Just a quick note here that I won a short story competition with a Warhammer 40k story which is linked below. Thanks to The Shell Case (follow @theshellcase on twitter) for holding the contest! Spend some time on that site, it is a good one.
30DoSS 5
“Now you listen to Isabella, okay sweetie?”
“Okay mommy, don’t worry, I’ll be a good boy.” Tayler nodded his head enthusiastically looking closer to a 4 year old than his actual 7 years.
“Here is the number for the restaurant call if you need anything. And no snacks for Tayler, he has already had his dinner.”
“It will be fine Ms. March. I’ve been doing this since I was 12. You go and have a good time.”
Shawna March chewed her bottom lip nervously and then nodded her head. She hadn’t been on a date since her husband disappeared two years earlier. She thought a bit more before glancing at her watch.
“Okay, I will be home no later than 10:00.” She grabbed her purse off of the bar and gave Tayler a kiss on the forehead. She left through the kitchen entrance and paused to lock the door. A few seconds later and Isabella heard the double beeps of a car alarm being disabled and shortly after that Ms. March’s BMW starting up and pulling out of the drive way.
“So, Tayler, looks like it is just you and me. What do you want to do?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Your mom said no snacks. Let’s go watch TV.”
Isabella put her hands on Tayler’s shoulders and led him into the living room.
They sat down on the couch and flicked through the channels before stopping on some sitcom about 4 guys living with a girl in some city.
“My daddy didn’t run away you know?”
Isabella looked at Tayler. ”What do you mean?”
“The monster in our sink got him. Mom says we have to keep feeding him or he will get us next. She usually throws some stuff down there when she is making dinner. She didn’t tonight. I think the monster is probably hungry like I am. We should probably give him a snack. Me too.” He smiled at her when he said this.
Isabella smiled back at him. ”Very clever. Well, I guess we could give you a snack if it would help keep this monster at bay.” She ruffled his hair. ”Just don’t tell your mom and promise me that you will go to bed when it is time without causing any problems.”
“Okay, I promise. But we need to feed the monster too.”
“You already got your snack, don’t push it.” She went into the kitchen and found a bag of instant popcorn in the pantry. She put it the microwave and hit the popcorn button. She leaned against the kitchen island and waited listened for the popcorn. She never really put her faith in those automatic timers – you had to listen and stop it at just the right time or else there would be burned kernels. The popping began and she watched through the window as the bag expanded.
She heard a strange rattle that drew her attention toward the sink. Her body tensed up and it took her a second to notice. It was just the pipes juddering, she was sure of it. Tayler had probably just gone into the bathroom and when he turned on the hot water to wash his hands the pipes shook. His story of a monster in the sink was ridiculous. She noticed the popping slowing down and stopped the microwave.
She pulled the bag out of the microwave oven and sort of juggled it between her hands before dropping it on the prep island. She opened a couple of cabinets before she found a big enough bowl to catch all of the popcorn and then dumped it in. She shook out some salt over the top and gave it a quick toss before heading back into the living room.
Tayler was sitting on the couch waiting for her. He smiled when he saw the bowl of popcorn.
“You fed the monster, right?”
“I am about to feed the Tayler monster right now!” She dropped down on the couch next to him. They crunched through the popcorn over another mindless sitcom. Isabella licked her finger and swirled it around the nearly empty bowl knocking aside the unpopped kernels and sticking the salt to her finger. She popped it into her mouth and savored that last bit of popcorn-flavored salt.
“Alright buddy you head up and brush your teeth and put on your pjs. I’ll be up in a minute to tuck you in. I’m just going to wash this bowl right quick.”
“Oh no! We forgot to save some for the sink monster!” Tayler’s eyes glistened. ”Please please make sure and take something out of the refrigerator for him!”
“Tayler, that’s enough of that. I am not giving you anything else to eat. You just go get ready for bed.”
