Make a Change

What would you change about modern society?

If there was anything I’d change about modern day society, it would be how people treat each other.

I would change things so people would be kinder. Instead of acting on emotions, act on compassion and be more considerate of others instead of focused on our own goals.

I’d put a hand to the mouth and encourage people to listen. Listen to nature, to their heart, or to someone else’s heart. I’d quiet the interrupters and put the soapbox to rest. Help people understand people by the simple act of listening.

Then, I’d take a torch and set fire to negativity. All the doubts and complaints and “doom upon the world” would be put to light. It’d be a nice big bonfire. We could pull out the hotdogs and s’mores.

I’d fill every heart with hope that these gloomy days aren’t the end. I’d help tears that have been shed find a dream again. I’d offer peace and point out interesting people. I’d bury the phone screens and see everyone as an equal.

I’d kill hate and poverty and all reasons for wrong doing. Show everyone the chance of being better and making dreams come true. Then turn around and help the person behind you.

If I could change modern society, I’d change it for the better. We’d all learn to hope again and hearts would be light as feathers.

Hope in the Pitch

I keep having to take deep breaths. The butterflies in my stomach won’t go away. The great oak doors of the Hall are dead ahead and I have to catch my own feet to keep from running inside. With another deep breath, I almost laugh as I jump through the threshold into the stone hall. I spot my main character immediately and I grin like a fool.

He’s leaned against one of the tables, arms crossed and leg bouncing. From his shifting jaw and shifting stare I know he’s fighting back his own thoughts. He must have heard the news already. I shouldn’t be surprised. News and gossip spread like wildfire through this castle.

He finally spots me and I can’t halt my feet any further. I run and he winces when I wrap my arms around him. “You did it.” I laugh like a child in a candy store. Despite how tense he is, I hold on. “You actually did it.”

He clears his throat and I let him gradually push me off. “As I recall, you’re the one who did all the talking.”

I love the way his face turned as red as an autumn’s leaf. “But, it’s your life. Turns out you might actually have one worth reading about.”

He partly smiles at the compliment, but it disappears with a deepened brow. “Everyone reading my life?” He tightens his arms to his chest. “Wonderful.”

“Oh, the poor chosen one.”

Our heads turn to the butcher’s son strutting up. He’s my main character’s best friend, but his antics can’t steal my smile away this time. “So tired of the spotlight, aren’t you?” He leans his arm on my main character’s shoulder and presses his free hand to his chest. “As I recall, I helped hook that second pitch.” He gives me a dry stare. “Although, it would’ve gone better had someone not fumbled over her own words.”

I shrug. “I got the job done, didn’t I?”

Before the butcher’s son can reply, my main character shoves him off his shoulder. “We could talk about the conference pitches all day, but now what? There’s another pitch tomorrow. You haven’t even sent out the current requests. We went from no requests to drowning in requests.”

It is no surprise to me that he’s dwelling on the anxiousness I’m choosing to ignore for the moment. “We have time,” I do my best to reason. “They’re open requests, after all. There’s no time limit, but I’m not going to be idle this time. We have a real chance, and I’m going to do it right.”

My characters exchange a glance. The butcher’s son sticks his chin in the air. “How does that look?”

I balance shrug on my shoulders so they know I sort of think I know what I’m doing. “I’m going to see how tomorrow’s pitch ends before I send out the requests, and with the requests, I’m going to be honest about who all is interested. That’s what one of my workshops said to do. For now, we need to get everyone together. Turn everyone in the story into a perfect little present, because it won’t just be the three of us selling it this time.” I take a deep breath and look around the Hall. Several of my other characters are milling about or going about their duties. A lot of the fairies pass overhead with messages to carry. “They’ll be meeting everyone.”

My main character clears his throat. “Are we sure we want them to meet…everyone?”

I smile at him and know the exact sassy-pants person he’s thinking of. “They definitely have to meet her.”

He groans and rubs his face with his hands. “Fine, but if it goes wrong, I’m blaming her.” I chuckle until he puts his arms down to his side. His intent stare and the concern knitted in his brow make me swallow. “I have to ask it,” he says. “What if nothing becomes of this? What if we go straight back to square one?”

