Possible market

Pseudopod, a horror audio zine that pays

Also has a sister site for fantasy and science fiction: The Escape Pod

Love the play on podcast. :)

Day 48

Minimum Goals
100 Words for 100 Days June 13 - Sept 20

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Finished my class paper and it helped me meet my goal.

Day 45

100 Words for 100 Days June 13 - Sept 20

Progress Bar from Writertopia

I'm finally right on target! Nothing like a deadline to get things caught up.

Title: Mustard

My sister calls him
“vampire kitty.”
You can’t even see the scar
on her face now.
And he twined around her legs
while she sat on the couch
with a dishrag on her face.
She didn’t tell us she was bringing her dog.
And he knows dogs aren’t guests.

He patrols the yard with a passion.
The neighbor’s dogs
--Labador mutts triple his size--
who dig into our garbage
have learned to run in fear.
And tails really do tuck between their legs!
while his orange-stripped
waves proudly in the air
stalking around the boundaries of the yard.

He knows my car
though I confused him
after I wrecked my white car.
I know because he hadn’t left
the kitchen window watching for me
until I walked in the door.
Now I see him as I pull in the driveway
and wave at him before he jumps down
to meet me at the door.

I didn’t raise no lap cat.
But he’s not vicious,
no matter what my sister says,
just standoffish.
Pet me on my terms
is his attitude.
He sists in front of the monitor
and headbutts my chin
and I know I’m loved.

People scratch their heads
when I say his name.
“He’s orange not yellow.”
Why Mustard?
That’s the name he had bestowed
by the drunk in Jan’s after Mustard the kitten
jumped in my truck.
The drunk gave him to me and
I took him to a better life.

Reading Diary 11

Spoon and Tree


What gladdens her is the spoon,
with its tiny saucer of remnants,
its slender shaft, scrubbed last—
and now the kitchen's clean.
Clean are the knives and forks
all akimbo in their drying cage
at the window. The spoon
leans alone toward light,
a backyard limb reflected
in its sunken belly, so a
liquid darkness tongues
its curves and bends
along its slender neck,
making the one tidying up blush
at this bed she's come upon—
refractive, gleaming, the old
dream of coupling
here portioned out
in such a strange
supper.
When the light is gone,
the immaculate house hushed,
she puts down her book
and returns, barefooted,
waking the wood planks
to the kitchen. The cupboard,
too, sighs, its ascending note
sliding wind-clean. And even
before shaking whole grains
into her midnight bowl,
she has reached out,
across the ticking, low-watt
world, her warm mouth
clamping itself wetly
around the cooled,
hard truth
of the spoon.

Sara London
http://www.poetrydaily.org/poem.php?date=13684

I don’t know why “Tree” is put in the title, since it doesn’t appear to have any bearing on the poem. I feel sympathy for the woman character in it. I live alone, hate doing the dishes, and know the satisfaction that the kitchen is finally clean.

Okay, I think I found the tree in the spoon’s reflection. I like those lines suggesting both the amorous and the functional meanings of “spoon.” The second half of the poem confuses me. It’s still about the spoon, but not about the tree. Just about the relationship of the woman and the spoon, and not much of one either. No issues with the imagery; I can see all the actions.

Strix Notes

Human family of a vampire; I like the two characters I have in this slot, they're fun. But having just rewatched the first episode of Kindred the Embraced TV show recently and I think I know where I was inspired to throw that into my mix.

The writers of the TV show were horribly inconsistant in the first episode (and they wonder why it only lasted a season?). Luna, vampire prince of the city, explains that his oldest grandson has died. He had a son before he was embraced and that son filled the valley with grapes and children. He's heartbroken as much as a vampire in charge of a city can be. Okay, maybe the guy was his favorite grandson. Then Luna's great-granddaughter shows up and they all treat her like she's the only descendent left. So what happened to the rest? What happened to all the black-clad disapproving people at the funeral?

Still I like the dynamic and want to do it right.

Day 40

100 Words for 100 Days June 13 - Sept 20

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Three poems today. And I finally got through all my feedback from the class. The short ones feel incomplete to people and I don't have anything left to say in them.

Title: Oh Go Ahead and Sulk

This is no telepathic link
between us.
Have I ever been able to read your mind
in thirty years?

Sorry, nobody gave me a memo
to a) carve the time in stone
to b) call you and dictate the plans
to c) exclude my sister who I thought wanted to come.