He looked at her for a second and then ran up the stairs. She heard him slam the door to his room. She sighed and picked up a couple of kernels that had fallen on the couch and tossed them into the bowl. She walked into the kitchen and dumped the bowl out into the trash and walked over to the sink and turned the water to warm it up.
She grabbed the sponge from the edge of the sink and squirted some dish soap on it. As she was scrubbing she heard the pipes judder again. It was so loud standing next to the sink that she dropped the sponge. It landed next to the garbage disposal which had a shiny perforated cover over it. Isabella smiled when she realized that was probably the monster. Ms. March would probably peel vegetables and toss the peels in to the “monster” and when she turned it on it would certainly growl like one. Satisfied she had solved the mystery she reached into the sink to pick up the sponge and finish the bowl.
Just as her fingers touched the sponge a pencil thin slimy black tentacle exploded from the drain, knocking the cover completely out of the sink to clatter across the floor. It wrapped tightly around her wrist and she tried to pull back but was unable to budge it. She opened her mouth to scream and a second and then a third tentacle blasted out one filled her mouth with a rancid taste that made her gag instantly. The other shot into her nose and began working its way down out of her mouth and began to pull her head toward the drain. She put her foot against the cabinet and pulled as hard as she could but she was unable to slow her decent. More tentacles came out and wrapped around her head pulling her faster and faster.
She tried to scream but the tentacle worming its way down her throat prevented her vocal chords from working right. The best she could manage was a small choking gag. As he head drew closer to the drain she saw a viciously sharp beak snapping with anticipation. Her head hit the bottom of the stainless steel sink with such force that it broke bones in both her cheek and the orbital cavity.
Mercifully, she lost consciousness before the beak began to rip and tear at her face.
At 9:55 the kitchen door swung open and Shawna March walked in with a small smile on her face. The first thing she noticed was that the water to the sink was running and though there was an empty bowl in there the room was empty. She walked over and turned off the water. She looked around curiously for Isabella before heading upstairs. Tayler was in his bed with the blanket pulled over his face and the light on.
“Tayler?” She whispered softly. He shifted but didn’t wake up. She turned the light off and closed the door. She was unhappy because she had thought that Isabella was more responsible that that. After a quick search of the house she at least comforted herself with the fact Isabella had locked all the doors before leaving though why she left the sink running was a mystery.
30DoSS 4
Some people are born to fight and some people are born to run. Mitch was the running kind. Any time things got difficult, he packed up and moved out. He always tried to tell himself he wasn’t running from something so much as running toward something else. Whether it was from or to he found himself in a small village named Tukatuk somewhere on the long western coast of Alaska.
There were only two ways in to Tukatuk – you either had to ride the waves or the wind and Mitch found himself here after a disagreement with the captain of a fishing boat. Smyth, the captain of “Ketchikan’s Catch” was amicable enough to offer Mitch a ride back to Ketchikan before paying him out but Mitch’s way was to run as quickly as possible and so he found himself in a town of 1200 or so people with 2 main roads and a handful of sidewalks.
Mitch watched as “Ketchikan’s Catch” vanished over the horizon and looked around at his new home. He tossed his duffle bag over his shoulder and set off walking down the main street as he tried to ignore the stares following him. It was still June so he wasn’t too worried about finding a place to stay – he could camp if need be and he certainly didn’t expect to be here by the time the days started to shorten.
30DoSS 3
The El Camino was jacked so low that Felipe was surprised not to see sparks following along it. The paint job was a sweet metallic purple up front that faded to a dark jade flecked with something that shimmered like mother of pearl in the back. The only thing Felipe thought was missing from it was some kind of art on the hood. Maybe a sweet ass mamacita with a huge rack. Maybe the Blessed Mother. Either would be pretty dope. He could hear the bass cranking out from the ride. It was something fast and heavy.
The car stopped in front of the house and Felipe pushed off the chain link fence he had been leaning against. He crushed out a cigarette on the bottom of his boot and slid it into the pocket of his oversized and baggy jeans. He walked over to the curb and stopped to wait.
