Daily Scintilla – Sometimes it really is a monster!
The tarp that served as their shower curtain brushed her leg, and Yatzi suppressed a jump.
Just the wind, she told herself, rinsing the soap off her face so she could look anyway. That’s the problem with outdoor showers.
As she glanced down, she saw the tarp moving, unmistakably prodded from outside by something far more solid than the wind. She relaxed, recognizing the same prank Boris and Kettel had played on her last time she took a shower.
Fool me once, shame on you, she thought as she gripped the soap firmly and grasped the side of the tarp. Fool me twice, shame on me.
She pulled the tarp aside, arm drawn back to fling the soap hard at whichever idiot had decided to try to scare her this time.
It wasn’t a human on the other side of the tarp. Instead, an alien face looked up at her, then opened its mouth to show off far too many sharp, pointy teeth.
She threw the soap in its mouth. It recoiled, clawing at its own face, and she pulled down the tarp, throwing it over the creature’s head and then jumping on top of it to keep it pinned. “B-5,” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “B-5! Bring the stunner!”
B-5 was code for hostile alien organism inside the encampment. She could also have used A-3, expedition member in need of assistance, but all her thoughts were on the monster under the tarp.
SotS – A Round of Words in 80 Days Goals
A Round of Words in 80 Days is a writing challenge to, well, accomplish a self-set writing goal in the 80 days from January 3, 2011 to March 24, 2011. As part of joining the challenge, this post is intended to set my goal and the criteria by which I will measure success or partial success. (I’m not planning to consider anything a failure, and if that makes me a wuss, so be it.)
Goal: To complete a novel and send it to my novel support group by midnight on the spring equinox, March 20, 2011.
Measures/components:
I want to work on my novel every single day from January 3 to March 20, even if it only involves reading over what I wrote the day before and thinking about what to write next.
I will consider it complete if I can achieve a narrative story arc with at least some measure of closure and satisfaction.
No word-count requirements.
If you’re interested in joining in, you can read all about the challenge at A Round of Words in 80 Days – What is it?
Best of luck to everyone participating!
State of the Storyteller – Looking forward to 2011
So… I’ve mentioned a couple of times that things are going to change around here in 2011, but I haven’t yet given any real details on what I’m planning. Mostly because I hadn’t decided what I was planning yet. 
Now seems like a good time, though, since tomorrow I’ll be hanging out with friends and playing board games most of the day. 
Continue reading
Daily Scintilla – Sunbeam
Sun… warm, bright, soothing.
Why is it that sunbeams never seem quite so warm or soothing when things are noisy and busy?
Maybe because to really soak the sunshine in takes attention, and those things suck the attention away until after the sunbeam is gone…
Daily scintilla – squeak!
*Squeak!*
“What was that?”
“Umm… nothing?”
“It didn’t sound like nothing… that’s a dog-toy, isn’t it?”
“No…”
“Oh? But I bet it was labeled as a dog toy when you bought it, wasn’t it.”
“…maybe.”
“Can I have a go?”
*Squeak!*
© 2010 Catherine Wechsler, used with permission.
