Happy Halloween Everyone!
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to write a post this Halloween – you see, this was my father’s favorite day of the year. I grew up with a dad who’d terrorize me with his many masks throughout the year in order to prepare me for the chaos that would ensue on this most deathly hallowed eve.
He’d take me to haunted houses, the scarier the better – and he would not stay by my side letting me hide my frightened face in his arm – No! He’d go off ahead of me, hide and wait to be one of the goblins that would jump out and scare me! Imagine the most terrifying haunted adventure you’ve ever had and then add on the monster that didn’t have to abide by the rules of the house.
I used to love Halloween – but my dad passed away just over a month ago…
I woke up this morning missing him. I approached my computer at work expecting for something to be there to take my mind off of it, and there wasn’t… and then I glanced across my desktop where I have my little notes of suggested story ideas and found one that I had jotted down to remember quite a while ago.
The short story is called “The Day Hell Froze Over” and this is some of the history behind it:
I wrote this story when I was a teenager in High School… 1993. I was a freshman going through a black clothes head banger phase. Every one of my friends who had read it died laughing. I was pretty happy about it. Unfortunately my mom found it, read the title, and immediately jumped to conclusions. She was convinced that I was worshiping the devil. She promptly burned the story in the old smoky grill on our porch and probably started praying for my soul – she never read the story. If she would have read it she most likely would have laughed… but we’ll never know.
The reason I mention this is because I was inspired to write it again today. I had always remembered this story, every detail. I always wanted to rewrite it but inspiration hadn’t hit. Today it did!
Decades worth of writing experience and embellishments have made this story (in my opinion) ten times better than the one I wrote as a teen. The plot is the same but I must say – I am quite blown away by what I’ve written today.
It is still a short story. 6 pages, 2890 words and it will definitely make you smile. I had thought to release it here on my blog today but it is longer than I expected. I am pretty sure this is gong to be a publishable short story and with so many opportunities out there, I’m going to have to research where the best place would be. An anthology? A collection of short stories? A stand alone e-book? I’ll have to see. So keep your eyes peeled for news and updates. I definitely want y’all to read it!
Look who got her groove back!