Category: Short Writing

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A City that Loves to Jump Scare

If you want to visit a place with underground roads that snatch away your GPS signal before guiding you into a maze, visit Chicago.

If you want a beautiful view of a sunlit city blocked by a giant, diagonal, black beam in a window, visit Chicago.

If you want to be chased down by the musically inclined in the night, visit Chicago.

If you want somewhere with heart and passion in their art, hundreds of restaurants to enjoy, and to get together with a thousand people cheering as iced coffees and donuts race, visit Chicago.

And if you want somewhere to wake your blood every few feet while being surrounded by blaring metal boxes, visit Chicago.

A wonderland of beauty that keeps you on your toes, our dear beloved Chicago.

Disclaimer, I love Chicago, and I love these little things that make it fun and unique. Chicago wouldn’t have the personality it does without its little quirks and its love to scare and irritate its visitors with the little things. This was a fun little travel blog exercise I did recently.

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Behind the Scenes of “Father’s Odd Requests”

“Father’s Odd Requests” started as a writing prompt that wanted the beginning of a story to start with a father’s two requests. When working with this prompt, I let my mind run wild, which was fun. I thought to myself, what are two very odd requests that a dead father could have (because I like things a little dark), and then built my story around that. I love how it opened a whole creepy, whimsical world filled with mystery and how that world helps begin the journey for a son who was never close to his father.

“Father’s Odd Requests” is about a son and a daughter who set out to fulfill their father’s odd requests, which are finding a certain “Ice Blue” cotton candy to put at his grave along with a coin that he always carried in his ankle. After that, they are supposed to videotape what happens to show their mother.

This truly amazing artwork with so much detail was done by Eli Cuaycong. I really can’t believe how he was able to bring this story to life with just one scene. It’s one of my favorite art pieces, and I am so excited to have it up on our wall when we move in the near future.

My plan and hope is to expand on this story that takes place in The Kasverse. I truly cannot wait to watch James grow and uncover his father’s secrets.

If you want to read this story about a son’s connection with a father who has passed, feel free to click below.

Father’s Odd Requests
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Behind the Scenes of “Whispers of the First Witch”

“Whispers of the First Witch” is a short story about a girl who has lost her mom and follows the whispers that took her mother to hopefully find her again. It was a fun story to write and even more fun to work with Eli Cuaycong on this art piece to bring out the creepy factor of the story.

How this story came to be was with a picture prompt about a year ago! The picture we were given was of a piece of playground equipment called the witch’s hat. You can see that piece of equipment behind the creature. When I began to write the story, my mind took me back to when I was a child, and how we had the same equipment in our small town. I loved playing on it and used to imagine it taking me to other places when I would spin with it, especially at night.

In the story itself, the daughter sees her mother as she was before but does notice that her mother seems slightly different. For this art piece, we brought out what the mother really looks like inside as she is trying to coax her daughter to come to her with whispers.

This story takes place in The Kasverse and has strong ties to Wyreli, which will be visited in later stories and is where all of civilization, demons, witches, and the world truly started.

If you want to read this short story, you can click below to be taken to its page on my website.

Happy spooky reading!!

Whispers of the First Witch Story
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Behind the Scenes of “Oceana Estate”

This is concept art by Julija Gumbryte for my short story “Oceana Estate,” which is a small spooky story written in lyrical-like prose. This story started when I was doing a group where we were given a prompt and only a couple minutes to write a quick story with it. I believe the prompt was “last house on the left.”

I enjoyed writing this short piece and also enjoyed working with Julija. It was her idea to bring the houses closer to the character.

If you would like to read the short story, all you have to do is click on the picture, and you will be taken to the page we have set up for this special short story.

Thank you everyone for everything.

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Grieving Sands

This is the concept art by Susanne Hundseder for my short story “Grieving Sands,” which is an uplifting grief fantasy. For those who do not know, an uplifting grief fantasy is a story with fantasy elements to help those grieving. For anyone needing such a story, click on the picture above to take you to a site set up nicely for this story. Also, feel free to share if you know anyone who is struggling. We have decided to start sharing short stories without putting them up behind a paywall, so it will be free for anyone to read.

This story started as a writing prompt with the word sandbox. If you read the story, you will understand how amazing the artist did in capturing the women and their mothers. Her skill and the passion she showed with this project blew me away.

I plan to start posting collaborated artwork and projects along with other surprises as time passes. We have a lot planned that I am excited to share! But if you want the precise timelines and management of those projects, inside scoops, book recommendations, bookstore shout-outs, author shout-outs, a free fun fantasy quiz, and more, sign up for my newsletter.

The link is below, along with another link to the short story.

Newsletter
“Grieving Sands” Short Story
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Hallucination of Lies

Your smile works like a charm. A charm full of magick as it dangles in front of me drawing me in. I float in the possibility of us, stuck in a dream. Until that dream shatters around me the moment you are gone. Realizing you were only a vision, a hallucination of lies, I find a mirror and remind myself that there once was a me without you. And I will find that me again.