A is for . . . AMBIVALENT

Welcome to The Blogging from A-Z Challenge April 2014! This year, I’m offering up a story – each one 100 words or fewer - for each letter of the alphabet.

Some are heartfelt, poignant, sweet. Others are…not. 

I hope you enjoy them.

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AMBIVALENT

He’s hesitant, careful, Bobby’s mother murmurs.

He’s a blockhead, Bobby’s father hollers.

But Bobby just has trouble choosing. Hide in the closet, or sit stone still as his father rants about anything and everything, pummeling Bobby’s skin with beer-splattered curses? Run outside, as his mother always directs, or stay and attempt to shield her from his father’s fists?

Now his father writhes on the kitchen floor. One hand rakes his chest, the other scrabbles over the worn linoleum. His eyes bulge at Bobby.

Call 911 or let his father die?

Bobby smiles. This is an easy one.

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King's Speech: A is for ASYLUMS

Regular readers of The Shellshank Redemption know how much I enjoy a good quote (see Motivational Mondays) and that I’m a huge fan of Stephen King (see the King of All Days Part I and Part II.) So, for the 2013 A-Z Challenge, I decided to combine the two, using some of my favorite King quotes about reading, writing and life in general. Enjoy!

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I think we’re all mentally ill. 

Those of us outside the ASYLUMS only hide it a little better – 

and maybe not all that much better after all.

(Stephen King)

My current manuscript is a horror novel. A few months back, I submitted the beginning of it for a critique session at a writing conference. When I met with the literary agent to go over the pages, he studied me a moment then said, “You look so normal.”

Ah, if only he knew…

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* On this first day of the A-Z Challenge, a special thank you goes out to Arlee Bird for starting it all! *

Give Me an A! AWE

Welcome to The Blogging A-Z Challenge April 2012! Some of the most popular posts here at The Shellshank Redemption are the Motivational Mondays. So, after consulting the tortoises, we decided to make April our Motivational Month! Please join us for this (almost!) daily dose of alphabetical inspiration. We hope you enjoy it!   

* IF WRITING IS THINKING AND DISCOVERY AND SELECTION AND ORDER AND MEANING, IT IS ALSO AWE AND REVERENCE AND MYSTERY AND MAGIC. (Toni Morrison) *

This is one of the best descriptions of writing I’ve ever come across. I think that from now on, when people ask me to explain writing or ask why I do it, I’m going to direct them to this quote. Writing is all of those things…and more.