You may (or possibly may not) have noticed that my posting has been rather spotty here over the past month or so. One of the reasons for that is a lack of sleep due to my work schedule (I’ve been averaging about 2-3 hours a day on work days), and the resulting Slush Puppy Brain that results. Starting this weekend that will change. I’ll be working 2nd shift on weekends instead of 3rd shift during the week. In addition to the benefits that come with actually sleeping at night, it should mean a drastic increase in posts here (and comments on my buddy’s blogs). And–fear not!–even though customers typically wear their pants on 2nd shift, I should still see enough weirdness to keep this blog interesting.

In other news, I survived another week at Idol For Writers. This is my take on the assigned topic, Reflections:

~~~~~

An eight-year-old boy saunters down the street, smiling proudly, armed with a powerful new weapon, a gift from his father the evening before.

He slips open the schoolyard gate and surveys the crowd with his sharp, green eyes, so like his daddy’s: Girls skipping rope; boys shooting hoops; teachers chatting amongst themselves, tired and bored. And, sitting by himself, leaning against a solitary tree, reading a book, is his target.

He makes his way over, fists stuffed tightly into his pockets, twitching to keep the grin off his face until just the right moment. He comes to a stop directly in front a pair of white, spotless shoes, rolling the weapon around his tongue, savoring the jagged consonants and tangy vowels. His father’s voice echoes in his ears as he lets loose his grin, pulls the trigger, and fires the word directly into his target’s fragile, tender heart:

“Faggot!”

~~~~~

In other writing news, Chapters 40 and 41 of Waiting For Spring were posted at Readers and Writers Blog on Sunday. Tess is starting to heal…finally. Also new at R&W Blog is Chapters 16 and 17 of Ann M. Pino’s Steal Tomorrow. And Mr. Sid Leavitt has posted an excerpt of his very excellent book, Adrift in America. I’ve blogged about how much I enjoyed reading it before, and I’d like to recommend it to y’all again.