The Sparrow's Nest

I love reading writing quotes. They don't just teach, but they also let me know I'm going in the right direction. Here are a few that I love. "If a nation loses its storytellers, it loses its childhood." -Peter Handke "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative." -Elmore Leonard "If you tell the reader that Bull Beezely is a brutal-faced, loose-lipped bully, with snake's blood in his veins, the reader's reaction may be, "Oh, yeah!" But if you show the reader Bull Beezely raking the bloodied flanks of his weary, sweat-encrusted pony, flogging the tottering, red-eyed animal with a quirt, or have him booting in the protruding ribs of a starved mongrel and, boy, the reader believes!" -Fred East "I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before d...

Having a hard time keeping on your diet? Does that food smell too good? Have no fear! You will stay on it. This is fail safe! (This isn't me, because if it was, all the nails would be bitten off) One day, there was a boy. He ate everything. He tried everything. He didn't even look at what he was trying until it was too late. There was a group of men using a pop can to spit their tobacco in. They didn't bother throwing it away and left it on the table. This crazy boy went over there after they had left, snatched up the can, and took several gulps before he realized what he was drinking. Now, over here on Apache land, the Apaches were having a giant eat. A woman was mixing a massive potato salad in a metal trashcan--with her arms. She hadn't shaved in about a month, and hadn't bathed all day, so she was the grease queen. The mayonnaise stuck to all her armpit hairs. She then served everybody the potato salad. Many years ago, a boy decided to take his...

Publishing announcement! The Wicked Library has finally released my story "Devil's Hour." Come listen to it  here ! The story behind this is a simple one. A few years ago, I was watching a documentary on feral children. Most of the parents had turned their kids feral. I wondered, "What if the parents could train their child to be like a guard dog?" Of course, who in their right mind would go to such a house? A thief, of course. (This isn't the house, but it's close) One summer, when I was getting ready for girl's camp, we had to drop our stuff off at one of the camp director's houses. The place was enormous! She wasn't a nut, but I did base her house off of the mansion. As for the basement, it's based off a place I stayed in when I was house-sitting with a friend. The place was creepy. Getting lost in the house was based off of a nightmare I had when I was a little girl. So this story was years in the making.

The Hondah Resort and Casino, in Northeast Arizona, is a beautiful place in the pines where high schools hold proms and there's a blue grass festival every year. It's equipped with a hotel and restaurant. But after all the fun goes away and it's only the employees and the dark, other "guests" arrive. A few years back, the security cameras inside the Honda Resort and Casino caught footage of a woman without legs floating through the building. Maybe that's why they keep losing their janitors. Speaking of clean-up crew, a woman working the graveyard shift saw a shadow keeping pace with her as she worked. She quit. At night, in one of the storage rooms, a little boy whistles. Some have heard it, some have not. During the graveyard shift in the variety store, packages of bread and other things have flown off the shelves. Not too long ago, while a restaurant hostess was cleaning up around the cash register, right at closing time, she saw a boy in bla...

They said post your picture on social media, that way, people will know you're friendly and know that you're a real person. How lovely. Say you're not paranoid, so you say to yourself, "I think I will! It's gonna be awesome!" And then the next day a weirdo contacts you. "I was randomly snooping around, saw your face, and thought you were so beautiful! Let's be friends! I'm a soldier fighting for our country, and I'm really buff." He saying this while he's looking at your picture like this: And he looks like this: "Hi, do you wanna breed?" "Say What?!" "I have no time to read your stories, Dear, because I'm so busy. But can you make time for me?" "No, man, you're ugly!" And then block the sicko and all his STD's.

For once, I decided to check my facebook, and found a message inside saying that "64 Dresses" had gone live. I "ran" over, opened up the online magazine, and there was my baby looking at me--with an illustration no less! What was behind this story? Take away the infuriating experiences with severe racism and pretend friends, there is only left a bedtime story I made up to get my little sister to go to sleep. There have been many stink people in my life. It only made sense that they should melt. The girl's stench was based off of a kid I knew when I was five. Oh gosh, I knew exactly where he was when he'd come to play with my brother. Wouldn't you know it, the little stink bomb would be sitting on my precious bed--right where my head went at night. And yes, he did smell orange. I can't describe it any other way. My nose still quivers when I think about him.

I always wondered what would happen if somebody actually succeeded in calling in Bigfoot, and if they didn't howl and beat sticks together in the middle of the night to do it. What if all they had to do was contact him in a simpler way? Then I thought, what kind of a nut would do that? And why would this person be driven to it? Maybe she's not only a bleeding heart activist for the Bigfoot, but she's also in an unhappy marriage. But I needed more than just an unhappy marriage. That's when Donald showed up, an old gross man with lots of money. Ah, Margaret is unhappy AND grossed out, but she did it to herself because she's a gold digger. The woman became self-centered AND self-destructive. Yay, perfect! The settings had already been picked months ago, but they had no story to go with them. Now that Margaret was there, she just had to blow herself up.