Hey, guys and gals! Sorry I’ve not been on top of things lately, but I think you’ll understand, considering the current circumstances.
For this Christmas, I’ve penned a little horror story! It’s called Slashing Through the Snow. It’s not serious at all, just a little goofy thing I scribbled down. Hope you like it! You can read it here.
Here’s to a socially-distant Christmas, and a slightly better New Year!
So, as you’re probably aware I was miles behind on everything. Well, I’m slowly catching up and I’m almost done! I’ve just got eight or nine weeks’ worth of Reedsy stories (and about two/three month’s worth of art for Art in Soul!). Here’s the first — I wrote this one all the way back at the end of March. It was written for the contest Spring in Your Step, and I chose the prompt, “Write a story about someone who finds something interesting peeking out from a melting snowbank.” The title of the story is The Place Where the Birds Don’t Sing, and you can read it here on WordPress or over on my Reedsy profile!
I know it’s not much of a defence, but I really didn’t know how much damage it would eventually cause.
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Well, that’s about it for now! I’ll be sharing the rest over the next few days, and I vow to never fall this behind again! In the meantime, did you know that I’m bringing Bite-Sized Horror back? It’s called Friday Afternoon Frights, and it started last week! Feel free to join in, the next one will be up tomorrow afternoon (4 p.m. British time).
I’ve been meaning to bring Bite-Sized Horror back for a while, and I thought now was as good a time as any! I know that I’ve still got lots of short stories to upload (catching up, slowly) but here we are… As opposed to a daily horror series, as Bite-Sized Horror was in its first iteration, this second iteration will be a weekly thing. I think the reason I kept putting off bringing the BSH series back is that doing them daily is a daunting task — I think it’ll be a lot more manageable with just one posted every Friday afternoon!
This second iteration of BSH will also be slightly different — they’ll still be two-sentence shockers, as per, but I’ll be using a random word generator to give me a prompt word each week and use that to spark something. If you’d like to submit a word as a prompt, I’m happy to take any and all suggestions! If you’d also like to submit your own two-sentence shocker based on the word, I’d love to read ’em — I’ll even post my favourites at the start of the next week’s Friday Afternoon Frights! But there’s zero pressure, I just wanna be a bit more active on WordPress again, after falling off the radar for a bit, y’know?
Well, I guess that’s it for now, so, here’s the first (of many, I hope) of the return of Bite-Sized Horror, the word for this week is snow.
Whew! We’re getting there, aren’t we? Almost done! This story was written for last week’s Reedsy contest (just one more short story, then I’m all caught up!). This story was written for the Reedsy theme ‘winter wonderland’. I chose the prompt, “You go for a walk in fresh snow. Suddenly you realise you’re not leaving any footprints.”
This story was written shortly before the deadline of the contest, but it wasn’t quite as last minute as the previous one (although I did cut it close!). I feel that this is a better story somehow… it feels more ‘complete’ — even though I’d have liked more time on it. The title of the story is Onwards, Towards the Witch, and you can read it here on WordPress, or over on my Reedsy profile.
I see you, child.
The words slithered into her brain, as if they were her own thoughts. The world flashed a momentary red. And then they came again.
I see you, child.
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Well, I hope you guys like the story! From this point on, I’m hoping to have more time to dedicate to my short stories (as well as my main WIP — progress for which has recently stalled…). Indeed, the one I wrote for this week’s contest was complete by Thursday. Until next time, guys! Have a good’un, and always pay attention to the warnings of your fairy!
Joshua G. J. Insole 