The butterflies in my stomach start to harden at his questions. I don’t like addressing the fear we all share. That we’ll get our hopes up only for them to be crushed, flattened, dashed, or any other word in the thesaurus. Neither he nor the butcher’s son are going to let me weasel out of these questions. I take a deep breath to collect my thoughts. “There is always the chance nothing becomes of this.” I look them both in the eye and I have to speak slow to keep my own fears at bay. “However, there are options.” I hold up my goodie bag from the conference. “I know of a lot more publishers that we didn’t know about because we were looking in the wrong places. Even if nothing becomes of these requests, we’ve proven we can get this far, so we can do it again if we have to. It doesn’t end here.”

My main character cracks a smile and nods to me. “At least the book is done and I don’t have to put up with what you put me through anymore.” When my grin comes back, his face sours. “What’s that look for?”

I can’t help but chuckle. “You do realize, if our book gets out there, you will go through the story with every reader who picks it up.”

The realization steals the color from his face. He presses his palms against his forehead and leans back against the table. “Well, that’s just great.”

The butcher’s son lightly shoves my main character’s shoulder. “You realize all of us will be going through the whole book again too, right. At least you’re the chosen one.”

Watching my characters warms my heart. I step up my to main character and pull his hands away from his face. “Don’t worry, the reader will be with you every step of the way. A grand adventure, each time. You’ll have to let me know what they think.”

He doesn’t look convinced, but I can tell by the light in his eyes that he likes the thought. “You really think we can do this.”

Sucking on my teeth, I take a look around the Hall. An eight-pointed star in the stained glass above our heads catches my eye. The sunlight filtering through it looks like light from heaven. “Yeah, I really think we can.”

Looking for Hope

You arrive with butterflies in your stomach. It’s late. You hope you’re in the right place, but the event is still a couple days and you see no signs of it as you pull in.

The chalet has you confuzzeled. You look for a tall and wide building, a modern day hotel, but the chalet has waddle and daub designs. Lanterns hang from the walls in a golden light glow and the lower level doors have iron braces like you walked right into your fairytale.

You get your room and your key and you find you’re down in the dungeons instead of on the king’s balcony. It’s cold, but cozy enough to satisfy your needs. Instead of hitting the hay, you turn right around. You can’t rest until you know you’re at the right location and the coin you spent wasn’t a waste of vacation.

You speak with the staff, but they’re not quite certain. Too many events come and go for them to keep track. So, they point a direction and let you know all events are held at the bottom of the stairs at the end of the very long hall.

Nerves quiver your stomach as you head to investigate. Find the common area empty as midnight draws near. Pass the courtyard where statues wait in silence. You pause at some windows, diamond patterned, medieval facing. Just like in your story and you feel your heart yearning.

Yearning for a miracle. Yearning for a little hope. Yearning to know you’re on the right road. You take a deep breath and leave the windows to the night. You still need to know this place is right.

At the end of the hall stand many wide doors. White in color and ornate trim. Each one has a sign and you see yours dead ahead.

You sigh with relief being in the right place, but that doesn’t keep the butterflies away. You explore a little further, find the event space. It’s a ballroom design and filled with grace. White trim and ornate carpet. Mirrors and pillars and crystal chandeliers. This is the upper class, you realize. Some nobles in your story would feel right at home here. Satisfied with everything in sight. You find your dungeon to call it a night.

The next day you take a chance and mingle. Try to break your introvert curse. There’s so many amazing people. You hope to fit in and not be a leper among royals.

Your social charm is spent, so you call it a night. Your event will arrive with the break of a new day, and your butterflies still won’t go away. As you lay in your bed in the cool of the dungeon, you dare to search for hope on the horizon.

For the Sake of the Sequel

Last week, I indulged in a story that didn’t turn out how I expected. I dare say, I was almost disappointed, but I understand why they ended it the way that they did.

The story was Disney’s Descendants; The Rise of Red. It’s not the first Descendants movie, but it’s one where you can get away without watching the movies that came before. If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to stop reading because this post contains spoilers.

The film is about the daughter of the Red Queen of Wonderland and the daughter of Cinderella going back in time to stop the event that made the Red Queen so heartless. Turns out, the Red Queen was pranked on the night of a high school dance and that’s what made her so evil. The prank was done by the school bully and our two time travelers manage to stop it. However, how it was stopped didn’t sit right with me.

