, faint lines around her eyes crinkling as she shook her head. “God, was I ever that young?”

The girl stepped back into the shadows, unsure and uncertain. “Who are you?”

The woman extended her hand. “Come with me,” she said. “There’s not much time.”

“For what?” The girl moved into the sun again, drawn towards this woman whose hair sparkled with the same golden sheen as hers.  

“To make things different,” she said. “To make things right.”

“How do you know which is which?” the girl asked.
“You don’t,” the woman said. “That’s why I’m here”.

Microfiction Madness

Twitter is a strange thing. I joined years ago, barely used it, abandoned it after not really understanding how it worked. And then, just as I was getting ready to share my first book with the world, I rejoined, but this time as a writer, trying to connect with other writers and readers.

What a difference. I feel like I've discovered a whole new world where really cool, witty, talented people hang out and I get a chance to meet them and shoot the shit from time to time. Amy Good is the mastermind behind Friday Phrases (#FP) and she very graciously (as she is in all things) introduced me to the concept, as well as a whole community of writers and lovers of fiction. 

Now Friday is more than just the end of the week and the promise of rest (ha! when does that actually happen?). NOW Friday is about writing and reading 140 character stories that are sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes disturbing, but always entertaining. With a nod to Roger Jackson, I've collected some of my own #FP for your perusal. With no particular theme or order, enjoy! 

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"How do I know you're telling the truth?" I asked.

"You don't, and you never will," he said. "That's the risk we take in love. Be brave."

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"Look on the bright side," they said. As if there were only two sides. As if it were easy as flipping a coin. Couldn't they see the grey?

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"This is the last time," she said. She remembered how many last times had brought her here. "Or maybe it's the first without apology."

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Her pride was such a fragile thing. Stroke it gently and she bloomed, rub against it and she crumpled to dust and was blown away.

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"Why can’t I use three exclamations?" she asked. "Because the only people who are that excited about life haven’t lived yet," I replied. 

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You wanted answers, I wanted to feel something other than self-loathing. It wasn’t the worst way to start a murder investigation.

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Want to know more about microfiction? Check out the links here, here and here.

99 Word Biographies

Thanks to Sarah Brentyn for giving me the heads up about the 99 word biographies prompt last week at Carrot Ranch Communications. I've been playing around with flash fiction for the last couple of months and having a blast. But this week's challenge was tough. Maybe it's because I already know my characters from Unbound so well that I find it hard to narrow it down to 99 words. Or maybe it's because I was daunted by the many amazing entries for this prompt submitted by other writers. Either way, here are my entries. 

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Mara was born in squalor. Traded for 50 bucks and a case of whiskey, she spent her childhood being used in ways best forgotten. A girl of shadows and whispers, no one knew of the strange things that happened on nights with a full moon. Rescued and recovered, Mara holds hope and fear with the same disdain. She loves fiercely, is loyal to a fault, and when no one is looking, smiles at babies and sunsets. She is wise woman, crone, rebel, romantic. She can flay with a look and strike like serpent. She will not suffer fools gladly.

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Stuart is all elbows and knees. Equal parts rogue and romantic, he has a way of making people comfortable with his discomfort. His laugh is hard to resist and it’s easy to forget the sadness he’s seen. Few knew of the men who died in his arms as he’d tried to carry them from the battlefield. Fewer still knew that he’d signed up for the war as penance for living a life that would never end. He loves beer and a good joke and in the end, wants nothing more than to be a decent man, worthy of love.

All Good Things.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity.”  ― Gilda Radner

Last week I stumbled across a teaser for a Friends reunion show called "The One After the 10 Year Break". It took me about 30 seconds to figure out it was a hoax that had been kicking around the internet for awhile, enraging fans of the show who'd like to see the cast get back together again. And as a Friends fan, I agreed. On the heels of the spectacular Veronica Mars movie, I could totally be convinced that a 10 year Friends reunion might be fun.  But it has me thinking about endings. And how they seem harder to come by than ever before. And how I seem to be struggling, more than ever, to let things go when they end. 

But maybe it's not just me. Maybe we're all struggling with not knowing what happens next. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook allow us to keep up with our ex's latest escapades, no matter how painful or unhealthy it might be. Authors write mullti-book series that go on and on forever, seemingly unable to just End. The. Damn. Story. And even when the story does end, they sometimes write it all over again from another character's perspective. Thanks to Netflix, television shows can be watched and re-watched. And the ones that are cancelled live a whole new life in fan fiction. Can it ever just be over? 

I worry that we're losing our ability to live with the uncertainty of not knowing what happens next. That with the ever-present availability of information and our ability to  communicate effortlessly with each other, we've lost the bittersweet experience of knowing something is really, truly over. Can we be satisfied with not knowing? I'd like to try. Because in retrospect, I think the best moments in my life are the ones that can't be recreated over and over again. And I think some part of me likes the pain of wanting something that I can't have. And wondering about the what-ifs and the what-might-have-beens. Maybe all good things really must come to an end, or else they are no longer good. 

Flash Fiction Fun: It's Just the Wind

I pressed my forehead to the window, the cold glass soothing against my flushed skin. How long had I stared down at the sidewalk, waiting for something – for someone – to be the change I couldn’t initiate? How long had I been sitting here, wanting and needing and not acting?

I felt him standing behind me. His silence as loud as the words he wouldn’t say. I didn’t turn, but flinched as the window rattled in the frame.

“It’s just the wind,” he said, and I nodded, closing my eyes, hope burning as hot as the tears on my face.

*This is my first attempt at the flash fiction challenge over at Carrot Ranch Communications. If you're interested in finding out more, see here: http://carrotranch.com/2014/03/26/march-26-flash-fiction-challenge/

Sound and Fury

You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.
~ Albert Camus 

I've been looking for meaning lately, noticing myself finding patterns in dates and names and symbols. Trying to connect what is random and unfair and uncertain with what is tangible. 

So I can predict. 

So I can prepare. 

Even while I make these connections, the wise part of me knows that this is just an exercise in control. That looking for meaning is what we do when we feel unsure or overwhelmed by the random events in the universe. 

But I don't stop. I keep looking and wondering and trying to make life seem more orderly. 

And then it hits me. 

This is why I write stories. 

So in some small corner of the universe, things can make sense. 

Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.
~ CS Lewis