#1115418

May 9, 2026 at 1:13pm

Abandoned Bag They say you should be wary of packages left unattended in an airport. That's why the bag caught my attention that day in Chicago O'Hare. I was sitting on the floor next to where I could plug in my laptop. It was an ordinary blue paper shopping bag with a large daisy pattern. It sat partially under one of the chairs in the waiting area for Gate 17A. I tried to ignore it. I was trying to write a story about a fish for my publisher. He said his daughter liked fish.... [Read more]

#1115407

May 9, 2026 at 10:49am

There once was a witch who had a pet raven whose rival was the easter bunny. After playing pranks on each other and basically being mean, the raven and the bunny decided to have a final battle. They allowed each other one assistant in the battle. The only one the raven knew was the witch. The witch refused to help him on the principle that she didn't want to upset the holiday committee. The witch was campaigning to take halloween away from Jack Skeleton. The raven was angered.... [Read more]

#1115395

May 9, 2026 at 7:02am (edited)

What I decided to do to take a break worked. I spent a couple hours this morning painting ceramics. I have two little snow people I'm doing for Terry, a couple of mice figurines for Christmas (you know those had to be in there) and I have two sheep and two piles of flowers I found at the free store. I got Terry a small ceramic vase for Mother's day, but that is in her room and I've been working on these since 2;00 am to 4:00 am this morning. I'll get her vase from her and ... [Read more]

#1115319

May 8, 2026 at 3:00am

Magic is Real I was an orphan. My mother died in childbirth and my father died in an accident when I was fourteen. The last thing my father gave me was a magic kit. It had some cryptic message on it about bringing me closer to my mother. I hated the boys home. They made me cut my blonde locks to where they curled tightly against my head. It made my green eyes bulge like a bug. At least that's what the other kids teased me about. I got away as quickly as I could. I was homele... [Read more]

#1115287

May 7, 2026 at 5:54pm (edited)

Just got my inspirational flow that I had going nipped in the bud. My tax preparer just texted me. She sent me a whole list of things I have to do to find out what happened to my return. According to their information, they were done reviewing it in March. That's about all I could decipher from her text. All I keep thinking is something I did has karma attacking me causing this up and down roller coaster of emotional BS that I've been on since the cancer went into remission. ... [Read more]

#1115281

May 7, 2026 at 3:57pm

The Mix Up I was running late for check in at the motel where the conference was being held. At baggage claim I grabbed the first bag that looked like mine. It was a leather duffle bag with a hard square bottom that was perfect for holding my files and a modest bit of clothing. I pushed my way into the first taxi and he sped off. I got there with just minutes to spare. The baggage carrier showed me to my room and I made sure I put the card key in a safe place in my blazer. The carrie... [Read more]

#1115274

May 7, 2026 at 1:31pm

Visitor "Do you know what this is?" asked Dr. Gruber in his jeans and lab coat. His brown hair was combed in a wave over his head to hide the grey that was starting to show. He adjusted his wire rim glasses with one hand as he waved the object around in his other. His students were never intrested in anything. "Duh, its a cellphone," said Amy Jenkins after blowing a pink bubble. She rolled her eyes and twisted one blonde pigtail in her fingers. "Yes and no." H... [Read more]

#1115217

May 6, 2026 at 9:17pm (edited)

Consequences "Juli, darling, you're mixing too much for a highlighting job," said Althea. Althea looked around at her salon and sighed. the blue walls seemed to glare at her. It was entirely the wrong color for a beauty parlor. The rest of it was just small. Four styling booths and a dinky red couch for a waiting area. The shampooing area used to be a mens rest room. Althea looked back at Juli. Her red pony bounced and her green eyes danced as she chatted incessantly t... [Read more]

#1115207

May 6, 2026 at 7:53pm (edited)

Timely Idea "No one understands me," said Katie. She took the scissors into her younger sister Annie's room and started cutting her new school clothes to pieces. It wasn't fair to Katie that Annie got new clothes when she had to survive on their cousins' hand me downs. Annie went to prep school and had great grades while Katie barely made a C average at her ratty old high school. It made Katie somewhat satisfied to cut the new clothes. It gave her a sense... [Read more]

