Chapter 1: The Urchin’s Book Three American teachers sat around a small, circular table eating pizza in Phenom Pehn, Cambodia. It did not taste the same as an American pizza, but we had all learned to stop comparing. It wasn’t bad, either; just different – something in the sauce or type of cheese, maybe. The… Continue reading Untitled Cambodia Project (WIP)
“”Not many Americans know/recall that time, much less have been there,” my brother texted me. “Blend the historic with your experience.” It is January 7, 2022, bitter-cold and windy outside, and a pandemic has been raging for the past two years. A few days ago my brother, DJ, had mentioned listening to Slaughterhouse 5 by… Continue reading My Brother Inspired Me To Write About Cambodia
I’m not going to put every new or revised scene on here, but I find it very helpful to get some of the “bigger” ones out where people are commenting. I also have come across a new roadblock I was having before: allowing my characters to be fools. I only have one cringe-worthy scene with… Continue reading Allowing Characters to be Fools (WIP) It Chose Three
As I continue to reprocess what happened, more things are surfacing. I am learning to turn it right back around and put it into scenes. It’s no surprise “it could be worse” showed up. “It could be worse” is a special kind of guilt that we can lay on ourselves and/or others can lay upon us.… Continue reading “It Could Be Worse” WIP It Chose Three
I am happy with how this turned out. I was absolutely listening to “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys on repeat to help channel high school me. I don’t want to go in and “Donna-smash” (like Hulk-smash) every scene, either, now that I have realized the need to add more raw emotion.… Continue reading New Scene for WIP It Chose Three
During the first revision of this short story, even before I changed the perspective of the story from third-person limited to Wharty’s view to first person limited to Wharty’s view, I was stuck after I introduced Scarlett. For those of you who don’t know the nursery rhyme, it’s dark (because why not?) and Peter “had… Continue reading (WIP) “Peter, Peter” – Introducing Scarlett
This weekend I was talking to my Mom (one of my biggest fans!) about the short stories I’ve been working on. Of course my Mom is also one of my beta readers, so she’s familiar with the general idea of the collection of Steampunked Origin Stories I’m working on for Nursery Rhymes. I told her… Continue reading (WIP) “Peter, Peter” – A Change in Perspective
Continuing the edits I am making to my short story (London Bridge is) “Falling Down,” I have been working in the layer of singing. Another very important element I was missing from the version I sent for critique was my protagonist only sings the little song she makes up (my version of this origin story… Continue reading Addition to “Falling Down”
Lately I received some amazing feedback on two of my Steampunk short stories and I have been working to edit them. I will show you progress on (London Bridge is) “Falling Down.” Two of the things that came from the critique were: 1) I had left the husband out too much for him to play… Continue reading Edits for “Falling Down”
Hello, my friends, it has been a while. I was foolishly optimistic to think this time at home would mean many a splendid day writing until my heart sang. The reality is, it’s been tough. My husband is high-risk so we have been hermits, and it’s been hard to see all that’s going on globally.… Continue reading (WIP) “Peter, Peter”