(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Nate and Laurel, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These stories take place before the main action of the novel and are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) Hiking to the waterfall, Nate spied something poking out of the dirt off the [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Laurel and Nate, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These stories, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) Holding the pizza box high in the air, Nate opened the door to [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat, flash fiction, short stories

(This piece, a riff on my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice, was written for Sunday Scribblings – the prompt is “wonder.”) Playing on the piano the piece he used to love, she turns her face up to the room’s only light and closes her eyes. His face, as she recalls it, paints itself on her lids. Since [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Laurel and her mother Marie, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These flash fiction pieces, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) One more time, and she’d be satisfied. Well, almost. [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – more of Laurel and Nate, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These flash fiction pieces, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order.) On her sixteenth birthday, Laurel had a hard time saying goodbye [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(This story was written for Sunday Scribblings and features Renata and Raoul, from my novel-in-progress, Heart’s Chalice.) “Hurry, Daddy!” Bouncing up and down as though she needed to pee, Renata hummed, over and over, the melody that played in her mind. It had started on the way home from Grandma’s. This fragment was ephemeral. Delicate. [...]

Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings – more of Laurel and Nate, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These flash fiction pieces, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order. In this story, Laurel and Nate are first-graders.) When recess finally came, Laurel pulled Charlotte’s [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(This story was written for Sunday Scribblings and features characters from my novel-in-progress, Heart’s Chalice. Raoul is six years old.) It was Momma’s birthday, and Daddy was sad. Grandma came over and talked about Momma and made Daddy even sadder.  By the end of the day, Raoul had a tummy ache. Daddy put him to [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings – more of Laurel and Nate, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These flash fiction pieces, though they take place before the main action of the novel, are not necessarily being written in chronological order. Another point of interest for this story:  it takes place in the late eighties, before [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories

(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings, prompt “ethics / ethical.”  Here’s more of Laurel and Nate, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice.  Chronologically, this story takes place before the action of the novel.) If only Laurel could give Nate a hint. But as Mom said, second sight wasn’t an exact science. They sat on the soft [...]

Tags: flash fiction, magical realism, short stories, Sunday Scribblings
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, flash fiction, short stories