#1115195

May 6, 2026 at 5:42pm

Burn Let me start from the beginning..... I work for a syndicate that pays me big money to keep their dealings a secret. Usually that wasn't a problem. Then Dan Talbot started snooping around.... Talbot had already been taken care of. Murder was not my department. I just knew that any talking Talbot was going to do now, it would be to the alligators. There were still his files on the case against Mr. Grant in Talbot's office. That was my department. I broke into Dan Ta... [Read more]

#1115083

May 4, 2026 at 10:03pm

Rita Landow was a philanthropist in our small town of Crescent Rock, PA. She was a generous woman and there were few in town who had not benefited in one way or another. The whole town went into mourning on the evening her caretaker, Miss Betsy, had found Miss Rita had passed in her favorite chair sipping on chamomile tea and looking out at her garden. Rita Landow was 74 and passed peacefully of a brain aneurism. It was a surprise to me when Howard Niger, Rita's skinflint nephew, presente... [Read more]

#1114778

April 30, 2026 at 3:43pm

Spent the late morning/early afternoon going through my room/office looking for what notes I had on my four novels..... -- Has plenty of notes (including my languauge I wrote for it that I thought I lost) and even a few random chapters. Problem is that it is just that; random. There's no organization to it and it skips through two planets and several different districts of the main planet. It also skips through several generations of development of species. It's going to take... [Read more]

#1114709

April 29, 2026 at 9:16pm

I know I'm only doing journal entries lately but my writing is in chaos. I don't know what to concentrate on any more and I feel guilty no matter what I pick. I don't want anyone else to feel guilty. I know there is no pressure. I just know that there are those out there who are looking for more on some stories......... Sometimes I don't know if there is more. A lot of the time I feel like I'm not enough........That I will never finish........... If anything, those ... [Read more]

#1114094

April 22, 2026 at 11:58pm

Oh brother..... is so screwed up that when I go to work on it I get a headache. There are so many parts missing. If you compare the outline to what I have written it looks like there are about eleven chapters missing. I've been changing things as I put them in my port again. I should have gotten it all in here first. Now it is just turning me in circles when I try to figure out where I am. It needs serious work and time put in and I have not got the energy..... I skipped Clubh... [Read more]

#1113843

April 19, 2026 at 10:10pm

To: General Office Staff From: Event Coordination Committee Date: April 19 Subject: Spoiled Surprise Promotions Party Last week, we smuggled in the top chefs, Tom Birdsworth and Lorna Tiddle, to cater a Promotions Party sanctioned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Our chefs were going to make a smorgasborgh of appetizers and finger food as part of the event. Unfortunately Karen Shore from the general accounting staff, who was up for one of the promotions, got the notion that our chefs... [Read more]

#1113807

April 19, 2026 at 1:03pm (edited)

The front of my dresser was white and had this girl's name all over it. Now it is grey. I've decided I don't care for library books. I want to write in them and highlight them and add them to my collection forever. As it is all I can do is take notes and hope I remember what it was in reference to later on. I even have these selfish thoughts that the library doesn't deserve these books. No one else could possibly appreciate them as much as I do. On a side note: I woul... [Read more]

#1113117

April 11, 2026 at 10:57pm

Things are up and down. Story of my life. I've been doing good going through my library books. As I said in a post, I'm not finding too much new information, but it is good to know I am still on the right track. Thing is, if I am doing everything right, why am I not further along as far as production? Truth is I'm a chicken. I use not having the money to submit things to contests and the like as an excuse, but that is only a small part of it. I used to have bad dreams... [Read more]

#1112779

April 8, 2026 at 5:23pm (edited)

I think with the way I have been retyping I just lost a whole chapter. I hate this tablet. When I save something I can't tell where in the world it is being saved to. Some of it is saying it is being saved to the cloud but I have gotten several notices that I no longer have a subscription to the cloud and that it was closed and erased due to non-payment. Most of the time I feel like I know a lot because the people around me don't know jack. Truth is I am not tech savvy at all.... [Read more]

