 Action/Adventure: February 11, 2026 Issue [#13594] |
This week: When We're Gone Edited by: Legerdemain  
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When We're Gone
When I heard someone I knew passed away, it started me thinking. Yes, I know, a dangerous thing. The question that came to mind was "What would people remember about me?" And then after that, I wondered what my obituary would say.
I asked AI about what I should write. It said: An obituary should include the deceased's full name, age, date/place of death, a summary of their life (birth, family, education, career, hobbies), surviving family members, and details for any funeral or memorial services, often with optional information like cause of death, military service, or donation requests. Key elements are the announcement, biographical details, service information, and ways to honor their memory.
Seems pretty matter-of-fact, doesn't it? I would guess people who know me know all those factual details. But what else would they like to know? What would a tribute look like? I prefer people remember the wonderful adventures, how we laughed, and the good times. Not where I worked and where to send flowers.
Think about it, and Write On!
This month's question: What would your obituary say?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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WDC February Site Contest
Genre Prompt for February 2026: Gothic
| | PromptMaster ! (18+) A relaxed poetry competition inspired by Taskmaster! January round open! |
I'm Jayne, the gal who runs on the premise that time is an illusion and deadlines are, like, just your opinion, man.
I'd like you to meet a cat who once said that most writing problems can be solved by hitting the delete key harder.
1. Write a complete story; some use of dialogue is acceptable. Your story should be at least 1,000 words. The Maximum word count is 2,500 ... and yes, it will be checked.
2. Above you will see a list of 20 words. Each word must be used in your story. To ensure each word is used, you must bold the word in your story.
Excerpt: Enraptured by the spicy perfume of death, Hatch climbed up and down the endless tunnel.
| |  | The Division Day (E) After his father's death, a man's panic isolates him from his family. |
Excerpt: He paced the driveway, phone clutched in his hand. His chest tightened. His father had been home from the hospital for two days, resting. But for how long? Thoughts fragmented. Two hearts, the same condition. One faltering, the other uncertain.
Excerpt: The wrought iron gates cast long shadows across the pavement, blue-white moonlight sliced into shards by the bars. When she stepped into the pool of milky light, Alice’s features were streaked too. She looked alien, frightening, not like my sister anymore. She threw a wicked grin over her shoulder, not bothering to wait for me to catch up before she slid her slender frame through the bars. I ran into the eerie moon-pool and followed her, squeezing through the bars with even more ease than she had. At eleven I didn’t have any breasts to contend with. Yet.
| | | Of Cows & Cars (E) The 15 mile country drive that taught this Dallas gal to think twice in Canyon. |
Excerpt: My grandparents decided to move from Dallas, Texas to the small West Texas town of Canyon around the same time I decided to go to college. I had spent the two years after high school working full time and enjoying the Dallas nightlife with my boyfriend. When we split up, I knew I needed to get away to think about my future. I came up with a plan- I could attend West Texas A&M University while living a few miles away at my grandparent's new country home. No dorm life for me! I would have a spacious bedroom and a private bathroom for myself.
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This month's question: What would your obituary say?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Action/Adventure Newsletter (January 14, 2026)" question: Do you need to experience something to write it well?
Aiva Raine  : So, on the experience needed question, I'd say it depends. There's much we can create simply by watching or reading about it. And, many people are empathetic, especially writers, which allows them to create characters and circumstances outside of their own experiences.
However, there's an authenticity you get when writing about something you've experienced. There's a layer of description, feeling, and emotion that gets laid down onto the page, paid for in your blood, sweat, and tears. It's an intangible quality that just doesn't exist from imagination alone. Imagination is great, but sometimes it's not enough.
I think that's why the "write what you know" mantra exists. We're connected to our own experiences in a way that translates better on the page than pure fiction does. There's a quote attributed to either Paul Gallico or Red Smith- "writing is easy- just open your veins and bleed." I think that fits here.
As for the catamaran, don't worry. They are usually quite large boats and while nothing is completely safe, I've been on several, including a cruise excursion like the one you mention and it was one of the most fun times I've had. They should provide life-jackets so if the worst case happens, you've got that at least. But I'd recommend you go. Ours took us to this beautiful little rocky archipelago with sea lions sunning themselves while we snorkeled around grinning in amazement at all the colorful fishes that darted around and between our feet. Then we watched dolphins race alongside the boat, their sleek fins arcing out of the water, droplets forming rainbows in the sunlight. One of the most magical experiences I've had. Plus- the bouncing off the waves and the spray of the ocean helped to keep us cool. I wish you fun times on your cruise.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  : Do I need experience to write about something well? I'll be honest - there's some things I hope I don't need first hand experience to understand it, like taking a life (although I know how to use firearms, and I have helped prepare wild game, so I can guestimate there), and some I've never had a chance to experience, such as being in a romantic relationship, but I've seen plenty of failed attempts, so, as the song says, I may not know what love is, but I know what it ain't.
