Random thought: When I interrogated, the mime always had the right to remain silent.

Sometimes, my little stories start out silly and then, somewhere in the brainstorming process, they take another turn. When this one started to go off the rails and get cringe-worthy, I jettisoned the idea and decided to keep it PG-rated. You’re welcome for my brief moment of self-control. Thanks go out to Bill Deensicks of Marina, California, for the suggested prompt.

Here’s the Story of the Week.

            Up Next on ESPN 2

“Welcome back to the National Babysitting Championships, where all-star Beth is battling ten-year-old twins Parker and Riley in a slugfest. Roll the highlights.”

Riley and Parker juggle knives, while babysitter Beth, tied up, watches—horrified.

“Once Beth freed herself, her partner, Trinity, tagged in and took over, but she’s still traumatized from that earlier fake SWAT call to the house. Can they survive until the parents return?”

The kids smile maniacally as Beth cowers under a bed.

“I’m done.”

She flinches when her phone rings.

“Sounds like the parents are calling. They’re running late! Get ready, fans. WE’RE GOING INTO OVERTIME!”

Prompt: Swap out

Novel News & Notes:

After finishing up my grueling edit before sending my manuscript off to the editor last week, I’ve been enjoying the time off, realizing I can get back to generating more of my little tales and decompressing a bit.

But…while I’d love to confess that the novel is now out of sight/out of mind, that’s not completely true. I have been thinking about one little plot hole I realize I have, but I didn’t mention it to my editor. Better to leave it and see if she trips on it and asks me to explain the mystery. Even if it gets by her, I’ll bring it up and ask her about it. I also plan to have a fix for it so if she sees it as a problem, I’ll be ready with my solution. Either way, I think I need to address it. I never want to be stuck in the position where somebody asks me to explain why a character did something, and I have no logical answer. To me, that’s just lazy writing. I can do better than that. At least I hope I can.

As always, thanks for listening.

Scotty out