#1112302

April 3, 2026 at 9:04pm

My two main activities here that I am trying to participate in I am not doing very well. I have done things that I would get xp for in DragonVale ........If I would remember to post that I did things. I just want to wait until I get enough stacked up to make a difference. I don't know if there is a time limit to posting but there should be........Bradbury is even worse. I cannot write a short story for the life of me. Everything I try is just getting longer and longer and it starts to... [Read more]

#1112126

April 1, 2026 at 8:40pm

As I said in the newsfeed, I didn't like this song when it first came out. I thought Rick Astley looked like a nerd and didn't know a song if it came up and bit him. It just said the same thing over and over again. Of course, I had never really sat and listened to it. What a difference a few years makes. I like the beat and the nostalgia of it. I still don't believe that you can find a love like he describes. I think that is one of the reasons the song turned me off right awa... [Read more]

#1111750

March 28, 2026 at 2:47pm (edited)

We are not alone. Jack sat in the outdoor cafe with his best friend Zeil, on their lunchbreak. The bright yellow umbrella moved in the slight afternoon breeze but served to shade them from the 90 degree heat. Zeil pulled at the collar of his jumpsuit after removing his helmet/mask. "Confound these things," he said with a lisp and slur from his reptillian tongue. "I swear when I become foreman......" Jack stirred his coffee idly. "When you become foreman you'll... [Read more]

#1111568

March 26, 2026 at 12:01pm

Its been a while so I need to catch you up on things. almost a week ago, I went and picked up my new glasses. It has been an inspiration as I can see the print in the books I have; fiction and informational about a variety of things. I've got like four of them within arms reach right now. It also made it easier for me to start writing again. I can actually kind of sort of read what I am doing in longhand. Some of my back notes I did in cursive and they are faded. Try to sort and r... [Read more]

#1111363

March 23, 2026 at 9:45pm (edited)

The Gift Gwen was the little girl no one wanted to play with. Her mother did laundry and cleaned for most of the other kids' parents and grandparents. Rosa had been fortunate to find a garage apartment tucked away down an alley in the upper class village on the wharf. Most of the other service workers had to commute from the city further inland. A special program by the charity committees allowed Gwen to attend the school there. To Rosa they had been blessed. To Gwen, it was a... [Read more]

#1111197

March 21, 2026 at 6:11pm (edited)

Fugitive He was only a boy, maybe ten, maybe slightly older. Didn’t matter much. I dubbed him Bug and he was wanted for the murders of a young couple that were hiss foster parents. How he did it even stumped the county coroner. The couple had been burned to death from the inside out. A witness saw Bug fleeing the scene trying to get soot off his hands and clothes. Somehow Bug had given us the slip. He had last been seen down by the docks. Then there was no sight of him for five days. ... [Read more]

#1111081

March 20, 2026 at 1:54am (edited)

Vacation During a brisk walk in a snow dusted park on a chilly morning, suddenly I came across a preteen girl dressed in nothing but a cheerleader uniform. She was lying face down and looked as though she had been severely beaten. I didn't have to think. I took off my long warm coat and lifted her out of the snow taking shelter in a nearby gazebo. I rubbed her body as best I could trying to give her warmth as I called 911. Her skin was grey and her lips were purple. She was barel... [Read more]

#1111039

March 19, 2026 at 5:45pm (edited)

So much is going on. My tablet works when it wants to. Hopefully it will cooperate long enough for me to finish this entry. I'm hopiing to get my tax return soon and with it get a new laptop. It is driving me absollutely crazy that I haven't got it yet. I don't want to type my stories on the tablet so I am getting way behind on the Bradbury challenge. I've been trying to write them out longhand, but it seems a bit redundant as I am going to have to type them anyways t... [Read more]

