Random thought: When they finally open the strait, will we feel gay?

Welcome back, kids. Today’s volume is action-packed, so let’s get right to it, because at least one of us has a lot to do today.

A prompt mailed in by Charles Anderson of parts unknown inspired this week’s 101-word tale. Actually, I should’ve written This week’s “tales” (plural), because I’m giving you one of those rare BOGO offers. That’s right—two stories for the price of none. No cracks, please about me finally establishing their true value. I always like to have a few of my trusted readers take a look at my stuff before I release it into the wild. I got some great notes from Wes and Edward, which led to fixes on the first story (and I’m not telling you which one it was). Then I went in a different direction with a second take. Based on comments a few of you made in the past, I’m asking you to read them both before assigning ratings. Thanks!

Here ya go…

           Teaching Patients

“We’re going to the dentist,” Mom told the twins.

Throughout the drive, they repeated, “We’re not there yet, right?” But when they reached Disneyland, they cheered.

The next week, Mom was summoned to the principal’s office.

“They’re actually in trouble?” Mom asked. “I thought this was a trick so they could get revenge.”

“Revenge for what?”

“I said they had a dentist appointment, but surprised them with Disneyland.”

“You lied? Great parenting!”

When the principal left, Mom muttered, “Small-minded woman.”

“It’s a small world after all,” the boys sang.

Mom smiled. “I finally get it. That song’s about people like her.”

Prompt: Chomping at the bit

And here’s another take on the prompt.

        You Can’t Handle the Tooth

“We’re going to the dentist,” Mom told the twins.

Throughout the drive, they repeated, “We’re not there yet, right?” But when they reached Disneyland, they cheered.

The next week, Mom was summoned to the principal’s office after the twins told a lie about their dentist working at Disneyland.

“They would never lie,” Mom said. “Their dentist worked there while in high school.”

Later that night, one twin said, “Did he really work at Disneyland?”

“Maybe,” Mom said.

“But you don’t know? Isn’t that a lie?”

“I’m just saying it’s a possibility.” Mom squirmed. “Did you finish your homework?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Prompt: Chomping at the bit

NOVEL NEWS & NOTES…

In my last quest to complete Questionable Characters, I told you I knew I was getting close to typing “The End” of my latest draft. Yesterday, a mere 581 pages after typing “Chapter One,” I reached the finish line. And by finish line, what I really mean is that I can spend a few minutes celebrating this miracle, before the party ends and I jump into the next phase: paring my 161,073 words down to a publishable level. In my case, that means roughly cutting the draft in half. (but, to be fair, I think the 161,073 words include chapter names and numbers) so you can see that I really don’t have much work ahead of me. 🤪 🤪🤪

I plan to repeat the same steps I took with the last draft. As counterintuitive as it may sound, before I kill a forest full of trees and print out the manuscript so I can read it like a real book, I will go through the painstaking process of outlining everything I have. I’ll make a bullet point list of each story beat, along with the page number. Having a document like this makes life a whole lot easier (at least for me) as I go through the process of slashing and burning.

Since this will be a new process for me (finding a way to lose about half of what I’ve written), I’m sure I’ll be improvising as I go until I find the best way to accomplish my goal. My gut tells me that I will probably need to cut out one entire story thread for one of my suspects. I will also need to find a way to easily keep track of where each suspect appears in the draft. I’m not sure how I’ll do that yet. Maybe each suspect will be in a different color font. That might get too messy, as I could see sections where I discuss two different suspects in the same section. Maybe I’ll just have to have a document that lists where each bad guy appears. This part is still a work-in-progress, but I’ll figure it out. I’ve given myself a drop-dead deadline of June 18th. By that date, I will have a lean, mean, fighting-machine draft ready to go to beta readers and my editor.

I can do this. I know I can. Right?


Scotty out

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