The two time travelers discover that the school bully and her gang are going to steal a forbidden cookbook (spellbook) from the principle’s office and to stop them, they decide to steal the book first. Despite their efforts, the bullies still get their hands on the book; however, once they open it, they’re charmed until the principle can uncharm them. Our time travelers head off with the book and head back to the future.

And it worked. The Red Queen isn’t evil. She’s loving and accepting of her daughter and the camera pans out to signify the ending. That is, until you hear the narrator say that isn’t the end of the story.

I’ll admit, I backed talked the narrator, because if that was the end that was a disappointing ending. Here’s my reasonings:

  1. If the cook/spell book charmed the bullies once they opened it, they wouldn’t have been able to do the prank in the first place, because even without the intervention of the time travelers, the bullies would’ve gotten the book, opened it, then got charmed and caught.
  2. Throughout the movie, you learn that the Red Queen and Cinderella were best friends in school. I got the impression that Cinderella wasn’t so good and perfect when she was younger and I suspected she might have been the one to pull the prank because that would’ve hit harder than your typical bully. It would’ve been the worst thing to happen to the Red Queen, right? She didn’t have any friends other than Cinderella and if Cinderella caused the prank, she would’ve lost everyone she cared about, and gained a broken heart that could lead her to villainy.
  3. IT’S TIME TRAVEL! It doesn’t matter what story you read, watch, or play. If you mess with time, there IS consequences. When the heroes of the story got back to their original time, I was waiting for the next plot twist. I was waiting to see that they didn’t succeed or they made things worse, but instead, the heroes got exactly what they wanted. A quick, happy ending.

With the narrator’s endnote, they set up the sequel. They made it clear that this story is not meant to be a one and done tale. So, perhaps the quick, happy ending was meant to be a disappointment to make sure you come back when the sequel comes out. They’re leaving you curious to see how things go wrong and what Max Hatter really meant when he warned the daughter of the Red Queen that she might lose her mom if she messed with time.

There are many components that hint at a sequel. I realized that after watching the movie. In my opinion, setting up for the sake of a sequel is fine, but at least give a ending where your audience isn’t wondering “are you sure that’s it?”

Too Storybook

Next week, I’ll be at a writer’s conference. My stomach is doing flips just thinking about it. It’s exciting, but I’m currently going through what I hear every writer goes through: the feeling of fraud. I’ve got that lingering in the back of my mind telling me that when I show up, I’ll be out of place and everyone will know it. I haven’t touched my stories in a long time because of this lingering gnat. It likes to remind me of not so encouraging feedback I’ve gotten from people, but you know what? It just reminded me of one I didn’t think was so bad.

A couple years ago, I had a beta reader (someone who writes) read my story and provide feedback. One of the things they said was that I use the word “upon” too much. He felt like he was seeing it too much in the story and when I did the find word search on my manuscript, I didn’t agree with him. He said my story sounded too much like a storybook fable with that word sprinkled throughout the manuscript.

And you know what? It makes sense.

Everyone knows the famous words that begin a story: “Once upon a time…” I really like those words and that’s probably where I got to using “upon” too much. When that beta reader said that, I found I liked that about my story. I liked how it ties to “Once upon a time…” Now, I did find areas where I used “upon” several times in one paragraph and that had to be fixed, but I left the word throughout the story to keep that connection. My novel is a high fantasy, after all, and so many of the classics begin with “Once upon a time…”

So, when the little gnat tries to tell me a fraud, I try to remind it how awesome my story actually is because of it’s little gems and treasures sprinkled throughout. I’m going to try and keep that in mind when I head off to my conference. It might seem “too storybook” for that one beta reader, but others might like it.

Cat Person

Daily writing prompt
Dogs or cats?
View all responses

It’s an age old question. Do you prefer dogs or cats? I can honestly say that I love both. Each animal has traits that make them unique and special. However, if I absolutely had to pick over the other. I would pick cats.

My choice comes from having the greatest cat in the world for 18 years. She’s gone now, and I still cry sometimes when I think of her, but I considered her my best friend. She was my cuddle buddy. She was my proud little warrior. She stole my Cheez-its and shared my ice cream.

