I’ve started submitting some short pieces to sixsentences.blogspot.com - all the stories are exactly (as you might guess) six sentences long. Here is the one I submitted today.

A tall man with short, dark hair enters the restaurant, a pretty blonde girl on his arm, and quickly takes the seat the waitress offers. As the girl looks for something new to eat, he strokes his neatly trimmed goatee and looks through the crowd, his intense gaze searching as if his meal was out there, and not on the menu. After a few moments of silent review, he temples his fingers in front of his face, his eyes lowering until they are nearly closed, and says, “He’s here.” “Where?” she whispers, not wanting to look up from her list of likely selections. “At the back, smoking cigars with about five or six others.” She still refuses to look up, but lets out a little grunt, and then, “Can I at least eat first this time?”

Let me know what you think

On November 29th, I flew past the 50,000th word of my novel Banjo & Cross, becoming a Nanowrimo winner for the first time. I’m really excited, and think the book might be worth finishing (as in polishing) for future use.

I’ve uploaded a sample from the book at the Nano site if you are interested.

This is the newest story, and it’s “highly anticipated follow-on”

1.13 Stairway to Heaven - in which the bus driver (from 1.11 and 1.12) learns more about what happened to the children that died in the accident, and about the stairway to heaven, which he needs to climb.

1.16 Stairway to Heaven II - in which the bus driver climbs the stairway, and finds out what awaits him at the top.

I’ve been writing a story each week at 52stories.net.  I’ll try to post links to them in here, but for now, here is the batch I’ve done so far.

1.04 Black and White - in which a man on business travel realizes how much he misses his family.

1.05 A Small Miscalculation - in which two boys accidently fly their summer house to the wrong location.

1.05 (also!) Retirement Home - in which a man gives his wife a retirement home in a strange location.

1.06 MayBelle - in which the tooth fairy starts her new job and has an adventure with three boys.

1.07 Mightier than the Sword - in which a man realizes his wife still loves him when he finds a plane ticket in the dark.

1.08 How Many Stories - in which a couple realizes that episodes 1.04 through 1.07 have been about their own lives, and that someone took a picture of them for this week’s entry as well.

1.09 Mary’s Land - in which a couple of ponies escape from a fair and think they have reached nirvana.

1.10 Permanent Vacation - in which a wife-killer remembers how his circle of friends has disappeared over the last year.

1.11 Thanks - in which a mother remembers the horror of a bus crash, but is thankful to the firemen that saved her children.

1.12 Entry Fee - in which the bus driver from 1.11 ends up in heaven, and finds out what happens to the children.