May is Character Month – 9th-13th
How quickly time flies. This is why I try not to make promises. Things happen, and I can’t seem to keep up at times. We are still talking about Elizabeth Weinstein of the Elizabeth Series.
9: Elizabeth will not stick around if someone verbally cuts her down. Belittling or name calling is not the same as telling someone that did something wrong or giving some constructive criticism, helping someone to improve. This goes for all relationships.
10: She won’t start a confrontation and when she ends up in one, she tries to talk her way out first. This includes stroking someone’s ego, if necessary.
11: Her mother was abusive, and it took a while before she saw it, even acting as a “flying monkey” when her sister stopped contact. It wasn’t until later she realized what she did.
12: In some ways, Elizabeth believes in fate, but for the most part, she thinks that most life’s events are due to “dumb luck.”
13: She died once already (Heritage Journey). She no longer fears it.
Another Artwork up for sale
If you go to my links page, you’ll a goal that I have, and how I planned to reach it.
I’ve added another artwork to Redbubble. This one (see featured image) would look nice as a canvas piece over your mantle. Also, it would look good wrapping your phone, or on the back of your laptop case.
And if you like collecting notebooks, I have it available as a journal, too.
That said, I had an idea. For the Zherosha Chronicles universe (zherosha.com and elizabeth.zherosha.com), I will make some artwork to sell here as well.
Each piece will be available for a limited time (with their release date). So if you are interested, you might want to follow me on Minds, Twitter, or Facebook so you can be informed of their release.
Once I remove them from Redbubble, they will not be available again.
May Character – 5th, 6th,7th and 8th.
It’s been crazy the past few months, but I’m also finding easier to do these in “bulk” or at least, a few at a time.
5th – Character’s greatest fear is making the wrong choice that negatively affects a large group of people
6th – Elizabeth’s weakness is also her strength. She’s pretty good at talking herself out of trouble. It certainly came in handy several times in the Elizabeth series, as she promised the giant to not use her abilities to fight.
7th- Eh, I couldn’t come up with just a single quote, so here’s a brief scene from Heritage (just before someone gets shot):
As we walked in, I saw another car pull in and park by the gas pump, and I made a beeline for the cold coffee beverages. Jamie joined me with a few bags of chips and a “Mega-Party Sack” of candy-coated “Chocolate Bits.”
“Chocolate Bits?” I laughed. “They couldn’t come up with a better name for a knock-off?”
“But it’s only a dollar!”
“It’s mostly sugar with maybe some chocolate flavored powder.”
“Perfect!” He shook the bag with glee.
8th- sort of. She still believes in Christ, but she’s far removed from the narcissistic version of the “religion” her mother tried to instill in her. She questions her faith even more when she finds out who she really is.
May Character – 4th
Growing up with a toxic family, Elizabeth learned how to talk her way out of trouble.
In Heritage, she has to confront a creepy stalker and a bank robber. Unfortunately, talking the would-be-robber out of the bank robbery got her in even more trouble with Nevil Kipp, the self-aggrandizing officer of a secret society known as “The New Wave group.”
She never thought it would lead to her getting shot and finding her biological family, or at least what’s left of them.
Plumber P.I. (CLOSAT)
Not too long ago, I pulled cards out for the CLOSAT game. This story is the result.
After a cold winter, the 68 degree spring weather made even the most obnoxious, entitled bureaucrat showed some hint of humanity.
Anthony Hernandez leaned up against his red restored 1965 Mercedes-Benz and pulled out his phone. He played up his Spanish accent for anyone in an earshot, playing up the stereotype of an immigrant tradesman.
“What did you get?” The voice on the other end asked. “Did they suspect anything?”
“No, señor.” Anthony gave a quick nod to a dark-haired woman walking her dog. She gave a pursed nod back, then quickened her pace.
He waited until she disappeared around the corner before talking normally, his accent nearly non-existent. “They rarely suspect a lowly plumber who only speaks in Broken English.”
“Well?”
“Your former boss…” Anthony switched his phone to his other ear. “The senator is definitely having an affair.”
“An Affair?”
“Yes.” Confusion set in. “With multiple women and some men. You wanted me to dig up some dirt, right?”
“How embarrassed would he be once that’s revealed to the public?” The voice over the speaker cracked. “That’s not a big deal anymore. It’s even considered a badge of honor in some circles. All he would have to do is have his wife claim that they’re in a consensual open relationship.”
