the most wonderful time of the year #fiction #christmas #notyourtypicalchristmasstory

Posted in fiction by

*Note: I said that I wasn’t posting new fiction but this is a revamped version of a story already on this blog. Why? Because I felt like it. 🙂 *

The most wonderful time of the year found me in bed with a man I didn’t even know – for the second time this December.

I forgot this stranger’s name the moment he introduced himself after I let him pick me up during my holiday shopping spree at the mall across town.

His name doesn’t matter because I don’t give a flying fuck who he is.

The only thing I care about right now is how disgustingly satisfied I feel as he lays snoring next to me in this dirty motel room with the cheap siesta rate.

But the complete satisfaction that burns in me has nothing to do with his clumsy and underwhelming skills.

Two down.

I open my eyes and inhale the stale scent that lingers in the air and look at our wrinkled clothes on the floor next to the bed. When I notice the snow falling harder outside, I quietly slip out of the lumpy bed, grab my wrinkled clothes and tiptoe to the crusty-looking bathroom. I don’t care about waking him up. I just want to get dressed in peace and with no small talk. He will never have an opportunity to lay his hands on me again so what’s the use of having a conversation?

After splashing cold water onto my face, I pull on my clothes and think about how quickly I’m achieving my goal.

Two down, three to go.

In no time, I’ll match the number of names that I found crumpled up on different pieces of paper in the glove compartment of my husband’s truck, behind a half-used box of Trojans and a pair of sticky pink handcuffs that I had never seen before.

Ashley, Jennifer, Betsy, Laura and Melissa with cutesy heart shape next to her name.

Yeah, in no time at all. Two down, three to go, let it snow and ho ho ho.

©2017 Marquessa Matthews. All Rights Reserved.

Did you enjoy this little non-Christmasy story?

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dna

Posted in The Writer In Me2 by

I’ve heard that those DNA kits advertised on the market aren’t worth their salt.

I didn’t say it – I’m saying that’s what I heard.

On a tv program a few months ago, identical twins were tested and their results were different.

I don’t know much about all that stuff but my non-scientific mind guesses that they are supposed to be the same?

Someone gave my folks the Ancestry DNA kits last Christmas and with their results, I know there is no need for me to take a test too.

I’m a product of my folks so I could base myself on their results (unless I was left on their doorstep).

But I’m still tempted to do it.

I like the idea of people “linked” to me reaching out and exchanging emails with “relatives”, distant or not.

But at the same token, I’m paranoid that the site could get hacked and my information used to for malicious intent. I don’t like the thought of my DNA information floating around in a company’s database.

Being cheap and paranoid, I will likely not do it but wouldn’t that be a crazy twist to use in a story?

You do DNA test for fun but find out that you aren’t who you think you are and your world is turned upside down?

Hmmm…it’s an idea.

What are your thoughts? Would you or have you done one of those ancestry dna test?

christmas hallmark hell

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I’ve fallen into the Hallmark-type Christmas movie hellhole again.

I say “Hallmark-type” because I once had the Hallmark Channel as a freebie for a while.

It’s always the same story over and over again…

Big city girl returns to her small hometown to save the family’s inn/bakery/hotel/perfume company from a hostile take-over by good-looking man. Usually this good-looking man is a widow who or without a child. Big city girl falls in love said good-looking man before she finds out who he really is. Chaos ensues when she finds out his true identity. Good-looking man tries to apologize but she wants nothing to do with him until he decides to leave town. Someone gives her advice that leads her to chase after him. Then happily-ever-after occur.

You get the picture.

Ugh.

The dialogue usually sucks, everything in the storyline is beyond predictable and it always makes me laugh when the main female character explains her entire backstory within the first 5 minutes.

Double ugh when the couple falls in love at first sight within the first 10 minutes and it’s all sooooo cheesy.

And yet here I am again watching this mess. Somebody stop me. Please.

Over the past week on Netflix, I’ve run through How Sara Got Her Wings, Christmas with a View and Once Upon A Holiday. I actually fell asleep through all three but we all know how they end so…

The only two that I actually thought were kind of cute were Let It Snow (a teenage version of Love Actually) and The Knight Before Christmas (a different spin).

But as usual, these movies always get me thinking…

It’s almost 2020.

Are there no people of color as lead characters in any of these movies or am I just not bumping into them?

I challenge you to drop the Christmas Hallmark-type movies that have a female person of color as a lead character. I really would be most interested to know.

 

you don’t know me okay? #nanowrimo

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Is it too late to be “anonymous”?

With all of this “reflecting” I’ve been doing during Nanowrimo month (instead of writing), I’m thinking that I killed the anonymous option a long time ago.

When I started this blog years ago, it was ONLY to participate in the WordPress Writing 101 course. I didn’t know anything about the world of blogging but I fell in love with the exchanges with fellow writers and the creative writing itself reignited my love for what I had buried six feet under for almost 2 decades due to obligations and responsibilities.

But I’m still here, still writing and still wanting to publish the stories in my head.

In looking around at other indie authors, I realize that lots of them use pen names or initials as part of their published names.

