Honor Thy Father

There had been no surprises when she packed up the first floor. Nothing had changed since her mother died ten years before. She could tell because nothing had changed since she’d walked out thirty years ago, either. Not even the bottles of vodka hidden everywhere.

She decided to repack the boxes in the attic. The Goodwill probably wouldn’t find anything surprising, but better safe than sorry.

At the bottom of one box she found a green jewelry box. Inside, a star-shaped medallion hung from a blue ribbon sprinkled with white stars. She was surprised to find tears in her eyes.

First of all, the drabbles do rock.

Secondly - writing tip of the day: read your entire work out loud from beginning to end - yes even if it is a novel or an 85,000 word work of non-fiction. You will catch all sorts of problems no amount of silent reading can spot. This is especially important for people who tend to make lots small errors (for instance someone nicknamed Typo Boy), but anyone will benefit, unless your writing is completely error free.

Do you folks want me to go on sharing this type of thing? Or are they stuff everybody but me already knows?

if you want.

Erika, there's always Drollerie Press and the 'zine, Membra Disjecta. I'm pretty sure you have an in with the editors.

Good drabbles, guys. I haven't had the brain to write one, but I've been reading.

Ok, I'm twelve. Forgive me.

The woman tells me to relax and then I know she’s insane. Nobody could find lying on a hard table with paper rustling under her ass to be relaxing. And that’s before they stick the instrument in, and ask me to take a deep breath while Mom holds my leg. I feel pathetic, even at sixteen that my doctor is the only one who has touched me like this, even though I only went on one hopeless “date” at crip camp and I don’t know who that other person would be. I still wish there was one, and suddenly the teen magazine I brought in trying to feel like the other girls is a stupid choice. These girls freak out about a bloodstain on their white pants. If they were me, they’d have to live in a cave for a week.

Awesome drabbles! Laura, I'm so glad you decided to share yours. It's vivid and beautiful.

Nearly done with Chapter Four and have made further revisions to the other three.

Yay!!

if you want.

Doesn't sound like they are serving a useful purpose. So I won't fill list bandwidth with them. Why I asked.

Erika, I'm also twelve. You're forgiven for making me grin, again.

I tried to tell my son the reading out loud tip just yesterday. He seemed to reject it, but he may do so rather than risk my yellow marker again. He hates when he misses the obvious mistakes. I don't know a better way to find them. eta: hates because I mock him soundly - he has remarkable grammar skillz

It sounds like a good idea to me, TB. I think it would be nice if we talked more about writing in here.

I can proofread other people's stuff without reading out loud, but my own writing I have to read out loud. I think it uses a different part of the brain.

My Monday critique group reads each other's work aloud, and I always catch things I'd otherwise miss, especially Repeated Word Syndrome and dauntingly long and complex sentences.