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I am sorry that I abandoned this blog for so long, but there was good reason for that abandonment.  It started out with a computer issue that I don’t want to get into, but it was the start of things that kept me from getting things done - including updating this blog.  The main reason for my long absence was a personal loss.

My mom died in September, a sudden and massive heart attack taking her from us far too soon.  I have been holding things together by a bare tiny thread and am getting by one day to the next on determination and a LOT of DVDs.  I spend my nights up watching DVDs (currently Prison Break on DVD) until I can no longer stay awake - that way when I lay down I do not have time to think about things before I fall asleep.  Watching so much Prison Break has the added and unexpected bonus of when I do sleep, I dream not of things that would cause nightmares, but of alternate plots for that series.

I’m getting back to work now, got my computer back working and hope to have it back up to speed on programs and everything loaded back on it by this weekend.  So I am back to updating this site, and many others that had been lost in the chaos.

As I get the Daily Writing Prompt back up and going, I am going to be making some modifications that will let me do better at keeping the site organized and updated on a daily basis.  I’m still working on the finalized version, so stay tuned and I will get that all ironed out as soon as I possibly can.  Thank you.

Gas prices have everyone thinking about ways to cut back on driving, so I figured that I would offer up gas saving tips as a prompt for today.  There are a lot of different ways to save gas and just about any market can have tips for ways to save gas targeted to it.  For example:

Business - ways to save gas when you need to drive for business, commuting tips, how to save gas as a delivery driver, is carpool or bus better…

Travel - gas saving destinations, saving gas by careful map planning, how to find the cheapest gas when traveling…

Writing - mail pickup instead of driving to the post office, save gas when writing a travel article, gas saving strategies for research and interviews…

Health - walking to save on gas, cost of gym membership and gas vs buying your own equipment for at home use…

I’m sure that you can think of a few ideas for your own market segment.  Try writing down your target market on a sheet of paper and doing a few cluster exercises to find ideas for how to save gas in that market.

I have been taking an online writing course, so I figured I would share information on it with my readers. The course I am taking is Holly Lisle’s How To Think Sideways.  So far I am just starting to enter into week five of the course, and I am still very excited about the things that I am learning from it.   I’m hearing thunder, so I am not posting more at the moment about it, but will get back to the course later on.  Right now I need to shut the computer down before the storm gets here.

Chaos caused this blog, unfortunately, to be one of many that I have been lax in keeping updated.  I think I have things, if not less chaotic, at least more organized now, so I am making the commitment once again to try and get out here once a day with a writing prompt.  Thank you all for your patience.

Since I am here now, how about tossing a little chaos out as a prompt for today?  Do something unexpected and chaotic in your story.  Give your hero a reason to pause or make something totally unexpected cause them to not be able to go and do what they were about to go do for a little while.  Don’t go tossing in a Dues Ex Machina, just rattle things with a little sprinkling of natural every day chaos.  I’ll leave it up to you to think up what that might mean in the context of your story.