The Sparrow's Nest

There are more stories up on the new website. You can find them all here.  https://maraduryea.wordpress.com/blog/ Some of the stories you know, and others are brand new. Here is the list: Tiger Headlights Blue Moon (new) Red Knob (new) Little Berry 64 Dresses Love Notes Kittylyn I am posting one story a month. I'm also moving away from the horror genre. I'll be focusing more on fantasy, adventure, stick in a little more romance, and aliens. Yup, I like aliens. April and May will both be fantasies. The one coming in April is a whole new fantasy. You may have read the one going live in May, but since where it's published keeps changing its URL, you might not have been able to find it. You'll be able to find it now. See you over at the new website! Please like, subscribe, and share...over at the new website.

Announcement, I'm moving to a new website. This one will stay up for all the links and stuff to the stories, but the new website is going to have new stories posted on it, as well as the old, where you couldn't get them before. That's all that will be posted there, along with easier links to buy my books. https://maraduryea.wordpress.com/

Having a hard time being happy? Is there too much stupid in your life? Are people howling about absolutely asinine things? Are uneducated suckers trying to talk politics? Is everything hearsay? Are there arguments over birds and cats? Are you getting harrassed? Here's a quick and easy way to get rid of all those whining voices that send you to bed fuming every night. Take your social media and throw it in the trash. And now...

The legend of the earthcake is one told in hushed whispers around kitchen stoves, when the lights go out and the thunder rumbles until the ground shakes.  It was a two-layered disaster, bleeding Bavarian cream as the fault line widened to extraordinary proportions. The people fled in terror as the white magma spilled from the open crevice, a wound in the realm of Cakedom. And then the chocolate meteors fell like heavy kisses from the sky. Something rose over the horizon of this magnificent disaster. It was the number 33! What did it mean? From whence had it come? In the next moment, it lit in a ring of fire, destroying all who were left behind. Chocolate, cream, and kisses were their besotted lot. And then it was all gone in an instant and there was nothing left but the crumbs.

At all hours of the day and night, I was thinking hard of what to do with Sizhirin once Rezh caught up to him. ME: What am I supposed to do? This man has done so much wrong to Rezh. Something must be done. Should they have a huge fight? REZH: No. ME: Why not? REZH: Because I hate his guts. ME: Well, what do you want to do? REZH: I just wanna beat his brains in! Crush him! Turn him to paste! ME: Couldn't you do that during your big fight? REZH: No. You'll see how it works. You know you'd like to do that to him, too. Just let your feelings go. Don't hold back. ME: So, no technical stuff at all? REZH (smiling): None. ME: I think I like it. REZH: I knew you would.

I have re-written an entire section that I'd been working on for these last weeks. I am almost to the end of book three. When I get there, I'm going to have a celebration. I like throwing little celebrations after working through a draft, or finishing a short story. There's something lovely in it. It doesn't tell me my writing is special because I already know it is. It doesn't give me something to look forward to, because writing is not a chore for me. A celebration for a finished project is like celebrating the birth of a wonderful little child. I am celebrating its existence and the joy it gives me.

A plotter is a person who plots out their story, they outline it, they make the character arcs, and it's quite a meticulous and clean way of doing things. It also saves a lot of time. A pantser is a person who just makes it all up as they go along. A lot of times, most of the time, there's a lot of re-writing that has to be done and plot holes that have to be addressed. I started out as a pantser, but it really did take up a lot of time. One day, I decided to go the plotting way. It ended up that my pantser side was able to run freely as I plotted. I was able to go back to what I had plotted when I found a hole and just scratch a big X over what I didn't want. This saved time as opposed to going into the writing itself and having to delete hours of work. Plotting also helped me to remember what dialogue I wanted for certain parts. I also plotted inside a notebook and not on the computer. This saved my eyes some needless blue ray light. I could take my notebook anywhere I wa...