The hydraulics hissed as the car rose. The driver side door opened and Felipe watched as Lalo got out and walked around the front of the car over to him. Lalo was shorter than he remembered, but 12 years was a long time. He definitely spent time working the irons though, probably to make up for his height. Lalo’s white muscle shirt showed off arms painted with tattoos. He had a tightly trimmed black beard that met up with a thick goatee. A wide white bandana covered from his eyebrows up to the top of his head and his black hair was slicked back behind it.
Lalo nodded his head once at Felipe and they slapped hands when he got close.
“What’s up ese’? Long time, eh?”
“Yeah man, long time.”
They stood there silent for a few seconds.
“Nice house you got here Flip.”
“It’s mi abuelita’s. Come on in.” He opened the gate and Lalo walked through first. He stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked into the house.
“I’ve got some Coor’s in the fridge,” he pushed past him and walked up the stairs and opened the front door for Lalo.
“Nah, I’m good, thanks. Why’d you call me man?”
“We were tight back in the day, yo? Not even a letter? That’s cold.”
Lalo didn’t say a word, just stared at him.
“Yeah. Anyway. I heard about you. I need your help. You have to believe me but I didn’t spray those kids. I mean, I did bad shit, and I deserved Chino but I didn’t never shoot no one like that. I’ve changed and it kills me that she thought I did that.” Felipe’s eyes were wet and a real tear trailed down between the black tattooed ones. ”Can you help me?”
“I don’t do that shit anymore. Not since Victorville, five, six years back. Sorry man, I can’t help you.”
“Don’t do me like this!”
“She left you this house, man. She was cool with you. Let it go, eh?”
“You owe me. I saved your ass. I did time at juvie for you. Tell me you didn’t forget when you said you’d make it right. This will make us square, Lalo.”
Lalo turned and looked around the small house. The walls were papered with pictures in a variety of frames. He looked in close and noticed that in many of them a face was cut out. He looked at one of a Boy’s Club baseball team and smiled when he saw himself at 9 years old. Felipe’s arm was around his shoulder but if Lalo didn’t remember that he wouldn’t have known who it was. Felipe’s face was the one that missing from all of the pictures. Lalo looked over his shoulder at Felipe and took in a deep breath.
“Okay man, I’ll do it. Swear on her soul that you didn’t do it. Look me in the eye and tell me straight up that you weren’t tripping balls at the time and maybe just forgot.”
“I swear on my own mother’s soul” he made the sign of the cross “that I didn’t shoot those kids.”
Lalo sighed. ”Why didn’t you say something before? Why take the fall?”
“I was fucked up, and I did some shit, I told my PD but she was a dipshit so I took the plea.”
“Alright I’ll do this, but then my debt’s clear.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, park on the couch and no matter what happens Keep your mouth shut and don’t move.”
Felipe walked over to the couch and sat down.
Lalo walked around the room stopping to pick up a few different small nicknacks and examining them closely before putting them back. Finally he picked up an old white rosary.
He began to whisper softly to himself and reached up and pulled his bandana off his forehead. Felipe saw there was something sewed into the inside of the bandana but Lalo slipped it into his pocket quickly as he closed his eyes.
When Lalo opened his eyes the world had shifted to a washed out version of it. Everything was whitewashed like an overexposed photograph. He heard a soft weeping coming from the bedroom and walked toward the closed door. He opened it and staggered back as if buffeted by a strong wind. The weeping became a wail and his hands covered his ears but couldn’t block out the sound. He forced himself to enter the room and in an instant the whitewashed world went the inverted blacks of a negative.
A tiny woman sat on the couch with her face buried in her hands. Long white hair whipped around wildly caught up in the tempest of her despair.
“Abuelita.” Lalo’s voice was a whisper but he knew she would hear it. She looked over at him.
“Eduardito? Is it really you?” Her voice shook. ”What did I do wrong? How did he go so bad?” She shrieked again and flickered for a moment as she did so. ”Why would he kill those babies especially after his mama.”
