U is for . . . UPWARD MOBILITY

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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UPWARD MOBILITY

Like litter, dirty and crumpled, she skitters down the sidewalk, passing the homeless shelter she slept in before the apocalypse.

She was once a creature of alleys and underpasses. She was once a victim, a survivor, a thief, a murderer.

She still is.

Inside The Tivoli Tower, she hurries through the ravaged lobby. The stairwell’s dark throat spews her out onto the highest floor. She barricades the penthouse’s door, puts away her supplies. She wraps herself in a burgundy cashmere robe.

On the balcony, she pours herself a drink from a bottle older and more expensive than she’ll ever be.

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King's Speech: U is for UNIQUELY

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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Books are a UNIQUELY portable magic. 

(Stephen King)

I am not the most social person. I’m shy and awkward. I like to listen more than I like to talk. (This is true, regardless of what my husband says.) Having a book in hand becomes an escape route, where I can disappear into another world or someone else’s story and avoid those awkward conversations where I tell people I’m a writer and they stare blankly back.

But books are magic for another reason. They’re also often a connection to another person. I’m the geek in the bookstore who, if I see you flipping through a book I’ve read, will approach and tell you my thoughts on it. If you’re not spooked by a total stranger, you’ll smile, and we’ll chat about the book as if we’ve known each other for years. Sure, it’s not Harry Potter wand magic, but it’s magic all the same. 

Give Me a U! UNSPECTACULAR

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! 

* SPECTACULAR ACHIEVEMENT IS ALWAYS PRECEDED BY UNSPECTACULAR PREPARATION. (Robert Schuller) *

For every elite athlete, there were hours and hours of training. There was sweat. There was pain. There was doubt. There was failure.

For every award-winning actor/actress, there were hours and hours of memorizing lines and taking acting classes and going to auditions. There were bad roles and bad scripts. There was pain. There was doubt. There was failure.

For every bestselling or famous author, there were hours and hours of words and lines and pages. There were arguments with characters and with spouses. There were rejections and critique groups and draft after draft of that essay or story or novel. There were index cards all over the floor and storyboards leaning against every wall in the room. There was pain. There was doubt. There was failure.

Every time we read about another “overnight success,” let’s do our best to not get frustrated or depressed. We know the truth. Let’s just smile and nod knowingly, and then get back on that treadmill or head off to that audition or revise that manuscript for the eighth…or ninth…time.

We’ll be “overnight successes” in no time!