“Well, I suppose I’m still a bit old-fashioned.” Anthony chuckled. “It’s a big deal to me. But, you’re right. I can poke around more to see if there is some financial scandal. I’ve seen some red flags and taken some notes.”
A small worn-out blanket, by some bushes that could use a trim, caught Anthony’s eye. He picked it up. “I’ll get back to you.”
The pink and white pattern on the blanket reminded the old private eye of the pink and white play set and other miscellaneous toys had littered the yard of the Senator’s house he serviced. It must have come from there.
He sighed. Kids need their “blankies” no matter how awful their parents are. His children, now adults with families, had their own. They are too innocent to understand. Too innocent to pay for their parents’ crimes.
A cloud passed over the sun, dimming everything around Anthony as he trudged his way back to the house, making his way up the sidewalk and onto the porch. Before he could ring the doorbell, a small purple sparkle caught his eye as it floated towards the ground.
The iridescent sheen enticed Anthony to pick it up. The thin oval shaped seemed to change from purple to dark green and he wondered if it was part of some weird jewelry or sequins from an overpriced blouse.
A cool breeze floated through, causing the curtains in the open window to ruffle apart. A humanoid shape, facing away from the window, ducked suddenly and darted out of view.
Anthony dropped the blanket and turned on his heel before regaining his composure, pulling his phone from his pocket.
“I think I just saw a giant lizard!” Anthony texted his client. “Is that what you are looking for?”
His heart leaped into his throat when the following text read, “Get out of there now!”
Anthony made his way to his car, nodding with a tight smile to another woman walking her dog… or was that the same woman as earlier? He slipped into his car and took a deep breath, letting it out with a groan.
“I’m getting too old for this.” He rubbed his face.
The phone went into its holder and Anthony put his arm over the seat, looking over his shoulder.
An iridescent green and purple reptilian face looked back at him.
Birds flew overhead. Alternative music blared from a flatbed truck, only to be cut out for the hourly call.
“It’s now eight a.m. on this beautiful Tuesday morning in the DC area and your headlines for the morning. Three shot in a Seven Eleven robbery last night. One of them has been identified as a former Whitehouse employee. A local missing man was found in his car this morning submerged in the Potomac river in an apparent suicide. More on these stories after our sponsors.”
“Alright Hank!” A voice called out. “It’s all secured. Let’s bring it to the lot.”
The truck pulls away from a river, passing a Chevy van with “The Office of the Chief Medical Exam” emblazoned on its side. The still dripping 1965 Mercedes-Benz creaked on the flatbed as the driver carefully navigated of the large pothole by the stop sign.
Flash Fiction Friday (CLOSAT Game)
Need a little writing boost?
A little while ago, I wrote about CLOSAT and reusable note cards. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while and I finally picked five random cards from the game. The results:
Character:
A plumber who works in an ultra-rich neighborhood that houses politicians and government employees
Location:
Near some unkempt border shrubs.
Situation:
Being an undercover P.I. Hired to dig up some dirt on a corrupted boss.
Action:
Deciding whether or not to expose unlawful deeds
Theme:
Dangers of ignorance.
In 1000 words or less, write your story in the comments, or you can post it in the comments on the post on Facebook, or Minds. My short will go up as a separate post (linking to this one).
Remember, the point is to stimulate your creativity. You don’t even have to use all the cards.
Usage rights to the card results: Whatever you want. Even though it’s not required, I would appreciate some recognition in either a donation or a link back to this post. If you come up with some epic thriller, let me know. I’ll check it out.
Finally, HTTPS for everyone!
SSL came with the packaged deal GoDaddy offered for my website. It took me a year to realize it wasn’t automatically going to install.
Cut me some slack! I was kind of busy trying to finish the Elizabeth series, get this blog set up, redo the whole Zherosha Chronicles website (I’m not even done with that). I just didn’t think to check, I guess, until someone mentioned it on a post on Minds.
So I fixed it. of
I don’t have a certificate for the Elizabeth site, but apparently I can get one through Certbot for free. It would cost me $100 for another certificate for a different domain (which is why Elizabeth is unsecured), but if I can get one through Certbot, it will no longer be the case.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to get it done in a few days.
The “Cast” (Elizabeth Series)
The cast of characters of the Elizabeth series from Artbreeder. I finally fixed Nevil (mostly). You can see the previous post on the subject.