“Why are you here, Abuelita? It is long passed your time.”
“I tried Eduardo. When she died, I tried to raise him right. I took him to mass every Sunday. I keep thinking of the things I could have done. I keep trying to go back but I can’t.” She flickered again, softer this time.
“He didn’t do it.” She looked at him. ”And he’s changed. I know him like a brother, abuelita, and I know his heart. It breaks because he thinks you believe he shot those kids. He didn’t. If you don’t believe him, believe me. Look at me.”
She looked up from her hands from the first time and he saw her change. ”You are beautiful, Lalo. Are you an angel?”
He couldn’t stop himself from laughing. ”No, far from it. Your Felipe, he has a good soul. It is hard to see, God knows I forgot myself. He saved my life when we were young, abuelita. Did you know that? I did some stupid things and when the cops came he said he’d get me. I remember, he said ‘you’re too soft for juvie. They’ll break you there. They’ll make you like me.’ He saved me in ways I don’t even know.”
The woman got up off the bed and walked toward him. The blackness began to crack like an old mirror. She began to fade as she walked toward Lalo and when she go to him she was only slightly more than a shadow. She grabbed him by the cheeks and gave him a kiss. She spoke into his ear. ”You were always a good boy, Lalo. Look in the bottom of my jewelry box. There is something for him there. Thank you.” She was gone.
Lalo took in a deep breath and opened his eyes. Felipe was sitting on the couch watching him intently.
Lalo walked into the kitchen. He wasn’t in shape for this kind of thing anymore. He hadn’t realized how weak he had become since Victorville, but decided it didn’t really matter because he was done now for sure. He took the bandana out of his pocket and made sure that the symbols were aligned correctly before tying it back on his forehead. He opened the small fridge and took out two cans of beer. He walked back into the living room and tossed one Felipe, who caught it out of the air. He started to say something but Lalo held up his hand. He was still too tired to talk and wasn’t exactly sure what he would say.
Instead he walked into the bedroom and when he came out he had a small jewelry box. He sat down on the couch next to Felipe and handed him the box.
“She said there is something in there for you. On the bottom.” Lalo opened the beer and drained it down.
Felipe opened the box and pulled out the jewelry and sat it on the coffee table. There was a small folded photograph which he pulled out with shaking hands. He opened it up and smiled at the picture of him and his abuelita on the beach and the tears flowed freely. He showed the picture to Lalo. ”She took me to the beach after my mom died. She said she had to remind me that even on the worst day, there is beauty in this world. The ocean is God’s way of showing us of that.”
“She never lost hope in you. She couldn’t cut this picture.” They sat on the couch in silence.
30 DoSS2
The streaks falling from the sky danced among the falling snow unseen by the people huddling for warmth around the fire.
The lead ship pulled parallel with ground and skimmed the tree tops, flying nap of the earth and the two wings fell into perfect formation behind the lead. They kept their speed just below the sound barrier to prevent the massive boom which would drawn attention to them. Sophisticated sound dampening technology baffled the engine noise so the only sound the created was that air being displaced by their speed. This sound was lost in the howling blizzard.
“Adjust course, 0.37 degrees.” The wing ships adjusted course with mechanical precision. “300 kilometers to target… 260 kilometers to target…” the ships juddered as they dropped speed. ”3 minutes to target. Arm weapons.”
The left wing ship exploded without warning.
“EVADE EVADE EVADE!” the lead ship split from the remaining wing.
Marrus watched the two Hunt-Ships peel off above him. His own Jumper was hidden in a large cave a bit to the North. It was on low power in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Sure, this planet was a primitive one barely beyond the fire stage but the Corporations were grooming it. In another thousand years or so it would be time to begin processing it into the fold.
Danika had thought he was being paranoid but his instincts had kept him alive since he resigned his commission from the Al-Ger Corporation. He was surprised that they were still after him after all this time. Honestly, he had expected them to just write off his Jumper as “lost without contact” and collect the insurance and leave him be. Ah well, no one ever said being a privateer would be easy.
