A month in solitary

Generated from WriteThis 2. 10-minute exercise with the following other constraints:

• A voice plays an important part
• The main character is being held prisoner
• There is a theme of double standard or morality

Carl was awoken by the familiar voice. "Carl, please."

He rattled his chains and stirred. He'd been in solitary for almost a month, and it was not uncommon for him to hear this voice inside his head. His eyes opened.

He'd struggled with the idea of him being put in solitary like this, but there was always a double standard that existed in prison. The guards were often just as guilty of crimes they'd wind up going to prison for if they did them on the outside.

"Carl." The voice inside his head was his only company.

What, he thought back, wondering if he was really losing his mind.

"It's almost time for you to get out. What will you do when they come for you?" The voice asked.

I don't know. He knew he was up for parole in a couple months, and he had a good chance of getting out. Even so, others he'd gotten to know during his time in jail hadn't been that lucky.

He wondered why the warden never let them watch Shawshank Redemption, and then he remembered.

Amazing, the type of characters that run this place.

"You can do it, Carl," the voice said. "You can get out, just like in that movie. Just a little bit at a time, remember?"

He wondered if it was the medicine he'd been taking that caused the voice inside his head to appear. Something about it didn't seem that irrational, though.

He found solace during his time in the hole, contemplating the way he would break out. He didn't see that he had much to lose.

He longed for it to end, this exercise of wills. It was just a matter of time.

He fell back to sleep and dreamed of a world outside of prison. And that made him feel happy.

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 10/12/2009 8:16:50 PM)

First Post with New Version of Blogger

Here is a random poem
Made up on the spot
As I've made this blog's transition
New Blogger, new blogspot

Been quite awhile
Since I've done this kind of thing
I should stop by more often
And see what I can bring

Now it's time for me to go
It's been a lot of fun
Check out something else
'Cause this post is done

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The New York Times > Books > A New Forum (Blogging) Inspires the Old (Books)

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Angela offers some marketing advice for fiction and non-fiction authors.

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meryl.net articles

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Blogger Knowledge: How to Get a Book Deal

Did I post this already? I cannot remember.

By the way...



find out more at blog.meetup.com

Short story contest

Deadline is March 12, 2004

Ten Mistakes Writers Don't See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)

This article comes from > Holt Uncensored :: A Candid Look at Books and the Book Industry : Publishing News : Booksellers : Bookstores : Reviews Interviews.

Mystery Readers International and Mystery Readers Journal

Thanks to Kat Lively for the link!

Happy New Year!

BLOGGER - Knowledge Base - How To Get A Book Deal With Your Blog

I think I could do this.

Discovery on Arrival

He really looked forward to the drive home. For one thing, he'd been at work since 11 am the previous morning. For another thing, he just wanted to be with his family.

It often seemed like the drive home during the early morning hours took longer than the drive to work in the daytime; he didn't know whether it was that the traffic signals were on a different pattern or he just felt that it was different in his mind.

He eventually made it home in one piece and parked the car his family had borrowed in the lot in front of their apartment. After shutting the car off, he sat quietly for a brief moment and got out. He sauntered toward the steps and then was suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He saw what at first appeared to be a large mound of clothes in the stairwell at the bottom floor. Upon closer examination, however, he noticed instead that it was the lifeless body of his upstairs neighbor. Chills ran up and down his spine, and he shook with fear.

He unlocked his apartment door. Since it was so late at night, he was careful not to wake the rest of his family. He picked up the phone and dialed 911.

Some Thoughts

Sometimes when my creativity runs wild, I am usually not in a position to record what I'm thinking. I spend time driving home late at night from work, and I often have the beginnings of mysteries in my mind, like what I see on the TV shows CSI and Without A Trace.

These thoughts are very weird indeed. I guess they are supposed to be that way, since they involve crime. Like the time when I imagined my daughter disappearing from the library because she was in the Children's section and I was in a different one.

The idea of psychological profiling all interests me. I think I'm naturally introspective, and I've read and seen other mysteries in which psychological profiling is used.

Ideas for a Novel

Life imitates art or vice versa. To see what I mean, ask yourself whether you could develop a mystery scene based on the first two sentences in this article from the Dayton Daily News:

A 20-year-old man burglarizing an apartment pried open a tackle box and found nude photos of young girls, including his little sister.

The man turned himself and the pictures into police, who later arrested the apartment's tenant, a registered sex offender now facing a possible life sentence after being charged with rape of a child under the age of 13 and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

WritersDigest.com | The 101 Best Websites for Writers

I feel like I've struck gold, thanks to Jenny, the Creative Tech Writer, who points to the link above. I think she does indeed have a life. I think I can waste a lot of time (waste seems like too strong of a word, though) browsing these sites.

Dayton Area Writers!

The Next meeting of the Writers Group will be Monday, October 20th at 7:00 pm, Books & Co. in the Business section near the front table.

Contact me if you're interested in attending. Or, if you go in response to this post, please let Bill know that you found out about the group from this weblog!

Thanks!