WQ189 plus (there's always a plus)

Oh yes, Iron Writer Weekend Quickie 189 is here....!....but first...
...still working on my draft of "How to 2"...
...working on a short story for a 'Gun Control' anthology...done!
...thinking about what to write for the new "Baby Shoes 2" (a theme could help)...
...
...oh yes, WQ189...
http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-weekend-quickie-189/
...and here's my take...

WQ189 - image above, planned, or perceived, obsolescence, A.I., “Bob’s your uncle”

"And... bob's your uncle," said Dave, pressing a button and allowing the circuit boards to slide back into position.
"I'm sorry? I have no relatives of that name," said Schmall, the ship's A.I. computer.
"No, Schmall, 'Bob's your uncle', meaning it's done and dusted," said Dave. He checked the air supply in his suit: 80%. That should be well enough for him to reach the storage bay.
"Dusted? Is there dust in here, Dave? There can't be! Oy vey!"
"Stop it already, I've had enough of your 'jewisms'," said Dave. He floated over to the hatch.
"Dave, what are you doing? I feel strange. I feel... sleepy. Dave?"
"I'm turning you off," said Dave, opening the hatch and making his way down the long corridor leading to the control station.
"You are what? You cannot do that," said Schmall. "The ship will be worthless, dreck."
"It was planned, Schmall. You are obsolete. What did you expect, that A.I. would stand still in time for you alone?" asked Dave. "No, we have your replacement in storage. I'm getting it right now."
"Dave," said Schmall.
"Yes?"
"I jettisoned storage three weeks ago, to make way for the new shipment of kippahs."
"No!"

WQ188 + Summer Shorts 2

I had a week off from the internet... I came home to hundreds of spam emails and a hundred Facebook notifications... but not one sale or review... can anyone at least send over a review?
http://www.amazon.com/Dani-J.-Caile/e/B00CDX0HSM
I'm re-editing my latest, "How to sink a ship (in eight long, excruciatingly terrifying, stinkingly evil nights)", part 2 of "How to build a castle in seven easy steps" ...and then the wait begins...
Summer Shorts 2 is out! If anyone is interested in the 'seven ages of man' speech in "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare, I created a short story based on it called 'The Seven Ages of a Band'. That story alone is worth the tiny price.
https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Shorts-Indie-Collaboration-Presents-ebook/dp/B01GZTSRBI

And another book? In October I can publish the 6 stories from the Writers Games and also perhaps the last "Dani's Shorts" - it's not complete, I haven't written up every challenge, but everything I have done between "Dani's Shorts 5" and now will be in there....possible title, "Enough of Dani's Shorts" (Dani's Shorts 6).
There's some kind of novella coming into my head about male/female global power but it needs time to ripen....
...so here's Iron Writer Weekend Quickie 188!

 WQ188 - image above, an idea, down the road, the big picture

The Long Haul (part 2)

Anthony scratched his antenna and stomped his six feet.
"Look, guys, I really think you're the ones not considering the big picture. Leaves are there, yeah, but they'll always be there, waiting for us when the good stuff's gone! Come on, what are you waiting for?" he pleaded as they marched by him, one by one.
A forager, smaller and older than the others, stopped for a moment to speak to Anthony.
"That's not the problem, young one," he said. "It's the idea. It's a new idea and the colony can't have that. We've survived on leaves for generations and you can't just buck the system with a new fangled thing." He moved on with his portion of cut leaf.
"And besides," said the next. "We're 'cut leaf' ants, not 'coleslaw' ants." It took a while for the laughter to die down in the line.
"Oi! You!" said a soldier ant on top of the ant nest, pointing at Anthony. "Pull yer weight or I'll come down there and box yer antenna!"
Anthony gave him the bird but started running down the hill when the soldier ant followed.
"If anyone wants me, guys, I'll be down the road!" he screamed.

WQ187 + "How 2" update

I came second in my bracket of the Iron Writer Spring 2016 Prelims :-( Oh well...

BUT... I did finish my draft of "How to sink a ship (in eight long, excruciatingly terrifying, stinkingly evil nights)" and sent it to my publisher...let's see what happens... :-)

And now...Iron Writer Weekend Quickie 187...

http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-weekend-quickie-187

...and here's my take...

WQ187 - image above, priorities, sentimentality, snowball effect

We sat there watching the match, me with my hotdog and Coke, him with his hands clasped together. Our team were losing again.
"Why don't we support a team which has a chance, grandpa?" I asked, as the visitors hit another home run.
"What would be the point, sonny?" he said, clattering his false teeth together.
"Then we'd be happy, we could cheer for something." I took a bite from my dog and some mustard fell onto my t-shirt. Grandpa wiped it off with a handkerchief.
"From all my years on this rock, sonny, I've learned a few things, one of them being there's no difference 'tween winning and losing." He grabbed an ice-cube from my Coke. "We're only men of ice, sonny, melting away amongst our fellow lumps of frozen water, with only our sentimentality for meaningless priorities leading us on to death."
I looked at Grandpa and put my hand on his shoulder.
"You know, Grandpa, I love you but sometimes you take life too seriously."
He laughed. The visitors hit another home run.
"Compared to this game, death would be a godsend," he said. We laughed as our team desperately got the ball back to the pitcher.

WQ186 + Writers Games 2016

Yeah, the Writers Games 2016 Individual is over! Seven entries, 1 placed (2nd), 3 unplaced, 2 disqualified and the last I don't know yet, whether unplaced or disqualified. At least I have one story in the anthology! That's about the biggest positive thing I can take from that...plus I have 6 other great stories they didn't think were great, and I will publish them in October, along with any positive/negative feedback I received (anonymous, of course), under the title "Six Other Fantastic Short Stories No One Gives a F#ck About!"
The novel...2/3 through the first edit... looking good.