The hunters crossed back and forth above him searching for his location. Their scanners would pierce his personal baffles now that they were actively searching for him. He clicked the comm twice. The static break was enough to let Danika know to prep for dust-off.
He checked the weapon-pack charge. He had enough for 3 more shots but was unlikely to get as easy a target as that first one. Marrus knew that the odds of a single person on foot of taking out a single hunter was slim, taking out two was unheard of. He checked his belt for the transmitter. It had cost him a lot of money and put him in the debt of Shar Aleksei which was more troubling than his hard earned cash. But if it saved his life it would be well worth it.
Marrus turned and ran, activating the environmental actuators as he did. Each of his steps was amplified and in that moment he was the fastest ground creature n the planet. He blew by a group of native hunters. They clutched their spears fearfully and a new deity myth was born. Marrus would be long dead but Anutak, Lord of the Night Hunt would live on in stories.
Marrus slowed when he neared the face of the cliff. He dropped to his knee and canceled the baffle for a second and then raised it again. He was sure to have been spotted but there was no sense in making it too easy. As expected, the two ships adjusted their paths immediately and began an attack run. Marrus closed his eyes and said a quick prayer. He took the device off his belt and held it up.
“Aleksei, you better not be fucking me.” He whispered as he activated the scrambler. The ships both shuddered violently as their nav systems scrambled. They were approaching the cliff face. This was the moment of truth. If the scrambler worked as advertised both should be taking a dive any second as they intended to pull up. It was a simple programming swap but the question was whether the access codes were current or not.
Apparently, they were. The pilots were so used to the autoassist that they didn’t even think to deactivate it. Marrus was impressed to see that the wingman’s reflexes were better than the lead’s – he pulled all the way “up” and slammed into the ground while the lead was unable to clear the cliff. Marrus smiled and headed back to the cave where Danika was waiting.
“How’d it go, skip?” She asked him with a smile.
“I think the fact that I made it here before you left me is a pretty good sign.” He leaned into her and kissed her on the forehead. ”Let’s go somewhere with a bit more nightlife.”
The hatch sealed behind him and they left through the snow, a white streak heading up into the night.
The hunters returned to the fire and told the story of the silver hunter they had seen who killed two demons of the air.
30DoSS1 – The Wolf
The Wolf walked down the center aisle of the mall. His head was tipped slightly up so his bottom just jutted out. He felt it gave him a slight lupine appearance and he couldn’t help but admire himself in the reflection of the shop windows. He was lean and strong, his dark hair cut short and somewhat shaggy. He was wearing his hunting clothes – a black Ed Hardy pull over hoodie with a stylized howling wolf. The board bag on his back always looked to him like a riled mane.
“I am a predator,” he thought to himself, ”I am the hunting wolf.”
A group of young girls walked past him chattering as they did so. One of the girls said something he couldn’t quite hear and the rest burst out laughing. The Wolf’s face flushed red with humiliation. He turned and watched them as the moved around to surround a hair extension kiosk. There were too many of them. The Wolf reminded himself of how wolves hunt. He couldn’t separate one of them off without the others noticing.
“Besides, they don’t smell like prey.”
They all laughed again as one of the girls (the Alpha?) put a clip in hair and acted like someone they all apparently knew. The Wolf was satisfied that they weren’t laughing at him anyway.
A hunger gnawed in his belly, momentarily distracting him. He almost didn’t notice when the Prey passed. He caught her scent and glanced at her. It was sweet like cotton candy and fit her.
Her long blond hair was tied back in a pony tail that swished as she walked away from him. She was smaller than the Wolf though the pink sleeveless down vest buffed her out a bit. She looked to be in her mid 20s and she was alone. The Wolf turned casually and began to stalk her from a distance. She went into a trendy clothing store and the Wolf bought himself a pretzel and a small drink from the shop across the way. He sat on the wooden bench facing the store and began to eat slowly, confident in his camouflage. He tore small bits of the pretzel and made it last nearly the full half hour that the Prey was in the store.
