Random thought: It’s true: I have an inferiority complex, but it’s not a very good one.

Welcome back, and since you were brave enough to return, I’ll reward you with a short post so you can get about your day. Here’s one of my favorite tales from Volume 2 of FAST FICTION: Man vs. Machine. I can’t give public thanks to whoever provided the prompt because my records don’t list the generous soul. My bad. 😣

Here’s the Story of the Week.

      Excitement at the Senior Center

“Good heavens, officer,” Mildred said. “I’m trying to help you but I’ve never witnessed a crime before.”

“I understand, ma’am. Can we return to the questions I was asking?”

“Certainly. Actually, I have witnessed crimes before but that was on Matlock and CSI. Does that count?”

“Not even a little. Again, what color was the suspect vehicle?”

“Suspect vehicle? This is so exciting! What do you suspect him of?”

“Well, since he hit your car and drove away, I’m thinking hit-and-run.”

“My, that sounds serious. Was anyone hurt?”

“Based on what I’m hearing so far, I’m not sure we’ll ever know.”

Prompt: Just the facts, ma’am

Novel News & Notes:

Last week I said I hoped I’d be able to celebrate today by telling you I finished my latest draft.

I did.

Yep, I slashed and burned, getting the draft down to a svelte 90,896 words (or 396 pages). It’s probably still too long, but that’s why God invented editors, right? I’m very happy with how it currently reads. Hit me up in a month or so after I hear back from my editor and we’ll see what I think.

I’ll share one brief chuckle with you before signing off. I use an editing/proofreading app that is A.I. based, but only for the grammar—nothing remotely close to the creative stuff.

Since some of my Questionable Characters are drug users, I occasionally refer to them as “meth abusers.” In our politically correct world, however, A.I. suggested I call them “substance misusers,” instead.

How ‘bout no.

As always, thanks for listening.

Scotty out