Hi all!
Happy Fall! The weather here in Phoenix has FINALLY shifted, so we’ll be getting our 2ish weeks of autumn before winter sets in. Breaking out the jeans and sweaters as the temps drop below 80! Well, I am anyway. My son will still be wearing his shorts and tees ad infinitum.
I’m still in a “pause” on writing here on Substack, trying to regroup on many fronts, and hoping to have a new plan launched by the end of the year (if I can ever decide what exactly that will be). I’ve added this “pinned” post to my page in the interim.
But today I’m reaching out to tell you I’ve got a new micro-fiction piece up on fiftywordstories.com – Just in time for Halloween, a tale inspired by a true story from my childhood.
Night Visitor
“Apologize to your little sister,” our mother scolded. But Luke insisted he didn’t tug the back of my nightgown in the dark, didn’t cause my house-waking scream—and when I thought of those blazing white eyes floating above me when I’d rolled over, I knew my brother was not lying.
This story is only slightly fictionalized—I imagine a conversation that could have happened between a mom & a brother, but my memory of that night in my bedroom is very clear. I don’t know what it was…but it’s the reason I sleep with my arm protectively around my neck and, as I wrote in my bio, I rarely lie down with my back to the door.
Thanks for reading — it was fun to create this one, and I’m glad fiftywordstories chose to share my horror with his readers today!
Oh, and pardon the interruption—
I know that many of you subscribed to It’s Like This to read my essays about living with and supporting my son, who is a young adult on the autism spectrum.
If you’re still only interested in that, not to worry – I’ll likely be getting back to that writing soon!
I also envision exploring more short fiction and other creative silliness here that may have little to do with special needs parenting. I have no idea yet what this will look like, but I think I’ll be adding new section here soon that you’ll be able to opt in (or not) to follow along (as soon as I figure out how to do that!).
Thanks for being here, and I hope your Halloween is just the right amount of spooky!