When she finally emerged she had two large bags with her, one in each hand as she began to walk back the way they had come. The Wolf smiled. This was good. He had worried that she would spend the remaining hour that the mall was open wandering around. That would mean she left as the rest of the sheep did. She glanced at her watch and increased her pace. Even better. She was obviously distracted which would make the hunt easier.
He followed about 20 feet behind her. He would occasionally catch her scent again and every time it happened he would breathe deeply. He exited the mall proper into the parking garage and glanced down the lane toward the Prey. She was still walking down the row. He smiled and pulled the board bag off his back and pulled out the skateboard. He didn’t ride it very well, but it was useful. He started down the garage making sure to stay in the middle of the car lane and well away from her side. He had both of his hands in the tube front pocket of his hoodie. His right hand found the hard plastic grip of the taser.
The Prey turned at the sound of the skateboard getting closer. The Wolf nodded his head slightly at her and smiled as he leaned away from her causing the skateboard to move to the opposite side of the lane from her. She smiled back and stepped a bit closer to the row of cars to allow him even more room to pass before turning her back to him and continuing toward her car. The Wolf glanced over his shoulder at the entrance to the mall. Still clear. It was time to pounce.
He swerved toward her and pushed forward once with his leg. She started to turn again but the taser was already out. He fired it at the Prey and the two needles bit easily though the down vest and into her skin. Her entire body locked up and she fell to the ground. The Wolf stepped off the skateboard and flipped it onto its back. He took his left hand out his pocket holding the ether soaked rag. He kept the current running as he put it over her mouth. When he finally released the trigger lever she was unconscious.
He dragged her between the cars and felt in her pockets for the keys to her car. He found them and picked up his skateboard and put it in one of the bags she had been carrying before taking both of them in his hand. He glanced toward the entrance again and saw no one. A car started up on one of the other floors though so he had to hurry. He pressed the button on the keys to unlock the car. He heard the beep and saw the lights flash on a red Volkswagon five cars away. He left her there but took the bags with him as he ran to her car. He opened the door and through the bags onto the floor of the front seat.
He froze for a moment and breathed deeply, relishing the sugar sweet odor of her scent as he slid into the driver’s seat. It was a tight fit but he would just adjust the seat later. He started up the engine and slid it into reverse. He backed up next to where the Prey lay unconscious and reached across the passenger seat and unlocked the door and pushed it open. He jumped out of the car and ran around to where she lay.
The door to the mall was opening and he could see someone struggling to get a cart through the door. He tossed the Prey into the back seat and covered her quickly with the bags. He checked the mirror and saw a middle aged man pushing the cart up the aisle, away from him. The Wolf let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, adjusted the mirror, and pulled the hoodie back over his head, making sure to conceal his face as much as possible. He smiled as he took another deep intoxicating breath of the Prey’s scent and drove out of the parking garage, turning toward his lair.
30 days of shitty stories
Finally, getting a bit of sleep and settling into a routine. My writing chops are a bit rusty both in terms of making love to the English language and hooking up with my muse at a regular time. Yep, 2 sex analogies in the same sentence are both appropriate because I am having performance anxiety when it comes to my writing. I don’t know about you, but the less time I spend doing something the more valuable that time becomes. What I write I want to be awesome because I am only writing for such a limited amount of time.
That is utter bullshit, by the way, but the mind is a tricksy little minx. So, to kick start things I am giving myself permission to suck. In fact, I am expecting it.
Be warned that everything here is horribly unpolished first draft stuff. Be warned. Since I don’t know what I will be writing it might even be completely absurd, terrifyingly unoriginal, borderline pornographic or anything in between. The goal is just to write. One new story every day for the next 30 days.
A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end (hopefully) and that is really all I am working on. Words that move forward and end up on this digital paper.
Feel free to read it, or not. Expect it to suck, but there might be something pretty in there purely on accident.
Care to join me?