#1106907

January 26, 2026 at 5:53pm

My birthday was actually good. I've been surprised by the decent holidays this year. Ended up buying my own cake. It was okay because I got to pick it out and it was beautiful. I should have taken pictures. I don't think about taking pictures any more. I took everything down from my Shrine and restructured it. Found some books on the fundamentals of magick. I want to find some of my tools and begin energy work again. I just also need to find my balanced place again first. Don't w... [Read more]

#1106356

January 19, 2026 at 7:58pm

Today was a holiday so not much could be done today as far as RL business. I guess that was a good thing as I got Bradbury Week 3 done. I don't know how I feel about these stories. I know I am not really giving them my best effort. I'm not even sure if they are meeting the requirements of the challenge. I talked on the newsfeed about starting a 20 Question activity for Newbies Only. The more I think about it the more confused I get on just how to go about it. Everything I do lat... [Read more]

#1106352

January 19, 2026 at 5:18pm (edited)

Cave I got into the condo and set the box down. “You think we’ll have time to go exploring this weekend?” “We should train. Never know when the next marathon will come up.” She sighed heavily. She was looking at a picture of us standing outside the orphanage. I stepped behind her and hugged her about the waist. “Did anyone think we would ever make something of ourselves?” “We didn’t even think so. We wouldn’t have tried at all without Ms. Flenchal egging ... [Read more]

#1106126

January 16, 2026 at 12:57pm

Over the weekend I went in the basement and sorted the bins in storage. I got a DVD/Blu-Ray player for Christmas and was looking for my DVD bin with my old player. It should have the wires in it to hook up the new one. Couldn't find that bin. Also know I had a bin of altar things for my magick that was marked "treasures". didn't find that either. Did not find my crafts bin with my paints but did find an empty bin with some of my yarn and embroidery crafts. I was not a happy ca... [Read more]

#1105587

January 9, 2026 at 2:28pm (edited)

Wdnesday 1/7: Saw my peer support, Laura, and we went to coffee. It was great. We caught up on the holidays (we hadn't talked since Thanksgiving) and I told her a couple of my concerns. I really need to get some help handling my finances. It has gotten really close to not being able to make my rent the past couple of months. I just want to talk to the person first about what I need and what they have to do (I don't want them doing stuff like putting money toward paying student loans and ... [Read more]

#1105477

January 8, 2026 at 11:07pm

The Bank I kept hearing about this job. There were no security cameras nor a security guard. Just three men sitting at desks in front of a large closet. The town was small. It wasn’t like I was being asked to rob The New York Mint. Of course, nothing is ever that easy. I put on the ski mask as I got out of my car. As I walked up to the front of the building, I heard a voice: “You don’t want to do this.” I swung around but there was no one there. I entered the building and fired a s... [Read more]

#1105322

January 6, 2026 at 11:50pm

The physical labor of working on my bedroom exhausted me in a big way. I've spent most of the past two days sleeping. To tell the truth, I think my blood platelets are low again. i just feel completely drained most of the time. I also have been having violent muscle spasms to where I am slamming myself in my recliner. My Restless Leg Syndrome has been acting up as well. I think I've got a bladder infection. I've been itching like hell and tearing my skin up. I was able to get to ... [Read more]

#1105299

January 6, 2026 at 3:45pm (edited)

Prologue: Resica It started with just three Magiones, already burdened with age. They had ran from our world, fleeing the tyranny of the Martinet. They hid in forest and wood, avoiding humanity and populated areas. They knew other Magiones had made it away too. The ancient settlement loomed up on them out of an intense fog. The buildings were made of all kinds of materials; straw huts to towering skyscrapers of shiny metals, to a myriad of structures of stone or wood. Even the shi... [Read more]

#1105023

January 3, 2026 at 3:33pm (edited)

Catch up from 2025: Current cancer prognosis is I am done with chemotherapy and radiation. For some reason, surgery is not in the discussion right now. What is scheduled is a CATscan at the end of January then a follow-up appointment with one of the oncologists on February 3. The cancer and its treatments pretty much dominated my past year and a half at least. On to 2026! I have several undertakings already that will focus on me and my aspirations for the year. As the header of th... [Read more]