A story was originally slated for today. However, it seems it will have to wait. It will appear as soon as possible, with much gratitude to patient readers. This weekend will be spent making sure recording for the audiobook of The Dreary House will be all set to go smoothly. Additionally, I'll be working on chapter 7 of A Place to Stay, on track for publication later this February.
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In the thick of it, to be sure. Certainly wanted to have a story for you today, dear reader. No such luck. Completed chapter 5 last week. Chapter 6 is the longest chapter in A Place to Stay and also has the biggest change. It is underway. Such an undertaking has been slow goings so far, but we'll get there.
A few projects in the works right now, though nothing much to put here today. The audio book for The Dreary house will go ahead sooner than a physical copy. It will likely be available late February/early March. A Place to Stay is still in progress, there were considerations today to re-post the first draft before deciding against posting bad writing without further explanation. However, we'll forego having to read too much bad writing by saying chapter 5 is half way done, out of a total 10 chapters. Half way to half way, one might say; for a draft done this way, anyway. The third book is continuing to have the outline refined, but still seems to be on course for October this year. Thank you for reading!
Back in October, I bounced some ideas around on this blog about what direction to take it. I'm still too busy with some other things these days to bring some new short stories just yet. There was also a realization last week, many of the ideas I had been wanting to do are done and now posted here. Several more ideas are scattered around in notes, but writing anything of substance takes time. To that end, here's the first draft of The Dreary House's first chapter.
Lights flashed to a smooth bass. Anna felt almost euphoric listening to it. A distorted guitar came in slowly. The lead singer screamed something and and a heavily distorted guitar played in quick rhythm with the drums. She reached up to brush a bead of sweat away from her short brown hair, taking the opportunity to fix it - again, it was just long enough for her to have to put it up, but she hadn't remembered a hair tie. This is the encore song? She thought. She stood as all the fans around her screamed. She looked around for her friends. Goddammit. Tina never leaves me behind. She made her way through the crowd, avoiding moshpits. She saw someone crowd-surfing. She moved as quickly as she could through the noise, too many people going too many ways. She kept looking around for Tina, but they moved to fast. The song began to die down and she could see the exit. Then the lights cut out, all but that little green sign. The audience screamed for more, but she kept moving. For a moment she was blocked, these fucking people need to figure out where they're going. Anna paused a moment to calm down. Still no sign of Tina. Some of the audience decided that was it for the night and began to shuffle out with her, and she made it outside in a few moments. Her ears were ringing. She moved away from the crowd and reached in her pocket. Not there… I must have left my phone in her car. She walked around the parking lot a moment, hoping to spot where they'd parked. I really thought it was closer to the road. The cars slowly began to leave the parking lot. She found a traffic director. "Have you seen a white car go by?" He ignored her at first. She stood right in front of him. "You'll need to be more specific," he said, continuing to direct traffic. "Oh, sorry. It has dirty windows, bat stickers on both sides, and a rainbow with broken hearts on the back. A Prious, I think." No wonder she left me, realized Anna. "Uh… I think I would have remembered that." "Fine, I'll wait here." "Suit yourself." Forty minutes passed. Anna could see the end of the line, and Tina's car wasn't among them. Anna sighed. She left me. Looking around, she continued up the road. Left alone with her own thoughts, away from that last bit of noise, only the ringing remained. It was faint, but it droned on. She gave up thinking about how mad to be about Tina. She stopped. Looking around, the road was very empty. The glow of the city was far off. It was almost pitch black in every direction. She turned back towards the city. Across the road, in the distance, there was a light on. Through the darkness, Anna pressed on. Something felt off, still, but she wasn't sure just what. Enough went wrong tonight. Should I really be walking this way? She thought. It's really the only option, I can just check it out. Moving through the darkness, Anna came to a fence. She noticed the light actually came from a few candles by the door. The fence was dimly lit, it looked old, and it was covered in vines… No, not old… something else. She thought. She stepped away, looking for an entrance. It didn't take her long to find the front. There was an open entryway. She stepped through. It's colder, she shivered. She looked around as she slowly made her way closer. Off to her left there was a fountain to the side of the house. There were dirt patches around the yard no grass. Just one tree stump remained. The rest seemed to be cement. The yard looked bleak. There were no plants other than the dead vines that covered the fence. Anna stopped at the bottom of the steps. "Excuse me, is there a phone here?" Silence. Anna waited, then walked up the steps. Anna knocked, Ow, this door is stone! She looked at it. The door was decorated, intricate lines carved and crossing here and there. They didn't appear to make anything specific, and glancing left she saw there was a doorbell, with a red glow so dim she almost mistook it for the reflection of the candles in a window. But there was no window, and Anna rang. The door opened without a sound. Behind her, the gate closed with the lightest squeak. From inside the house, a glow emerged at the entryway. It danced quickly in front of her, leaving an afterimage in beautiful cursive. Do come in, it said. The letters glowed a moment longer after she read it and then disappeared, the faint afterimage still there. Another shiver ran through her, and timidly she stepped inside. "I'm just looking for a phone--" she started, but there was no one there. "I'd better just be going." With that, the door closed behind her and lights along the wall brightened slowly. The room stretched on another twenty feet or so. At the end was a staircase leading up. On her left looked like a living room, to her right a closed door. She turned to go, but there was no way to open the stone door. This isn't happening, her eyes searched frantically for any way out. Calm down, she told herself. I'll just find the owner. They'll have a phone and I can get home. A sample for comparison can be found here. |
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