Cheers, Cavanaugh Blog Fest

Two amazing things here....

The first is that I'm actually posting not one, not two...but three entries in a one month period. My past record hasn't been all that sterling, I'm afraid.

The second, and more important, is that this post is in celebration of an awesome author....The Ninja Captain, himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh!

I've only been following Alex's blog for a little bit but, in that time, I've come to find him as being one of the most giving, kind, and supportive authors out there. While Alex is, indeed, all these words I've used to describe him, he's also a bit of a mystery.

No one has seen a picture of this man. Heck, that can't even be said for Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster. That's just how mysterious he is.

My job, in this post, is to do the following:

• In +/- 20 words, what does Alex look like?

 That guy from Mythbusters....maybe it's the hat?

• In +/- 20 words, who could play Alex in a documentary? (Living or dead)

That guy from Mythbusters....maybe it's the goatee?

• In +/- 20 words, who does Alex remind you of?

A mixture of Hemingway and Santa Claus. He likes to write (drunk?) and is very giving....wearing a red suit.

• In +/- 100 words, (excluding the title) write flash fiction using all these prompts:
• Cavanaugh
• Ninja
• IWSG
• Cosbolt
• Guitar

I had just stepped out of Cavanaugh's, the fresh air a welcome relief to the stale smell of the bar. It was then that I saw the Night Ninja for the first time. As a member of the International Wrestler's Sentry Group...or IWSG, as we like to call it, I ducked into the alleyway, ready to don my Lucha mask and piledrive the notorious criminal into the asphalt.

As I prepared to leap up, I saw what looked to be a street musician swing his very new looking Cosbolt guitar up and aim it at the rudo*. He gave the strings a hard strum and energy, shaped like cleft and treble notes, shot from the neck of the guitar and blasted the ninja off his swingline and into a smoking pile of unconscious crook, thudding on the street.

I stood there, giving the man a nod and marveling at how one never knew just who had the talent.

"Wow, great suit!" he said, giving me a salute.

"Thanks", I grinned, "hey, anyone ever tell you that you look like that guy from Mythbusters?"

"I get that all the time", he grinned as he disappeared into the night.

*Editor's note: Rudo is the term used to describe 'bad guy' wrestlers in Lucha Libre wrestling.

(Yeah, I know it's over 100 words, but it's my blog....so sue me :P )

So, here's to Alex J. Cavanaugh....man of mystery and all around swell guy.

I wish you much happiness, success, and prosperity and thanks for all that you do.

Vertically challenged jumble of words...

Back when I first got the 'writing bug', a little over a year ago, I started by trying to do some flash fiction a few times a week. In doing that, I would take prompts from Seventh Sanctum and then borrow the format from the 100 word story site and go from there.

I was just going through some of my old stories and found this one. I forget what the prompt was....maybe alien murder or something?


“I think she's dead.” the detective stated flatly.  His optical sensors scanned the curvy humanoid up and down, fixing on a spot behind her right ear. The faint 'whir' of mini servos was all that was heard.

“Hey, great catch Shorelok....ya think?” The Mind intoned in his audio receptors.

“Indeed I do.  No respiratory activity. No heartbeat....in either heart.  Yes, I would consider this humanoid to be deceased.”

“Ok, sure...and what killed her?  That pile of salt next to her?”

“Correct.” said the android detective as he kneeled, pressing a small stud on the base of the woman's ear.  She seemed to shimmer for a second, then her appearance faded from a beautiful Bandorian woman to a dried up looking slug creature.

“Someone knew that 'she' was really a Lugosian....a race evolved from snail like creatures to whom salt was deadly.”  Calculations began running in his 'brain' as he stood.

“It was Sherlock, by the way....” an almost wry smile tugging at his synthetic lips.

Yeah, I'm talking to you!!

It's been a while since I posted anything here, but...

 Like I've said elsewhere, I really hate opening a post with that line but, hey, truth hurts, huh?

Anywho, I've been sliding off the writing wagon, a lot lately, and have been putting some thought into why that may be. It's not for lack of time....I have scads of that. It's not for lack of encouragement. I have tons of that, as well...my wife makes sure of it. I think it boils down to one factor....

Lack of discipline.

There, I've said it.

I've always been the type of person who, if things didn't come naturally, I didn't put a lot of effort into doing them. As I've grown older I've come to realize, more and more, that something worth doing is something worth putting the effort into doing it well. If things were always easy, there would be no satisfaction in getting them done. Take NaNoWriMo (please! :P ) for instance. There were days when I did not want to sit down and put pixels to virtual paper. Some days, I didn't. But I always caught up and it was so satisfying to 'win'....to actually finish....that it made the effort worthwhile. 

Sometimes the oldest lessons out there are the most profound. 

That said, I think I'm going to try to do a few things to self-motivate and get some writing done. After all the name of this blog is "Left and Write"....not "Left and Slack".

Here are a few ideas I've been tossing around....

• Doing a weekly writing challenge. Yes, I know there are a lot of those floating out there, especially by my pals on Google Plus, but I think I need something more tailored to my interests. At least to start with. Perhaps a 500 word minimum, with a week to complete, which I post here for perusal/harassment, etc.
• A simple 100 word challenge, taking prompts from the Seventh Sanctum site. (I've had some good success with this in the past)
• Taking suggestions via a Twitter or G+ post, maybe for a 200-300 word short story and posting the results here. 

So, I think I might try one....or all...of these ideas and see which stick and which fall to the floor in a burning heap.

What do you do to stay disciplined?

Another 100 word flash fiction challenge....

Once again, Chuck Windig has thrown up (again, no, not as in 'blew chunks') another flash fiction challenge on his blog. This time three words had to be chosen from a list of five:

 Enzyme, Ivy, Bishop, Blister, Lollipop.


Here's my entry:


“Don’t tell me he ate it?”
“Oh my God...he did eat it!”
Agent McCabe watched in horror, hissing to himself, as Bishop Tutu crunched into the lollipop.
The lollipop given to him by the “President”.
The lollipop that contained Enzyme X, a deadly pathogen that could wipe out an entire country.
Nothing left to do now, but run. Get to the airport and try to get the hell out of this country before things spread too badly.


How many licks did it take to get to the center of this lollipop?
This time the world may truly never know.

100 Word Flash Fiction Challenge....

      I've started following author (and self professed "penmonkey") Chuck Wendig on Google+ as well as over on his blog. Recently, he threw up (no, I don't mean as in 'blew chunks') a 100 word flash fiction challenge....a tale of revenge...and here's my entry.

   
     The Brownian Kill Unit's optical sensors recorded everything for the records, sending it down the time thread. The micro-pulse beam, literally, cooked Von Braun from the inside. The sound of wet flesh hitting the ground was followed by the clink of a monocle. The symbol of another infamous criminal scientist shattered.


     Von Braun had slagged more of his kind, over the years, than he could count. Now, it was over. Now, maybe, it might have never happened. Time travel was funny that way. 


     His last thought, as he faded from existence, was that “Braun” sounded very much like....Brown.