Here’s a bit of late-breaking news–well, later than it usually is for me. Last night I tried something new in Morgan Hill. Went to an event called Book Karaoke at Ancora Vino (a wine tasting room), where local authors (and interlopers from the Monterey Peninsula) who read snippets of their work. I guess they do it monthly, and each one has a suggested theme. Last night’s was “Heat,” so I read some of my 101’ers (like the one about a pair of pyromaniacs who fell in love at a fire scene). It was a great time, and I plan to return next month. See visual evidence below.
Note my shameless product placement on the table.
Turning to the world of flash fiction, this week’s tiny tale was inspired by a prompt gifted me by a woman who mysteriously goes by the initials et (which she pronounces like the famous alien). Why she goes lower-case, much like e.e. Cummings will remain a mystery. Even so, I gladly accepted her challenge, thus leading to the story below. If you want instant fame like et’s, send me your prompt ideas. Who knows? You could be the next et. That’s a capital idea, right?
The Dating Game
On a street affectionately known as “Dumb Ass Drive,” the Brady brothers were valedictorians. One “Five Finger Friday” (where their mama sent them out to steal the weekly groceries), Billy and Dougie were baffled even more than usual.
“What’s this use by sticker mean?” Billy asked.
“Probably ‘use by the window’ since it’s window cleaner,” Dougie said.
“Cool.”
When they got home and Mama noticed the milk was expired, she told them to go back and swap it out for fresh milk.
“It says ‘Sell by’,” Billy said. “Not steal by. They’re just trying to outsmart us.”
Last time we spoke, I mentioned that a police psychologist/novelist I met at a mystery writing conference offered to give me technical advice on my scenes involving a cop seeing his shrink.
I read her notes, and she gave me some really good stuff that I never thought about. That’s the great thing about working with subject matter experts. They know more than you do when it comes to their specialty, so if you have the ability to pick their brains, do it. I always try to return the favor when my fellow writers ask me questions about my crime (fighting) experience. I almost forgot to throw that word in there.
Aside from working on where Questionable Characters, book two will go (which is turning out to be a lot of fun), I’m still playing around with my hard-boiled detective short stories. I think one may be ready to search for a publishing home. If you’d like to read it (either just for fun) or to give me notes on how I might make it stronger, hit me up with an email, and I’ll get it to you as long as you don’t publish it anywhere. I can’t handle all the hype that comes with instant stardom.
Finally, if you’re a crime or mystery writer looking for a meetup group, ask me about our new Coast & Dagger Crime Writers group. Our next meeting will be in Capitola on September 26th. Play your cards right, and you may get an invite.
Thanks for following along on the journey.
Scotty out
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