Spring Forward

I came across a writing prompt that sparked this little idea, it was to write a story about someone who didn't change their clocks for Daylight Savings Time. I immediately thought about giving Cal a pocket watch, from there is turned into this super short story. I like writing these little glimpses into Cal and Lucas' "normal" life as a couple.

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“Cal, did you forget to reset your watch?” Lucas peered at the antique pocket watch on Cal’s desk. It was small, a lady’s watch of the kind he remembered being worn around a hundred years ago. Silver with delicate filigree, the open face showed the time. It was an hour off.

“No, I never change it for Daylight Savings Time.”

Trope of the Week - #1 Damsel in Distress

I love to play with tropes in my writing and the single best way for me to lose a couple hours is to visit the TVTropes website. Since I do enjoy tropes, I thought it would be fun to start a Trope of the Week feature. The goal is of course to do these weekly as my schedule permits.

The structure of these will be simple, an introduction and analysis of the trope and how they can be used both well and badly. So lets kick it off with one of the most famous tropes: the Damsel in Distress. This is one where I have to put on my feminist hat because of all the tropes out there this is one of the easiest tropes for the writer to inadvertently fall into perpetuating sexism. However I personally love stories that involve a rescue (or an attempted rescue) so how do we strike a balance? First lets talk about what a Damsel in Distress is.

Chance Meeting - Part III

The last part of this little story and this is where things get interesting. Not beta read, if you find any mistakes you can flog me for them. Share and enjoy.

<<Part II

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Cal sat up, her shirt slipping down her arms. She didn't notice. How had she been so stupid? That was easy, she had not wanted to see. It was so obvious if she had only paid attention, he was pale, ate no food at the pub, lips colder than they should be, his physical presence and strength.

"I suppose there's no point convincing you vampires don't exist. Not with shields like that." His gaze drifted down to her now exposed arms, recognition filled his eyes. "Those are spell glyphs aren't they?"

Chance Meeting - Part II

I swear not every picture for
this story will be a cat.

Just a mild content notice, things get a bit sexy in this chapter or at least that's the intention. Your mileage may vary. The final part of this story will be posted Friday, Nov. 8. Again, this hasn't been beta read so any mistakes are 100% my fault. Share and enjoy.

Cal's cat Ghost is based off a stray cat that adopted my family when I was a kid. He was brown rather than gray but the personality is the same. Whiskers was a big, tough, cat who would disappear for days or weeks at a time and saw humans mostly as food dispensers.

<<Part I  --  Part III>>

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Cal lived on the outskirts of Falmouth, still close enough to Portland to make the drive less than twenty minutes on the nearly empty roads, but far enough out to be almost rural. The house sat back a ways from the road, partially screened by a line of trees. Stretching out around and behind the house was a half-acre of, mostly wooded, land that served as a buffer zone between her and the neighbors. It wasn't a large place, just an average two bedroom cape with fading yellow siding and gray shingle roof.

The only thing that made it stand out from the hundreds of similar houses along the Maine coast was the front yard. There was no lawn, instead there was a riot of perennials, flowering shrubs, and wildflowers that reseeded themselves each year. A haven for butterflies, bees, and birds. This late in the autumn, however, it was dead and brown except for a handful of evergreens and the bright red of winterberries.