Maybe it’s because theses internet streets can get crazy weird and keeping your true identity anonymous is the smart thing to do.

Maybe it’s because an author can reinvent herself and pick a name that’s sexy and cool (I like that idea).

Or maybe it’s because lots of female authors use initials to have more street credibility, like JK Rowling and many others.

So…

I’m thinking that even though YOU already know who I am, maybe I’ll still follow suit with a different name or initials.

But it will likely be difficult to choose something that rolls off my tongue or that I really, really like. I’m giving myself until the end of the month to make up my mind.

Anyhow, whatever I do choose, I’ll let my email subscribers in on the secret and for now my Wattpad story, “If My Wounds Were Visible“, will stay “as is”.

Oh, and on the Wattpad-front, I finally posted another installment that you can find here.

Do you have a pen name? And if so, how did you choose it?

Bisous,

M

 

a little indie love #nanowrimo

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If you read my last post, you know how I’m approaching this year’s Nanowrimo this November…

I’m not going to write a daily post telling you what I did because that would just be plain boring but I will share something that I finally sat down and did today.

I made a list of all the indie books I have bought, read but haven’t written reviews for.

That’s what I did.

But I’ll be honest – if it hadn’t been for the severe rainstorm followed by a severe windstorm that knocked out my internet and cable, I probably wouldn’t have done it so quickly. I was blessed enough to not lose electricity and I had no flooding since I “triple” waterproofed my property a few years ago, but I had plenty of time waiting on hold with the electrical company to tell them about this…

Yeah, I’m lucky that when this tree snapped, it decided to fall AWAY from the property. Unfortunately it fell onto the electrical pole and I’m trying not to worry about it. Hopefully, the situation will be regulated soon.

But I digress…

I now have at least a dozen books on my short list to review and have jotted down what I liked about the characters and story lines to refresh my memory and to make my review write-ups easier.

And for the books I didn’t enjoy,especiallu due to the genre? I’m deciding to not review. It’s not the author’s fault if I didn’t enjoy the genre, right?

I know that Amazon and Goodread reviews are priceless so it’s about time I get back to doing this, especially since I follow a lot of these authors on Instagram and enjoy their work.

So I’m thanking 2 storms for giving me a kick in the pants to draft up my reviews. 🙂

What about you? Do you regularly leave a review of books on Amazon or Goodreads? Do you know that indie authors need reviews?

Bisous,

M

doing Nanowrimo my way

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Okay, so starting today, I’m doing the Nanowrimo challenge like millions of other writers who are diving in for the next 30 days.

But I’m not doing Nanowrimo in the traditional way…

I’m doing it my way and no one is going to tell me otherwise.

i cant GIF

My goal isn’t to write 50,000 words by November 30. My goal is to write a little every day and do to AT LEAST ONE writing-related activity everyday for the next 30 days.

Why?

Because I have soooo many writing-related things I never prioritize because I’m either working on a scene I’ve been thinking about or catching up on something else.

Long story short, I’m aiming low.

And today, I managed to accomplish a few writing-related things…

  1. Yesterday, I was finally taken off the wait-list for a “how to” course on email newsletters. My newsletters have been lacking (to say the least ’cause I’m never quite sure what to share) so not only was getting off the wait-list great timing, I’m considering my sign-up as “accomplishment #1”. I’ve only heard good things about this course so I’m really looking forward to diving into it in January 2020;
  2. I read/cleared out EVERYTHING in my email account where I receive blog posts, newsletters and writing-related articles. Is it weird to say that it felt soooo satisfying to be at Inbox Zero? Sorry, it felt good!
  3. I finished editing the next installment for my Wattpad story. All that’s left is to spellcheck and I’ll post it.

Who knew that aiming for the minimum could give such good results?

And why didn’t I think about aiming low before?

Are you doing Nanowrimo? What have you got on your to-do list?

Bisous,

M xoxo

 

 

afflicted #wattpad #nanowrimo

Posted in fiction, writing by

 

*Since my intention is to continue this story on Wattpad during November’s Nanowrimo challenge, I’m reposting this introduction*

Dominic was the love of my life until I killed him twice.

And both times, I can’t say that I was sad about it. But I’m not going to get into that with you just yet.

If you want to know the whole truth, you’ll have to be patient with me. Whenever I think about what happened, it’s like that slap from Dominic all over again and I’m left wondering how I got into it all in the first place.

I’ve never told anyone but God the entire story about what happened but I’m thinking…maybe it’s time to do it now?

This secret has been eating away at me and no matter what I do, it keeps bubbling up to my surface, trying to escape. I need to get this weight off of my chest and the only way I can do it is by writing it down.

If I was really smart, I wouldn’t write it down at all, especially online like what I’m doing right now. But I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind. Maybe my story will turn out to be a bunch of incoherent ramblings – I don’t know.

Just know this – I’m not a bad person. I needed to do what needed to be done to free myself from Dominic. And maybe, just maybe, what I have to say will free someone else too.

You know what they say – two can keep a secret if one of them is dead.

Fortunately, I’m the one still breathing.

Note: To be continued here on Wattpad.

All Rights Reserved ©2019 Marquessa Matthews.