Snippets from 100for100: Week Eleven

“The second day is easier,” I told myself, shifting my backpack and lifting my chin confidently. I knew where my locker was. I knew where my classes were. I should be fine.

***

April caught my eye when I reached my locker. I smiled at her. She turned away and whispered to the girl next to her. I looked from April’s straight strawberry blonde hair to the black, cascading curls of her friend. While I watched, the new girl surveyed me with a stony gaze that was anything but friendly.

Great.

***

“Stubborn girl,” Brant scolded, swinging around in front of me to study my face. “I’m coming with you. No getting out of it.” He dropped into step next to me. “There’s something strange going on here, and I’d like to figure it out.”

***

A flicker of white and then red flickered across her face. “As you wish,” she said tersely.

***

He reached for my hand, pulling it out of the pocket and grasping it firmly. “There’s an ice cream palor in town,” he said.

“Parlor,” I corrected.

***

Wham! A large shoulder collided into my own, spinning me away from the parlor window. I looked up to see a man in a trench coat pushing past me. His hat was pulled low over his ears.

     “Hey,” I shouted, more from surprise than anything.
     He strode on without so much as a “beg your pardon.”
     “Watch where you’re going, mister,” I shouted after him.

***

     Brant stepped forward until he was eye to eye with me. “I don’t want you running off with him anymore,” he said, flatly. His eyes dared me to defy him until I felt myself shrinking under them as much as Mason had.

Comments

Goodbye and God Be With You

It's rather fitting that some things come to a close on this day -- the last day of the year. I submitted my last entry into the Rooglewood contest this morning. I can hardly believe it took me until the day of the deadline to send it in because I'm usually earlier than that. And, even with the extra time I took, I still felt a little bit like maybe I could have done better if I had more time. But there was no feeling of regret when I hit "send." Mostly it was just a prayer that Rooglewood would hear the heart of the message when they read it and that maybe, if I win, they could help me bring the full potential out of my little story. And there was also a feeling, after working on these stories for more than six months, that it felt good to close that chapter and move on to the next one. I did it. I wrote them. And I'm really proud of them. Last year, the act of hitting "send" on my contest entry catapulted me into an anticipatory state....

The Countdown: Eight Days

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Rooglewood Countdown: 12 days

For the next 12 1/2 days, as we do our final countdown until March 31st, I'm going to do 4 posts asking about something you would like to see in the Snow White collection. There are so many ways all of us, writers and readers alike, can win in this contest. Maybe a familiar name makes it into the final five -- hurray! Maybe a story in your favorite genre ended up in the collection this year -- woohoo! Maybe you finally get to read a winning story about an evil king and his Snow White son -- how awesome! So, in celebration of all the many things we can root for, I want to know some of the things that you think would be cool to find in this year's set of winners. Without further ado, here is my question for the day: What is a point of view you would like to see in this collection? Would you like a story written from the prince's perspective? A story from Snow White's p...

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