6 #StoryADayMay story and Award

My online friend Jo Robinson of Africolonial Stories has given me the Versatile Blogger Award. πŸ™‚ Because fulfilling the conditions of the award is somewhat space-consuming, my story today is a micro-mini, like my monthly Hot Flashes.

Thank you, Jo. I love your blog; I love your writing; it pleases me beyond measure that you think well enough of me to grace me with this.

Award

by Marian Allen

They didn’t unveil it until after they had announced the winner and I came onstage to accept it. It was a lamp. The stand was a woman’s leg in fishnet stockings, the lampshade looking something like a very short skirt.

The crowd roared approval.

Taxidermists are a weird bunch.

~ * ~

Rules:

  1. Thank and link to the person who gave you the award.
  2. Tell seven facts about yourself.
  3. Pass it on to seven other bloggers.
  4. Link to specific posts on their blogs so they’ll be notified by pingback. I’ve also notified my recipients by commenting on specific posts, since I read them every day anyway!

Since Monday is usually Writing Day on this blog, I’m limiting myself to writerly facts. So here we go.

Seven writerly facts about me:

  1. I love “Mary Sue” fanfic. In fact, I prefer it to any other kind. I’ve written some Star Trek TOS, some Pretender, and (in tandem with daughter #4) a Pretender/Early Edition crossover. My fanfic is camped out at my old abandoned WEBLAHG.
  2. Writing exercises are AWESOME.
  3. Research is DOUBLE AWESOME.
  4. When I first put up a website, I made it myself by writing html code in Notepad plain text editor. I had a dial-up connection.
  5. I started inventing stories as a child, started writing them down in junior high, won honorable mention with one in high school, had my first professional publication as an adult.
  6. My first sale was to an online magazine called Bovine Free Wyoming with this flash fiction. My first professional-pay sale was to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s FANTASY Magazine; it was a horror piece called “Nightchild”. I sold two to her, the second (“The Dragon of North 24th Street”, now the final story in my collection THE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK) appearing in the magazine’s final issue alongside an interview with Terry Pratchett.
  7. Although I write almost everything on computer, pens and loose-leaf paper delight my heart.

I hereby pass this award along to some of my fellow Story A Day participants:

Fairy Tale Asylum

The Opinionated Pussycat

News from the Guild

A Keyboard and an Open Mind

Candid Canine

So there you have it. Go forth and enjoy!

MY WRITING PROMPT TODAY: Award

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “6 #StoryADayMay story and Award

  1. Chris Verstraete

    May 6, 2013 at 7:42am

    So.. there is a dark side in there after all? thanks for the award! Will post it during the week.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Emily Witt

    May 6, 2013 at 7:50am

    Haha, I love the punchline at the end!

    I remember writing HTML in Notepad. Ah, the good old days. So glad I can just type a blog post now, pick a theme and not have to do anything fancy.

    Also, I totally hear you on the pen and paper!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 6, 2013 at 8:41am

      Yeah, Emily, I lost the urge to code around about HTML4. My coding was never elegant. Down and dirty, just enough to make things work, and I never checked the appearance in any browser but the one I used. heh!

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Holly Jahangiri

    May 6, 2013 at 8:42am

    Oh, dear God.

    That’s TWO, this morning. Next one, you owe me a new monitor. Although, you could tell me another story about me, and I’ll take care of the monitor. Yes, that would do nicely.

    I’m sitting there thinking, “Really? A Christmas Story? Marian, are you – oh, cripes!”

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 6, 2013 at 9:45am

      I do a cuckoo all the time; I thought it was time I branched out. Birds … branches … Pay attention, son! I keep tossin’ ’em out and you keep missin’ ’em.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 6, 2013 at 9:48am

      Oh, Maryann, early HTML was pretty easy, as long as you could remember to close your attribute tags. Otherwise, the whole site was in italics or blinking red. But they kept updating the coding and deprecating what I’d already done, and then went to java and css and … I think Holly still does all that stuff, or CAN if she wants to.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  4. Jane

    May 6, 2013 at 9:44am

    Good morning, Ladies.
    My coffee is safe, but the cat in my lap….she’d better watch out.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  5. Kiril Kundurazieff

    May 6, 2013 at 10:01am

    Oh my!

    Elvira Mistress of Felinity & I (Nikita Cat) are so very honored that, in the short time you have known of us, you feel we are worthy of this award.

    It means a lot coming from someone who has seen her stories published elsewhere & written books, too.

    It serves as inspiration & encouragement &, as the 1st award we have been given as a team, as a cool validation of our efforts.

    The Opinionated Pussycat

    MY own 6th Day story is now up! “The Award”

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 6, 2013 at 10:06am

      I’m following the adventures of Aubrey with great interest, and so is Miss Katya. Have fun at your Paws event!

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  6. Bob Sanchez

    May 6, 2013 at 3:17pm

    Hey Marian, you packed a lot of story into just a few lines. Nice work, gal!

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  7. Marta

    May 7, 2013 at 12:34am

    Thank you again! And I love the taxidermist line. In my house we like to watch the show Oddities. Have you seen it? Often a taxidermist or two on that–and they are weird, but in the best possible way.

    It’s too late for me to properly respond to the award tonight. But I will!

    Keep writing.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Marian Allen

      May 7, 2013 at 7:14am

      I haven’t seen it, Marta. It sounds like something I’d like, though. πŸ™‚ If you don’t have time to respond to the award, don’t worry about it. I passed it on to you because I love your work. I’d rather see more of your stories. πŸ™‚

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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