Quiet time

Quiet Time

I fled from the house, angry with my wife and went to the local bar. You looked at me with those smoldering eyes and bought me a drink. We talked late into the night. You took me home. I never meant to cheat on her but I needed what you offered me. Warmth and understanding. It was a one night stand but will haunt me for as long as I live. As I sit here contemplating this letter, I realize you were a mistake. I should have gone home.

How do I tell my wife that I am HIV positive?

This drabble (story told in exactly 100 words) was inspired by brother who lost the battle to AIDS on February 2, 2007.

Arwork provided by Washington Green Galleries. Artist is Hamish Blakely.

Many more drabbles can be found at www.the-burrow.org.

New Beginnings

Well, summer has come to a close. Tomorrow, I begin the new school year. I am anxious to start anew but also apprehensive since I do not know what is in store for me this school year. I plan to teach Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Orwell's Animal Farm, Weisel's Night, Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, and if time permits Achebe's Things Fall Apart. I know. This is quite an ambitious undertaking for 10th Grade English but I have faith that my students will step up to the plate.



I am hoping that by revisiting the classics, my writing will have more imagery, conflict, contextual relevance and great character development. Perhaps, situations experienced during the school year itself will provide the "meaty" material needed to kick start the creative juices when I get stumped.



On a side note, I am planning to go back to school for the 2010 spring semester. I have a master's in Education but am looking to study something different. I am interested in development disabilities and would like to study the neuroscience behind it. Another ambitious undertaking. Yes. As a special education teacher, I want to know how the minds of my students tic so that I can design a curriculum that best suits their way of thinking, processing and communicating information. I have wanted to go back since I graduated in 2008. I almost get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.

Moving Forward

Today, I have turned over a new leaf. I was absolutely stumped yesterday when writer's block smacked me across the face. I put my current "work in progress" aside and decided to revisit some of my other ideas. I met with success. As I perused a WIP that I put aside two years ago, I was invigorated to revise the plot and write several pages of the prologue. It was refreshing. I cannot explain the elation I felt when I reviewed the number of pages written.

Do not think that I came up with this on my own. I must thank my good friends, The Watery Tart- Hart Johnson, Rayna M. Iyer and also author Elizabeth Spann Craig. Reading their blogs has been that jump start, and kick in the rear end, that I have sorely needed. Thank you ladies.

Writer's Block Drabble

No two words are more evil to a writer than "writer's block." I had thought that I was over that hump, since for the past month or so, my writing has progressed slowly. I believed that my writing would jump start once I purged my feelings onto this blog. Unfortunately, I am still staring at the computer screen, drawing a blank. It is so frustrating. I look at the outline that I have written and try to drag myself back on track. It is no use. The source of this writer's block eludes me.

However, I will not give up.

Drabble: a short story/literary work written in exactly 100 words.

Image courtesy of www.torito.nl/illus/visual/index.html