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All about my writing – Novels, Journals, Short Stories, and other scribblings
In Spring 2023 one of my colleagues, Matthew, challenged me to write a flash fiction piece.
I had never written flash fiction before. I’m a novel writer. Even the short stories I write challenge me to stay within the usual 3,000-word limit. Now, flash fiction is even more limited, to 500 to 1500 words. I took the challenge just to prove to myself that I could do it.
You can find my speculative fiction short story “That’s my Life – or is it?” in the newest Writing Journey Anthology called THE SPACES IN BETWEEN – A Writing Journey Anthology.
This anthology is a diverse collection of “what if” questions across four imaginative cues: One More Day, Suddenly Sentient, Forever Changed, and Never Returning.
Published! My 6th short story.
You can now read my sixth short story
“Sacred Blue Love” which is published in
“Denizens of the DEEP”
– Illustrated stories and poems by the WRITING JOURNEY.”
You can now read my fifth short story
“Three Letters” which is published in
“Triple Vision – Stories and Poems from the WRITING JOURNEY.”
I am happy to announce, that my fourth short story is published. The Family Tree is a story for the Hidden Identity Anthology and now published in a brand new book. 40 stories and poems written during the challenging year of 2020 by authors belonging to the Writing Journey are compiled in “Masks, Facades, and Reveals.”
And this time I am not only an author, but I also contributed two illustrations.
I guess I don’t need to remind you what we went through this year, from a global pandemic, protests against systemic racism and police brutality, wild fires, earthquakes, elections and allegations of voter fraud,… and so on.
No, I won’t get into that. I want to tell you about the unexpected.
Sometimes the unexpected hits you so suddenly that you are so stunned that you can’t talk about it for quite some time. It can even make you think you dreamed it altogether.
This is the story about the unexpected discovery we made this summer.
I heard the slapping of his sandals first, then Josiah yelled, “Esther!”
It was dark outside, the deep of night. He must know our kids were sound asleep. Why on earth would he make such a ruckus? I wondered.
“Shhh, you are waking the kids,” I jumped up, holding out my hands towards Josiah as soon as he broke through the door.
“Esther, I saw the LORD.” He gasped and bend over, breathing hard.
“What Lord?” Did he drink again with his friends?
They are ready … ready to move on.
In May, a lot of Illinois high school seniors finished up their high school career and got to graduate.
Caps and gowns are bought, yearbooks are delivered, speeches are held, ceremonies are planned and carried out, certificates are handed over…
Over the last three years I have participated in three Writing Journey Anthologies. All three books were on display at the Nichols Library in Naperville, IL.
So, if you want to read my short stories and the stories of my fellow Journey Writing Group authors, this is your chance – they are all available at our local library.
There was nothing special in a cold Chicagoland winter, it has always been like that. The only special in that particular year was, that it was that cold. Single digit temperatures and even negatives several days in a row. Everything was frozen, and I really mean, everything – the tree branches, the bushes, the little and even the big lakes. There was even a layer of ice on the roads because the salt didn’t work anymore, which make the humans grumpier that usual.
So, you could probably say it was a hard winter that year. The deer and the coyotes fought over the last warm spaces beneath the bushes and the hawks fought over the numerous squirrels that were still out there and were having fun with all the bird feeders in the area.