What should he do? Claus paced ‘cross the floor.
Pond’rously pondering, he pondered some more.
A lump of coal – mean! No presents – so sad!
They didn’t have the impact he knew they once had.
This is part five of a larger story for Christmas. All parts are in the form of a stanza of a poem. Check back tomorrow for part six!
All the way through, to Z straight from A,
The miscreant imps caused chaos each day.
As the spark left his eyes, the cheer left his cheeks:
“I’ll find a solution in the upcoming weeks.”
This is part four of a larger story for Christmas. All parts are in the form of a stanza of a poem. Check back tomorrow for part five!
First there was Armand, the mean little devil,
In the suffering of others, he surely did revel.
And then there was Amy, the hot-tempered scamp,
She loved to cause pain; good spirits made damp.
This is part three of a larger story for Christmas. All parts are in the form of a stanza of a poem. Check back tomorrow for part four!
He tore through his list growing madder and madder,
The first time was bad, the second time sadder.
“What’s wrong with these kids?” he screamed at the wall,
His booming voice thundering through workshop and hall.
This is part two of a larger story for Christmas. All parts are in the form of a stanza of a poem. Check back tomorrow for part three!
Well, hello there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I know I’ve still kept my Reedsy short stories updated, but other than that I’ve been AWOL. The reason is that I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo throughout November! For those of you who don’t know what it is, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words in one month. It’s a lot… but, as of last night, I officially completed the challenge!
I am super-proud of myself for having ‘won’ this year’s NaNoWriMo. I participated in the challenge once before, and came away with my tail between my legs. The first draft of my novel is now 3/4 complete! I aim to maintain the pace I set during November, and hope to have a fully-polished manuscript at some point next year.
For those of you who are stats nerds like me, I’ve included a screenshot of my November writing stats to give you a bit of a chuckle. I flew back home to the UK to attend my brother’s wedding in November — you can clearly see this in the dent in my progress! But, I managed to claw my way back, tooth and nail! It just goes to show, no matter how far ‘behind’ you feel you are, if you put the work in, you can still succeed.
And on to my next project! Back in October I wrote a little piece for my Bite-Sized Horror section for Halloween, consisting of daily ‘bite-sized’ 99-word stories. Well, this Christmas, I’ve decided to do the same! The title of the series is Yule Be Sorry: A Very Bite-Sized Christmas, and every day I’ll be posting a little section of it — all the way up until the 25th!
Unlike my Bite-Sized Halloween story, Yule Be Sorry will be made up of daily stanzas, to form one large poem. I think I did the 99-word story idea to death, and wanted to try something new! I’m not much of a poet — I consider myself to be more of a storyteller… but the idea sounded fun, so we’ll see how it goes!
When I finished my Bite-Sized Halloween piece, I made a post commenting on my lack of preparation in advance, and how if I were to ever do such a thing again, I’d plan it out ahead of schedule… well, that didn’t work out. At all. Mainly due to time constraints and other commitments (i.e. NaNoWriMo). So, much like the Halloween piece, this Christmas piece will be written on the fly, and made up as I go along.
Well, that’s about it, guys! I’m glad to be back, after a month away, and I’m super-excited to see where Yule Be Sorry: A Very Bite-Sized Christmas will take me! (Part one was posted this morning!)
So, look out for a man in a red suit, and keep your ears open for the jingling of bells — it may not be the jolly fellow you are expecting…
He was still between worlds. He could feel neither the warmth from the sun nor the blades of grass beneath his hands. The child suffered no panic; only resignation.
Charlie lay down between the headstones – not experiencing the cold morning dew dampening his clothes – and rested his head on his hands. He was tired. He didn’t think he’d ever been as weary in his life. Slowly, his eyelids began to close.
Just before sleep took the boy, he thought he heard a voice – his father.
“Charlie, where are you?”
And then a whisper. “I’ll keep him safe,” said Marion.
This is the final part of a larger story for Halloween. All sections are in the form of a 99-word story. Check out the links below for previous parts!
Previous parts:
#1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 | #19 | #20 | #21 | #22
The final BONG! reverberated through his skull, moments before he burst from the crypt. Charlie exploded out into the fresh air, just as the door slammed shut behind him with seconds to spare.
Charlie collapsed to his knees in the grass, eyes wide, hair wild, gasping for breath.
The sun was peaking over the horizon. He could see the sky fading from its inky blackness to the cold, grey November morning that was lethargically advancing.
Charlie watched the sun rise, laughing. But a nasty thought was nagging at the back of his mind. His smile faltered.
Something was wrong.
This is part twenty-two of a larger story for Halloween. All sections are in the form of a 99-word story. Check back tomorrow for the final part!
Previous parts: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 | #19 | #20 | #21
The pumpkin hit the case behind The Collector. THUD! THUD! THUD! The rows of shelves began falling like dominos, glass orbs shattering as they hit the floor, freeing the trapped beings.
A tornado of souls began whirling about the witchdoctor. His scream sliced through Charlie’s ears. “Help. Me,” grimaced The Collector, reaching for Charlie. The boy dodged past the witchdoctor, running for the staircase.
He leapt up the stairs, hearing the man’s death throes.
BONG! A clock was chiming. BONG!
What time is it? he thought, as he frantically ran up the steps, two at a time.
Too late.
This is part twenty-one of a larger story for Halloween. All sections are in the form of a 99-word story. Check back tomorrow for part twenty-two!
Previous parts: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 | #19 | #20
The staircase opened out into in a library. The shelves held no books. The endless rows of glass orbs were full of things crying for help.
On the far side was The Red Door. Charlie could feel the heat. Could smell the sulphur.
“Charliiiiieee!”
The boy spun around, heart in his throat.
“Do you like my collection,” said The Collector, gesturing at the overflowing shelves, “of souls?” He grinned madly.
“Please, just leave me alone!”
“Now, now. Why be alone, when you can join them?”
“Never!” screamed the child as he threw the jack-o’-lantern at the witchdoctor.
He missed.
This is part twenty of a larger story for Halloween. All sections are in the form of a 99-word story. Check back tomorrow for part twenty-one!
Previous parts: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 | #19
TO THE NETHERWORLD (KIDS ENTER FOR FREE) said the sign.
“This must’ve been what Marion was talking about…” said Charlie to nobody. “He told me to hide.” He pushed the crypt door open and took a step inside. A spiralling staircase lit by candles. A whiff of smoke. And… was that a scream?
He began his descent. Round and round. Deeper he went, the smells of rot and decay filling his nostrils.
Charlie thought he must be nearing the bottom when a voice called out from above. A voice that sounded like crunching gravel.
“I’m coming for youuuuuu, Charliiieeee!”
This is part nineteen of a larger story for Halloween. All sections are in the form of a 99-word story. Check back tomorrow for part twenty!
Previous parts: #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18
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