The truth, no matter how ugly, is the truth.
Fair warning, this is going to be a first draft post because if I edit it I will probably never post it and I need to be honest with myself with some accountability.
So, the ugly truth is that I am lazy. I haven’t been writing as much as I would like to lately because I am tired. Beyond tired. Absolutely freaking exhausted. I am not sure about you other creative people but I have a hell of a time being creative when I am tired.
You know what that is, right? Alan, my dad, used to always say that excuses were like assholes. Everyone has them and they all stink. I am facing that fact now. I will never be tired so my option is to quit writing or not quit writing. I don’t want to quit. I sound like a baby. Yes I know it. So the only way to write is to write. Sans distraction. Sans excuses.
I have used this tired excuse and not being creative to justify doing other things to distract me. Painting models (which I love and helps keep me sane), playing the occasional game and watching a whole lot of television. I watch way more tv than ever before because my wife is working from home and gets in her hours after the babies bedtime. It helps keep her up as she grinds out the necessary work and I have a very likely co-dependent need to spend any time I can with her. Even something as loathsome as a video lobotomy.
I can feel myself becoming stupider. Whether as a result of the exhaustion, the couple of hours of tv a day, or the lack of writing I can’t say but I am.
What can I do to change things? Well, the first and most obvious is just to fucking write. Which brings me back to being tired and not being creative when I am tired. It’s not going to change. Does that mean I should just abandon that hope and take some pressure off of myself? Should I just harden the fuck up and do it even if it is crap?
Oh speaking of crap, what little writing I have been doing lately has been absolute crap. Awful, unreadable, agenda laden garbage that makes me stupider for having read it. Definitely not the kind of writer I want to be.
Which gets me to horror. I used to absolutely love horror and love writing horror. Then I had daughters. It is odd, but I feel like I don’t want to write that crap for them. I want to be better than I am and give them something to be proud of, not have to make excuses later like “yeah, my dad is a writer but most of his stuff is crap.”
That is me just being afraid and questioning my legacy I guess. Okay, I guess that this is the end of a way over due post here.
I have been finding time to write for my nerd gaming blog. So obviously the time is there more than the interest. Or is it just easier because it isn’t original and there is no pressure to be awesomely clever or witty?
Bleh. That is where I am. I am asking you for help because I don’t know what else to do.
It’s like a train wreck but in a good way
Seriously, hear me out on this. Having children is a lot like a train wreck.
You are moving forward on your life which has its own sort of inertia. Sure, you have bumps along the way but really, your life kind of moves along the rails. Every now and again you might find a stop that is interesting and you hop off and take a tour of the area, maybe take some pictures, try some new kind of food, hit the touristy areas and hang out, but eventually, most of us end up back on that train heading in the same direction it was before.
Sometimes the train breaks down and you are left straddling the iron rails for a while but eventually the boiler builds up steam and then you get moving once more.
And then, like that shiny penny on the track of urban legend BAM! You are off the rails, digging a trough 50 feet long and scattering daisies and poppies across the field. It takes a bit longer, but you eventually get the train back up on the rails and after a mile or two you realize that the track is completely gone.
I call this the second child.
So now, finally, the train of my life is starting to move again. It is a bit more battered, sure, and it takes a bit more steam to move but inch by inch it is heading off in a new direction.
I am looking forward to the new horizons and I invite you, if you survived the multiple de-railings, to hop aboard and take this ride with me, let’s see what wonders and terrors await beyond this next bend and through that tunnel.
Has it really been that long?
Wow, it has that is kind of insane. I suppose it is also an accurate representation of my life for the last few months. I could bore you to tears with whines about teething babies, crappy jobs, and unrealistic expectations but nobody really wants to read that anyway.
I’d like to say that thing are going to be changing and for the better soon, but that might be a bit too optimistic.
However, that being said, I have been sneaking in a paragraph or two along the way and writing down a ton of idea loglines so that is good.
That is it for this super short update, I just wanted to assure you that I am still alive.
