[Original post 3/2018]
I just want to make a quick-access page for new followers to be able to find the first few “house keeping” posts of the blog.
A Fresh Start explains why I created a brand new blog from scratch instead of just wiping my old blog to a clean slate.
A Note on Format/Content is exactly what it sounds like. I detail out how the regular posts will be presented. If I change my format in the future, I will update that post instead of creating a new one explaining the new format.
There are (usually) posts every Monday through Friday, so feel free to browse the calendar for new material!
[Update 6/10/18]
I have a tendency to use these prompts to explore my preexisting characters and worlds rather than come up with new ones on the spot. I wrote a post explaining the context for those characters and their stories as a special extra during my post-100 prompt hiatus. Check it out: June Special: Recurring Characters
[Update 9/3/18]
I’m now up to 150 posts and figure I will add a list of some of my personal favorites to give you an idea of what I consider my best pieces to be (so far).
7. Wind Interpreter – As with most of my short stories, this one has a fantasy twist. It has a special place on CFON because it’s the first story on the blog that was a brand new world for me. (The first 6 were all explorations of my other characters/universes.) It’s also one of the only stories I have on this blog in first person POV.
17. Overindulgence – A brief scene with a mayhem character that I really enjoyed writing.
(Galactic Empire Series)
33. Turning Point – The first tale in a new SF universe I created here on the blog. I kept the universe going for the next two prompts as well (and have come back to it a few times since). A young boy finds himself at the center of a galactic invasion.
34. Souvenir – Set 4 years later, well into the invasion, Jack’s older brother Todd is fighting alongside the resistance.
35. Stress – The banished princess struggles to control her human weapon. This post ends the opening introduction to my new characters, but it does not end their story. Read more of the blog to see more of their tale!
71. Fire – An old family home burns to the ground and the sole survivor spins a tale exposing the family’s dark secret.
79. Tradition – This is the one that had my mother texting me the next day, furious, because she needed more of it ASAP. Inspired by a wild dream I’d had, a young set of twins undergo a traditional coming-of-age ceremony in their village.
115-116. (Snakes/Overrated) – After my first hiatus, I realized not every prompt had to be its own story. So I started doubling up on shorter prompts in a single post. These twofers, as I call them, tend to be more anecdotal than anything but they still get me to spend time writing. This pair was one of my favorites.
118. Magic Soap – I don’t really write a lot of contemporary fiction. I’m most at home in the realm of SFF. Given that the word magic is in the title of this one, it seemed like it’d be the perfect fantasy prompt. And yet somehow I churned out a heartwarming tale about a widow and her stepson. To date it is the only post on this site to get me any real feedback from readers who are not my mom or my husband.
136. Embarrassing – Another contemporary fiction short in which a teenage girl accidentally texts her crush something embarrassing. I had a lot of fun writing it.
145. Savings – Another prompt, another story with magic at its center because I have no self control. This one is just a simple exchange between a bright-eyed young boy and his shopkeeper friend.
146. Sleep Troubles – You guessed it, more fantasy. Two days in a row, even. This has the beginnings of a great tale, I just don’t quite know exactly what sort of tale it is yet. This was one of those I wrote late at night, thought “it’s probably garbage, but whatever at least I wrote tonight” and then I reread it a few days later and stunned myself because “holy crap, did I write that?”
[Reminder that these are all unedited and were each written in an evening/afternoon.]
Closet Full of Notebooks 