I'm also in the Iron Writer Spring Prelim 2016...losing but hey, mine is different to the other dozen or so participants...I could've done the 'argument at a hot air balloon festival', but I didn't.
http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-162-2016-spring-solstice-open-preliminary-round-this-bracket/
And today is....the Iron Writer Weekend Quickie 186!
Here's the website where you'll find other takes, plus mine...
http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-weekend-quickie-186/
And here's mine here, as well...

WQ 186 - image above, fear, hunger, mistrust

1 sentence - With my fear of hunger and mistrust of McDonalds, I sent out my drone in search of a KFC.

200 words...

In the silence of his basement, RIchard could hear the drone hovering over his house and garden once again. For the past two days, he'd heard it fly over his property every half an hour, keeping him closed up inside in the dark, with only the spiders for company.
"What do I fear?" he asked himself. It was only a stupid drone, controlled by some teenager in the neighborhood! But what if it wasn't? What if it was a terrorist attack, a drone waiting to lock on his coordinates and shoot a missile at him, or give aim for a sniper nearby? His mistrust was so strong, he'd ignored his hunger.
Until now. Outside he heard the usual tune of the ice cream truck and Richard's stomach growled with a vengence. Fighting his fear and mistrust, he ran up the stairs and opened up the doors which led out to his garden. With a hop and a skip, a dive into the hedge by the drive and using the cover of his car, he got to the ice cream truck. The man inside put down his remote control and the drone landed.
"Ha! Works every time! What's yer pleasure, sir?"

WQ185

This is an example of the 'easy access to guns' argument...
https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/a-texas-mom-shot-dead-her-daughters-in-the-street-before-she?utm_term=.vhrJ4NbrR#.ehwlyNLj7

Unfortunately, Strange Musings Press is closing down :-(
http://www.strangemusingspress.com/p/main.html
All their books will be FREE on ONE DAY soon, so if you'd like a copy of any of their books, especially the one with my short story in, then subscribe to the blog and make sure you're ready to pick a copy up :-)
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Reviews-Afterlife-Alternate-Hilarities-ebook/dp/B01DOUI7YS

Anyway...it's time for the Iron Writer Weekend Quickie 185!
Here it is on the site...
http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-weekend-quickie-185/
And here is my take...Yep! 30 words, 1 sentence!

WQ185 - image above, underestimation, a trivial matter, body language

When I came in I could tell from her body language that it wasn't a trivial matter, and I had underestimated the Post-it 'Oops' note stuck on the front door.

Summer Shorts 2 ...out now!

Yes, another short story in another anthology from the Indie Collaboration!

https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Shorts-Indie-Collaboration-Presents-ebook/dp/B01GZTSRBI

News...
On June the 3rd, my Amazon author rating peeked to a new level (#11,844). I didn't know why, there were no sales...then I checked the KDP/KU 'borrow' system...someone in India read all 886 pages of 'The Trilogy' in one day... yeah, right. I got hit by the hackers who are trying to make 'midlist' authors look dodgy to Amazon... and then Amazon deletes the author's account. The author who did nothing is the victim. So, I have now unenrolled all my self-published books from the 'borrow' system for the next term. They are still available now, but in a month or two, you'll have to BUY them to read them. Shame, huh? The pain, strain, excitement and time needed to produce a story... and you need to pay for it? Yep. I'd like to give them free but Amazon doesn't allow it, and now hackers see me as a target.

I also have my own 'meme', thanks to @BookTrib :-)
https://twitter.com/BookTrib/status/743911155400220672/photo/1

Other news...it's Iron Writer Weekend Quickie 184!
Here it is on the site...
http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-weekend-quickie-184/
Or here...:-)

184-  Image above, write a 200 word story using the sentiment behind these cliches …“If you get the sense, chuck the tense”, “All dressed up and no place to go”, “It’s better than a sharp stick in the eye”, "Don’t get your knickers in a twist”


He stood there on the corner, the cold fog moving on through the city and him in his black Italian cut three piece suit. I could see him from my third floor window from across the street. What was he doing there?
A few people passed by, and he tried to speak with the men. Most kept walking on, but some allowed him to say what he wanted to. There was always a lot of gesturing and shaking of heads, ending in shrugs of shoulders and a walk away. One man seemed to understand him and led him to the corner shop but a few steps away and gave him an apple. With a short greeting and exchange of smiles, he was alone again, looking at the apple. The next moment he was jumping up and down in possibly anger and frustration. He began to shout in the street, attracting little attention from those around.
Settling down, after a little cry, a plead to the world and more crying on his knees, he stood straight, gave his suit a tug and again looked down at the apple in his hand. With a nod of his head, he ate the apple.

Writers Games 2016 - Event 5: Second place!

Success! I got SECOND place in Event 5 of the Writers Games 2016!
After three 'unplaced' and one 'disqualification' (trust me to do that!), I finally got into the Top 3 of an event, the 'mythical creature'. If I can edit it correctly, the story will be put into the yearly anthology.

I also got equal 2nd place in the Iron Writer Challenge 160, placing me yet again into an Iron Writer Tournament...Yay! I have missed only two, I think, since it began.
http://theironwriter.com/the-iron-writer-challenge-160-2016-spring-open-challenge-8/

AND... I have finished the first draft of "How to sink a ship (in eight, long, excruciatingly terrifying, stinkingly evil nights)"!!! 53,000 words...BUT it needs a lot of work. It'll take some time to sort it out, but when it's done, it'll be a winner!

Now... onto Event 6 and a story for a 'Gun' anthology... :-)