It’s the first of the month, so I’ve added a new Hot Flash to the Hot Flashes page. Hot Flashes, in case you’re new here, are micro-mini stories of maybe 50 words. Ish.

NaNoWriMo is over, and I didn’t complete the challenge, for the first time out of four. MURDER WITH WHITE SAUCE is still a project that’s going to happen, just not this past November.

–Oh, before I forget, my mother and I ate at a new restaurant in Corydon, Indiana, yesterday: The Green Door. It was AWESOME! After I had inhaled the mushroom bisque, I asked the owner what those sweet and delicious round bits were, and she said, “Garlic.” They were slices of roasted garlic, and they were so mild and delicious! I was worried about radiating garlic and driving away all the hot sparkly vampires, but the clerk at the store where I bought a truckload of Tic-Tacs told me I didn’t smell of garlic at all. Then she bit my neck.

No, seriously, this is a destination restaurant, I’m telling you. Okay, back to my post.–

Imma buy a copy of Scrivener, which folks tell me is a dynamite program for organizing material. Since I don’t seem to be very good at organizing on my own, I’m hoping throwing money at it will help. Not much money. This is me, after all.

Hope your December is full of joy. To those who have suffered, will suffer or are suffering the loss of loved ones this season, I hope that good memories outweigh the bad ones, and that the season becomes one that’s dear because it brings the lost one close again. As a Christian, I can’t help but remember that this is the season when we repeatedly celebrate the coming of a Dear One who, as the song says, “did come but to die”. As do we all. And that loss is meant to soften us to the sufferings of others around us and to make us see and love our lost ones in the faces and lives of other people.

I’m not always a goof-ball, apparently.

WRITING PROMPT: Has your main character lost someone or something that hurt? Sara Deurell, a different character than the two I know about.

MA