July 17, 2025 Post

Random thought: Three ways to spell “two”? C’mon, English. You’re kidding, right?

Some of the prompts you people send me are nice and simple. Some involve words I have to look up. And then there was this week’s inspirational contribution. I don’t even want to know where it came from. Fortunately for the culprit, I’m sticking to my policy of providing complete anonymity for all contributors. You’re welcome, Susan Meyer.

And now on to the Story of the Week.

             Putting the Man in Manipulation

After work, the female cops shuffled into the locker room, chatting about their favorite pass-around cop.

“I gotta hustle,” one said. “Jimmy’s meeting me for a quickie.”

“You don’t have to watch him strain to put sentences together before a cheap dinner? Just wham bam, thank you, man,” another added. “You’re lucky.”

One smirked. “I gagged him the other night. The moron just thought I was kinky.”

“Hey, Trish. Why are you so quiet?”

“When I did him Saturday, I found a Harvard diploma in his closet. Harvard!”

Dead silence followed.

“So… he’s not brain-dead? Lying scumbag. He’s worse than us.”

 

Prompt: Life support system for a penis

NOVEL NEWS & OTHER NOTES…

Most of the folks who were kind enough to read the current draft of my debut novel, Questionable Characters, have weighed in with lots of great notes. With only a few reports still outstanding (my deadline is Saturday), I now have a great handle on what I need to do to get this book to the next level.

I was going to tell you about the overall takeaways and the steps I’m now doing to fix what needs fixing, but…since the last few beta readers may also see this post, I don’t want to influence anyone, so I’ll just say I’m now working on my to-do list of fixes. Some are pretty easy. Some require a lot more thought, but each time I solve another piece of the puzzle, it’s worth all the brain cells I sacrificed to figure it out.

In my next post, I’ll get more specific about the fixes that will make my little book keep chugging up that hill.

Speaking of progress, I’ll be taking another step in my writing journey this weekend when I go to the 31st Annual Mystery Writers Conference in Corte Madera, CA. This will mark my first fiction writing event, and I’m excited to meet more members of my tribe and learn from some of the best (like my number one source for inspiration, best-selling author Michael Connelly).

Finally, here’s a link to an online story about me that was just released. Sure, it’ll appear to be a humble brag, but I actually have a motive behind it. Even though it is basically an interview with me (mostly written by me), I didn’t pay for it, nor did I receive compensation for it. I don’t know how these guys make their money, but I do know that they’re always on the hunt for more material. If you want me to toss your name their way and recommend you for a story, just let me know and I’m more than happy to help out. Link to story

I’m outta here.

Scotty

Want to catch up on all the stories you missed? Here’s the link:

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