Besides I stayed up late
(reading Harry Potter 7)
and I have the right to sleep in
on Sunday, the day of rest.

I came in with a time we could go.
You’d rather lie in bed saying
the whole world hates you.
Chief of all your family.

You’d rather ruin my good mood
from a satisfying conclusion
from fitting into size 16 jeans again
from a beautiful day to spend time with my mother.

I can only throw up my hands.
Oh, go ahead and sulk
If that’s more fun than Hairspray.
Go ahead and sulk.

Title: Need Three More Poems

Need three more poems
for the assignment
What to write about?
Anything and everything,
doesn’t mean that
I want to write about
anything and everything.

Losing weight slowly
Fear of stroke
Fear of losing my mind
Fear of diabeties
Fear of dementia
Fear of death
Haven’t I been depressing enough lately?

Tribute to a book
Tribute to an author
Tribute to Harry Potter
Tribute to another obsession
Introduce a webcomic never heard of
Chant my love for Monster Squad
Do I want to frighten with my fangirliness?

I have to finish the assignment
Need just three more poems
Just three more poems
But what to write about?
I can’t decide
But none of the topics call to me
So you get a poem on the need.

Title: Metabolic Syndrome

My body betrayed me
Selection picked all the crappy genes
It’s not your fault
But my body betrayed me

Medicine will help
Take metformine for the high sugar
Take phentermine to supress the appetite
Take more of this, take less of that
But the medicine will help

Diet and exercise
Atkins, Sugar-busters, South Beach, measure
Walk the track, swim a mile, weightlift
You do realize even yoga hurts?
But diet and exercise

Lost ten pounds in a month
I need to lose alomost a whole me
How did a nearly whole me seak onto me
Where does it hide
But I lost ten pounds in a month

Biker Mice Wars Are Won series plans

While I was pondering the state of writing life found over in the Intentionally Left Blank post, a question came to mind. I have often said that the Wars Are Won series is over thirty stories long and I have only written five of them. So just how many of the stories are really necessary for the Wars Are Won series arc?

I found the story list with my original notes and found the series had 28 stories total. I was able to combine two main thrusts into other stories that strengths the plot points I want to make and eliminates two stories for the count. I took one out completely for the current series. It may go back in later depending on how many questions I get asked about a new character. Did some switching around of story order and what year they were set in and now have 25 stories of various lengths. Some titles may change.

1995

1. Shatter Your Illusions
2. Put Me Back Together
3. Reunions
4. Family, Friends, and Foes
5. Let Us Give Thanks

1996

6. Turbo
7. Sacrifice of Happiness

1997

8. Can't Keep Hard Rock Down
9. New York, New York or Heir of the Foot Clan

1998

10. Laissez Bon Temps Rouler
11. Blind

1999

12. The Race
13. Death of a Star
14. Tala's Freedom
15. Time Manipulates Your Heart
    1. 1947
    2. 1999
    3. 2019
16. What Was Lost

2000

17. One and Only Promise I Can Keep
    1. What I Will Do For You
    2. Never Give Up, Never Surrender
    3. Let Me Promise
18. New Hope
19. Plutark's Enemies
20. Invasion of Earth

2001

21. Baddest Mamajammers of the Millienium

Day 36

100 Words for 100 Days June 13 - Sept 20

Progress Bar from Writertopia

584 words in the Educator's Guide. And except for formating and editing, I think that section is done.

Also did a lot of handwriting today while waiting on the stupid program at work, but I don't count until I type. But judging to my response on the topic, I may just need to do it. It's been a tough summer, trying to work through emotional crisis and subjected to the poetry. I don't see it as a step back but more a plateau before the next uphill climb.

Day 32

100 Words for 100 Days June 13 - Sept 20

Progress Bar from Writertopia

Title: Not Your Fault, Poetry

I haven’t been fair to you, Poetry.
Having to blame the one who never did the harm.
Eyes and memory cleared from false impressions,
and realized writhing under laughter’s lash
can only stop when I laugh back.
And that’s not your fault, Poetry.

I felt stupid and embarrassed in class with you, Poetry.
Laugh at it, let it go, start again.
There is no cosmic checklist
marking down my every mistake.
Festering humiliation poisoning my attitude.
And that’s not your fault, Poetry.

How many years have I denied us, Poetry?
Laugh at it, let it go, start again.
I’ve had enough of all that.
Laughing at it, letting it go.
I am sorry for ignoring you, Poetry.
Can we start over again?