This week: Happy New Yearn! Edited by: Leger~HappyNewYear!  
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This newsletter aims to help the Writing.com short story author hone their craft and improve their skills. I would also like to inform, advocate, and create new, fresh ideas for the short story author. Write to me if you have an idea you would like presented.
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WDC January Site Contest
Excerpt: Do you have big plans for yourself this year? Will you finally finish that story that's been haunting you for so long? Will you try your hand at a brand new genre? Do you want to read and review a certain number of items by April? Will you take that first step toward self-publishing your latest masterpiece? Set some goals and resolutions for the new year and you could win big prizes!
Excerpt: “Please listen to me. I just need you to listen.”
Excerpt: The wolf family lived two miles away from Christmas Town where Santa, Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and the elves lived.
Excerpt: Forty five seconds seemed like hours before a tall and well built, dark haired man finally answered. His wry smile was charming, his stature and stance was dashingly handsome. She knew right then, that this hot and bothered vixen was bound for big trouble. He was just too good looking. It'd be hard to control herself.
Excerpt: At the end of the world, there’s a great big, beautiful garden. The entrance is through a stone archway secured with a sturdy wrought-iron gate, and it leads to a maze with meticulously maintained twelve-foot-tall hedgerows so vibrant that the greenery nearly glows as pastel flowers sprout from the spaces between the leaves.
Excerpt: Skylar stood triumphantly before her latest creation: a lopsided lasagna oozing orange goo. The fire alarm, having long given up, blinked red in weary silence.
| | 54 EXCUSES (13+)
An aptly named racehorse sheds the cloak of loser and drapes it over its bevy of owners.
#1533412 by DRSmith  |
Excerpt: “Well, look who’s here,” Bob said, cheerily. “If it ain’t my dear friend, Trader Boo... maven of Chicago’s Board of Trade. Come in, come in. I’m delighted to see you,” he warmly said while leading me to his study. “So, how have the markets and horses been treating you these days?”
Excerpt: Mike Magee was sitting alone at a small bar table, idly sipping a beer while gazing upon a soft summer rain spattering the front window of Duffy’s Tavern, an old but popular eatery among horsemen less than a block from Belmont Park. Morning stable chores were done and with no horseracing scheduled this dark-day afternoon, the clamor of a noonday crowd faded as the captive image took him back nearly fifty years.
Excerpt: "It isn't necessary, is all. Don't call the watch every time some urchin bandit robs you."
Excerpt: The last thing I will say is that the less time you devote to making every word as perfect as you can in your writing, the more time you will have to build something on your page to play with later.
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
This month's question: What do you yearn for? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
Last month's question: Has social media inspired a story in your portfolio? Do you find it too distracting?
Amethyst Snow Angel  : This probably sounds super cheesy, but my perceptions about certain celebrities and their personalities and lives (and music) inspire certain characters and themes in my writing.
I avoid social media generally because it's a brain drain. I'd rather hang out here than anywhere else 
S🤦♂️ : Not in my portfolio, but in two of my published short stories. One came about because a person I was on Facebook with (I no longer "do" socials) insisted he got a message from an old classmate... one we knew had died. I turned it into a story and sold it. The other came about because I saw a tweet that went along the lines of If it wasn't for the voices in my head life would be boring.
But, as I said, I am no longer on socials (except Insta) and so that avenue of ideas is now closed to me.
TheBusmanPoet  : I have some writings that I've done. I had them in chats with people online. It may have been a few words or a couple of sentences that triggered the birth of a poem. I'll jot it down and then in my word documents, I'll take it from there and work around it. Or I could write it right on the steno book I use for rough drafts.
No, I haven't found it distracting yet. Conversations are funny that way with just a few words you can come up with a writing. It sparks your muse. 
L.M.Glomar  : Social media plays a role in a bunch of the stories I've posted here. I generally stay off it except for Reddit and YouTube.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  : Well, I've heard a few Reddit Horror Stories involving D&D - terrible DMs, Cheaters, Jerk Players and such. Well, made a few stories with those themes in mind. In one, Damsels and Dragons, a group of players leaves a Jerk DM, who had the habit of having their DMPC try to romance the lone female player's character against the player's wishes - the moment she left, so did the rest (one stating that their sister would be Very upset if he didn't support the female player).
Now, this takes place in a setting where the Human world has made contact with the Monster world, and our female player bumps into a dragon, or, rather, a dragon bumps into her while trying to work on a size-adjuster device, and they apologize, pick up the other's things, and the lady gets a text from the ex-DM (Bad Romance Story), and she is disgustedly by it, and the dragon is like, "They are a terrible writer - bad grammar, spelling (and such)." The lady responds back, "I'd rather be eaten by a dragon." The dragon, having read this, is like, "Really? Is he that bad?" So, the woman tells the dragon what's up.
Well, turns out, the Dragon is a DM for the Monster version of D&D, and invites the lady (and her party members by extension) to join his group until they figure things out. Of course, he does warn them about the shenanigans that happen. Seems that the lady and her friends are willing to try said shenanigans out, especially since the dragon was honest about them.
Leads to an interesting situation when the ex-DM encounters the Dragon in their True Form, and hightails it away, after being warned about peeping through windows while on Private Property.
Silvern  : I can often see this pattern of stories in social media platforms that may inspire us.
Tannus : Yes. I wrote a piece on the kids who were killed in Texas.
Thank you everyone, for your responses, they are much appreciated! Leger~ |
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Short Stories: December 31, 2025 Issue [#13530]
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