S🤦♂️  : Do you need to experience something to write it well? No. You need to understand it, and have knowledge of what is involved, and ask questions but actually experience it is not necessary. I will give an example: Sean Williams wrote an incredible book called Impossible Music where the main character is deaf. He is not deaf and yet the book rings true. He asked people because he had the idea and felt he needed to get it down. So, no, experience is not necessary, but knowledge is.
Robert Waltz  : I think it should be "know what you write."
Mousethyme-no romance  : The right research can give you experience in just about anything. I myself think that I have enough experience in a few exotic erotic and downright unbelievable things that I have enough material to keep me writing for a good span to come.
S🤦♂️ : No, of course not. But you do need to know what you are talking about. Research, asking people, watching videos - all of these are very important to make sure you know what you are talking about and don't look like a fool.
An example is I recently read a book where gymnastics was important to the story. As a former gymnast, I knew straight away the author had never done it. They must have watched something, but did not have an understanding how it worked, and even used the wrong terms.
What does it matter? I have heard people say. Well, if they care that little about getting it right, what else have they got wrong? Simply asking a gymnast would have made it make more sense and be more realistic.
TheBusmanPoet  : I usually do.
jackson : . . . not necessarily, any facts you present in your writing must be just that, facts.
WB_Radley  : I know a little about just about everything, although I'll be the first to admit, I know very few things through and through.
I'm a people watcher and an intent listener. Like Abraham Lincoln said, "It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." 
jenna.  : honestly no bc u can get alot of knowledge abt smthing from others
Winter's spud❄️  : Well I'm not sure. I know that I watched TV and found some mistakes with the crossbow scene in one show and the major plot point of another show. First, you can't hand cock a real, lethal crossbow; the mechanics won't allow it. (I took an archery class. We were told that to hunt legally in the state I lived in, you had to have a forty pound draw on the string of your recurve or compound bow. Not easy; a crossbow uses a wench system to put about eighty pounds of draw to launch an arrow so hard it can pierce metal armor...a person who was using a real crossbow
probably wouldn't be able to draw that back by hand and they'd ruin their bow.)
Secondly, in the other show I watched, the person who prescribes psychiatric medications and a patient's talk therapist aren't usually the same person. Both errors kind of irked me when I noticed the information errors. Maybe it's because I'm persnickety about those things being accurate.
Anyways, at the very least, it helps to have a little experience. Tae Kwon Do. Being an idiot and "fencing" with rebar when my brother and I were in our early teens.(It was nuts and I always won because I was scary and pushed my advantage. Somehow we never impaled each other.) Knowing someone who did LARP and talking about footing and heavy weaponry. Thats kind of influenced something...not sure it was my writing. Actually, it makes it more difficult for me to write a huge, drawn out battle scene. Just because I know how fast a one on one street fight can end. So depending on your audience, maybe fudging a bit might make things more interesting.
Jordynn Finch : Well, the more technical of a grasp you have, the more control you have. Not learning about a subject is like wielding a sword wearing several pair of oven mitts. Experience is just one way to gain that kind of supporting knowledge. After writing this, my brain created an item called the oven mitts of ignorance, and I came up with others after. The oven mitts of hatred. The oven mitts of gluttony(Just actual oven mitts). The oven mitts of sin. The oven mitts of surprisingly athletic. The oven mitts of gratitude. The oven mitts of repentance. etc...
G. B. Williams  : To some, experience is very important. I am one of those who write from experience, emotions, and visual stimulation.
I am not one of the imaginary writers who can create a story in my head and put it on paper.
Because of my experiences, my subject matter almost always originates from something that has happened or touched me very deeply.
Jeffrey Meyer : I think so, yes. The more experience you have with something, the more efficiently you can put words to it. That having been said, the dream of something or the imagination of something is, in a way, a type of experience, allowing the author to write of that thing from a uniquely individualistic and subjective perspective.
Friendly Neighborhood Derg  : That would be preferable but if it isn't feasible then at least have an interview with someone who is an expert on a subject.
Always Humble Poet PNG- 📓  : I believe I have experienced or will experience everything I've ever written so far.
Jellyfish  : I don't think so, no. What if you were writing about being a future settler on Enceladus at a point in the future after it's been Terraformed.
No-one has done that.
niki.mugs : If that is true, then where can I find an alternate universe where people feel each other's thoughts and it's common to have pet robot lynx? Please give pointers if you know of any.
george : No.
Thanks to everyone for your responses, they're much appreciated! L~
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