I like cats because they act like they don’t need anyone. My cat didn’t like to show that she wanted you around, especially when there were multiple people in the room. However, I remember a day my family was moving. Everything was loaded up. All that was left was loading up our dog and my cat. When I took the dog out to the car, my cat ran after me. She didn’t want to get left behind even though my mom was still in the house. Animals are smart after all. They know what an empty house means. I feel bad that my cat even thought for a second that I’d leave her behind.

So, cats act tough, but even they have their vulnerabilities. They’re also curious and adventurous and mighty hunters when they want to be. My cat enjoyed going after birds. She’d leave them in places where my brother and I would find them. Once, she somehow got a big black crow in the house and she left it in a pile of our legos.

It’s coming up on a year since I lost my cat. I can’t believe it’s already almost been a year. We lost her to her failing body. At her age, things were shutting down. We made the call and she was euthanized in my arms. I promised I’d never leave her, and I didn’t.

Thanks to my putty tat, I definitely favor cats over dogs. I can talk on about how cats can be funny and tricky and cute and so on. I could tell you how I relate to their overall behavior, but when it comes down to it, my cat turned me into a cat person. I still love dogs, but when I get another pet, it’ll be a cat.

The End

We accomplished our goal
Saved the world, in a way
Finally completed the endgame
Our task is done
So, I suppose now we move on
Such friendships were made
When there was danger we all faced
Comradery and jests
Poking fun when we didn’t think we’d last.
Yet, somehow, someway, we survived
Took victory and took it with pride
But what of it now? Now that it’s done
Our task is completed. We just had the one
There’s no reason to continue
Despite the family we’ve built
Yet, staying put ours words at guilt
The task is completed.
It’s time to move on
One goes to the city
To start a new dawn
Another heads to the country
To be there for a while
It’s their goal to make people smile
We go our separate ways
Now that we’re at the end
The best of us heads north,
Never to be see again.
Such strong our the bonds
Built from a dire task
It makes the ending harder
You wish it would last
Move on to better things
Is all you can do
And smile at the friends who mean so much to you
Make sure to take your turn
And move on with them
Someday, you might see them again
Find a brave new beginning around the bend
And be ready for each time it ends.

Denying a Dream

How do you sate a dream you’ve denied?
When that longing creeps an ache to your chest?
Do you let it run it’s course?
Shove it down to keep it at rest?

Perhaps you humor it?
Think of impossible “what ifs”
Find a movie and escape for a while”
Find a task to distract you from denial?

What do you do when you’ve denied a dream
And it won’t leave your heart?
You don’t want to chase it
In fear of mistakes
You don’t want to want it
In fear of the heartbreak

You believe you’ll cause it ruin
And you don’t want the disappointment
It’s likely that you’ll screw it up
And you’d rather face unemployment

The chance of reward is low
and at this point, you’ve had enough.
How to you tell the dream to go?
Tell your heart to be tough?

Words Run Out

I don’t know what to say
My thinker just isn’t thinking
I’ve got so many things started
But the words run out before it’s completed

There’s gotta be something to give
Some inspiration I have tucked away and hid
But I stare at the screen and sigh
I’m not really feeling that high

Take a deep breath and another
Figure out what thought treats you like a brother
But my shoulders do ache
And my arms don’t want to lift

My bed comes to mind
After the weekly grind
Just melt in the covers
Not worrying about others

But there’s got to be something
Some little inspiration
Perhaps that’s what it is?
That strength has limited duration?

Take a deep breath and another
It’s okay to finally relax
Be sure to rest
So you can be at your max

The words will flow again
The Light will shine
Take care of yourself
Give yourself time

Little Problems Piling Up

One.
Not bad, we can handle one.
Roll it off the shoulder and we’re done.
Two.
Wait. There’s more of you?
Why is there confusion in the room?
Three.
Uh, this isn’t our usual cup of tea.
Can we just go back to one?
Four.
Not enough people are coming through that door.
Don’t tell me we’re short-staffed again.
Five.
It’s a hundred and eleven degrees outside.
We’re all getting cooked alive.
Six.
What’s the most efficient way we can make the best of this?
Don’t forget we have to feed the chicks.
Seven.
Stay on the bright side. At least it’s not eleven.
But I am covered in chiggers again.
Eight.
I totally forgot the date.
I think we have to be here at this time today.
Nine.
Everything is fine.
And, yes, that was totally a lie.
Ten.
I’m exhausted.
When will this day finally end?