Beware of a dare, especially when it involves a graveyard. — The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but a candle burned in the window one night. Though nobody noticed, or at least none of the neighbors did. The reason being the neighbors were all dead. You see, the cabin once belonged to a man named Pete. Pete…

Repeat: To go through or experience again. — Merriam Webster Dictionary. — I wrote this as an entry to the Vocal Campfire Story Challenge. This was a prompt-driven challenge where the first line of the story had to be the sentence: “The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.” All submissions…

A prompt-driven short story. — It was an early spring day. Judy reached up and opened the door to the mailbox. She had to get up on her tippy toes to reach the back where the envelope sat. Being six made some things so hard, like feeling way back into the mailbox. …

My experience with roasting fresh coffee beans. — I love coffee. Drinking at least 2–3 cups is a morning ritual to get the day going. I wouldn’t call myself a coffee snob, but I’m picky about what I drink. Typically I go for Starbucks, either French Roast, Italian, or Cafe Verona. …

Eternal youth and beauty, with a cost. — Blood like wine when drunk, Casts a spell of beauty sought, And pain when drunk too much. The Jones family had lost the property in foreclosure when Mr. Jones lost his position as head of IT at the local bank. Most who knew him were quite surprised that a man…

Something to think about as you’re stuffing your holiday bird. — Poem One The holiday human is chained outside. The vegetables are all peeled and cubed. All the guests will soon arrive. The in-laws show up right on cue. The secret to the stuffing is he must be alive When you grab the man’s guts and pull. Then rub some salt and pepper…

It’s now possible to generate AI images for your blog posts. And the results are mind-boggling! — I read a fascinating post today by Teisha LeShea, she wrote this: Stop Using My Photos Over one million images and you decided to choose mine?teisha-leshea.medium.com Teisha’s article is timely, as I’ve been thinking about this too. I’ve had the same thing happen to me (many times, in fact). We all use the same sources when we need an image. …