Random thought: I just burned 2,000 calories. No more napping while I bake brownies!

I don’t want to bring you down, but I just realized this will be the last blog you get from me before Christmas. And much like those stockings hung on the mantle, if you don’t like the story, feel free to tell me to stuff it. With that in mind, here’s 101 words strung together to form the Story of the Week. This latest work was inspired by a prompt generously gifted me by Rob C. I’d include his last name, but Mr. Coelho specifically asked not to be fully identified. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Hey, I wonder how I can give Scotty public praise for respecting the privacy of his blog subscribers?” Don’t worry about it. I got you covered. I’m patting myself on the back even as I type this (which explains why it’s taking so long to get this paragraph written). Without further shenanigans, here’s the Story of the Week.

Time to Take a Look in the Mirror

Everything about them was slightly askew. Sandy, a preschool teacher, loved his job. His wife, Jessie, a garbage man, was equally satisfied.

Rounding out their off-center family was Fido, their obedient Frisbee-catching cat, and Mittens, a dog who ignored them like the plague, refusing to sit, shake, or do anything remotely dog-like.

“Mittens brought in another dead mouse,” Sandy said. “I told her ‘drop it.’ She totally ignored me.”

“And Fido bit the mailman, so she’s suing,” Jessie complained. “What’s with those two perpetual nonconformists?”

“What’s with us?” Fido growled at Mittens.

“Exactly,” Mittens meowed. “They’re the ones trashing the stereotypes.”

Prompt: Listen

Novel News & Notes:

On the Questionable Characters front…last week I wrote that the end was in sight. I think I previously said I was confident I would finish the draft by the end of December. I think that’s what I wrote. To be honest, I don’t read these things any more than you do, so who knows what I said. The point is, and I do believe I have one, I actually FINISHED MY LATEST DRAFT last Thursday. The grand total is 445 pages or 109,369 words. I’m no math whiz, but I know it represents a healthy amount of my 101-word stories. Siri says it’s 1,082 stories, so let’s go with that.

What do I have planned next for my novel? Thank you for asking. For the time being—nothing. Just like after finishing the first draft, I plan to let it marinate for about a month without my attention. I won’t even crack it open. After some time away, I will go back and do my best to give it a “pleasure read” where I try not to focus on any fixes—just read it like a normal book. I know there will be places where I won’t be able to resist the urge to create a post-it next to some glaring spots. I’m hoping I can just say something simple like “fix this,” and move on. After the pleasure read, I’ll go back and outline the newest draft and then come up with an attack plan for slicing and dicing—of which there will be a lot. I’m thinking I’ll need to make around a hundred pages of this draft disappear.

That’s it for this week in writing.

Thanks for listening.

Scotty out