Dear Santa (Micro-Fiction Monday)

Every Monday, I post a piece of flash fiction--a story clocking in at around 300 words. Each story can also be found on my deviantART and Wattpad pages. Enjoy!

~~

Dear Santa,

My name is Emily Harris. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

My Christmas list this year is different. There are no unicorns, pretty dolls with pretty dresses, or iPods mentioned. In fact, I don’t think any of these things can be wrapped—which is a little unorthodox, isn’t it? I hope that’s okay.

For Christmas this year, I would like:

- A gentle snowfall on the 25^th of December; I want to share the beauty with everyone.

- A warm meal delivered to the man I see at the park every day; I don’t think he gets those very often

- A steady job for the woman next door; she deserves it, I think.

- And my mom. If that’s okay.

I’m nineteen now. I know that no amount of cookies or milk will bring you down my chimney on Christmas Eve. I know that no amount of letters will make a bundle of presents appear under my tree on Christmas morning.

But I want to believe that magic exists. And if it does...well, why can’t you?

Love,

Emily

Holiday Retail (Micro-Fiction Monday)

Every Monday, I post a piece of flash fiction--a story clocking in at around 300 words. Each story can also be found on my deviantART and Wattpad pages. Enjoy!

~~

I hate Christmas. How can I not, really, when the scratchy PA system is blaring Christmas carols louder than it should be, threatening to blow the speakers at any moment? How can I not, when seemingly everyone within a twenty mile radius has left the majority of their Christmas shopping until December freaking 23^rd, and somehow have fallen under the misguided impression that I am to blame?

Working retail is bad enough. Retail during the holidays? I’d rather saw off my arm and cook it for Christmas dinner.

“I have a coupon!” one woman screams at me.

“That coupon expired yesterday,” I try to explain to her, for what was probably the twentieth time.

"I just got it in the mail yesterday!” she yells. “How can it be expired already?”

How can I not hate Christmas when the general public makes it so damn easy?

I’m not a big fan of the snow, either. Or the cold that comes with it. I’m bundled up so much that I take up twice as much room as I barrel through the mall, eager to get out before I start sweating under all of my layers. Nobody apologizes when they bump into me; neither do I.

I pause in front of the entrance to yet another busy store, the crowd so thick that even with the padding of my parka, I can’t plow my way through. Someone touches my shoulder. I brush them off, ready to keep moving, until a candy cane is thrust into my face.

I snatch it and turn, my glare cranked up to death level. Once I get a look at him, though, it’s incredibly hard to keep my glare steady; he’s standing next to the entrance of whatever store—a boutique, I think—wearing a ridiculous elf costume, complete with goofy shoes and a hate covered in jingle bells. A basket was hanging in the crook of his arm, filled with more striped candy canes.

He grins at me. “Merry Christmas!”

I turn away quickly, face reddening. “Merry Christmas,” I mumble, hurrying along.

I look back once, before I turn the corner. I can barely see him through the busy shoppers, smiling and offering candy canes to everyone who walks by. He doesn’t seem to be working for the mall or any store in particular—he’s just here to hand out candy canes because he wants to.

His smile must be contagious, because I catch myself smiling a real smile for the first time today.

~~

Until later,

- Justyme

Lessons of NaNoWriMo 2014

November has come and gone once more, which means it's time for me to get off my butt and start blogging again. This was my fourth year participating in NaNoWriMo, and would have been my third year winning in a row...if I had won, that is. But alas, I did not.

The month started out wonderfully--I actually stayed on track for the first half of the month. I kept up the daily word count of 1,667, often doubling it, without falling behind more than a day's worth of words. For the first fifteen days, it looked like I would win without problem--and possibly, for the first time ever, before the evening of November 30th.

But unfortunately, it was not meant to be. I got sick during the second half of the month, and went a full week without writing. I went from being a day ahead to eleven thousand words behind. That, paired with a lack of motivation, the daunting idea of jumping back into it after such a prolonged break, and an unfortunate shift scheduled on the last day of the month all contributed my finishing off the month with a total of 38,508 words.

But still, that's a lot of words--words put towards a project that I was and still am excited to work on. So even with the loss, I'm satisfied with what I accomplished.

Regardless of the result of my furious November writing, I learned a lot this month, and have secured a number of tips for you current and future Wrimos for next year:

1. DO NOT FALL BEHIND. DON'T. DON'T DO IT. I'M SERIOUS. Start the month off strong--if you catch yourself leaving the last couple hundred words for your word count for the following day, slap yourself. Do your best to finish the daily word count whenever humanly possible. YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU.

2. DON'T STOP. If, after an hour or so of writing, you find yourself "in the zone", even after completing your daily goal, DON'T STOP. DON'T YOU DARE. Keep going! If you stop now, you'll totally forget your train of thought and your future self will hate you.

3. GET AHEAD. Already reached your goal by noon? KEEP THAT WRITING TRAIN CHUGGING. Spend the afternoon writing, too! Spend the evening writing! Write all day and get as far ahead as you can! YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL LOVE YOU.

4. STAY AHEAD. Already a few thousand words ahead of schedule? You can take a break, right? WRONG! Keep that streak going! Meet your daily word count, if nothing else! Stay ahead as long as humanly possible, so that when life intervenes--which it will--and prevents you from writing more than a couple hundred words, you won't have to scramble to catch up. YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL ABSOLUTELY ADORE YOU.

5. DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP. Am I irritated that I didn't meet my goal? Well, yeah. I was doing so well before that damned headache / cold / whatever it was came along and messed it up for me. And I broke my two year winning streak! But getting mad at myself and punishing myself won't change anything--the best I can do is keep writing until I finish, even if it's halfway through December. Just remember: YOU TRIED. You tried, and win or lose, you wrote. Don't let the arrival of December stop you--keep going.

How many of you participated in NaNoWriMo this year? Did you win? Lose? And for those of you who didn't take part, will next year mark the start of your novel?

Until later,

- Justyne