Why I Blog

February 23, 2012 By

Why I blog

This is my 101st post.  A momentous occasion, right?  I have to say, even though I’ve stuck with this ‘hobby’ for a while, sometimes I wonder why I blog.

I’m about 10 millionth on the Alexa rankings. They can’t even pull data on me, my stats are so low.

But, still I write.  I get great joy out of sharing my words and hopefully providing somebody, somewhere, a laugh, a chuckle or an aha moment.  Sometimes, though, when I realize that my father-in-law and 3 other people are my primary readers, I consider dropping the whole thing and writing a diary.  If I did that, I could seriously put down whatever I wanted without worrying about insulting anyone.

When I look at my numbers, that’s when I think things like that.  I also think about it when I feel like writing rude things that pass through my head but since I have common sense, realize would be disastrous to my ability to make and keep friends if published.

And then, I get a taste of my own medicine. And someone, out there in the internet-verse, provides me with an aha moment of my own.

I was busily writing another fun and frivolous post about Pinterest (which I’ll publish tomorrow or so) and then I received this comment on a blog I wrote last October about missing my father:

I found your blog here–and this entry in particular–because I was feeling similarly. Two nights ago we lit a yartzeit candle for our son who we lost during childbirth one year ago. His candle lasted more that 26 hours, but now that it is out I am left with emptiness. Your poem is beautiful. The flame is a reminder, but not a substitute. We who have lost our so very dear ones continue and learn to live this life without them here. Their memories and essence are with us, but there is an emptiness that I do not know if ever can be filled.

When I read that, I got shivers down my spine, goosebumps up and down my arms, and tears in my eyes.  Reading of this woman’s pain, and that in someway, throughout the inter webs, I was able to ease it, bridge a gap, make her feel she wasn’t alone, well, that was a flashing arrow to the real reason why I blog.

Sure, I like to be silly, make people laugh, throw out a random thought or two.  But truly, I feel I am a successful wordsmith when my words resonate;  even if its with just one person.  If I’ve impacted just one person’s life, made one person’s day better, caused one single person to laugh so hard they snort Diet Coke out of their nose, then it’s all worth it.  All the writing, the editing, the searching for the right word, the best phrase, the perfect picture.  All completely and totally worth it.

So, I won’t stop. Even if today, nobody reads except my friends the spammers. Because, someday, one day, one person might Google ‘Why should I blog’ and find this piece, and understand.

And, that’s why I blog.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

It WAS a NaNoWriMo Beat Down.

December 1, 2011 By

I'm a Winner

I’m BAAAAACCK.  Having triumphed against my internal start/stopper, which I now know is more of a naysayer and or avoider of large projects so that I don’t fail at them.  What am I talking about?  I have COMPLETED NaNoWriMo.  I wrote 52,043 words in 29 days.  Not only did I finish, but I completed the project early, although there was a little bit of ongoing procrastination and I wrote 13,000 words in the last three days.

There were naysayers, such as my lovely husband who said things like, ‘I can’t wait until this thing is over so that you stop tip tapping on that macbook till all hours.I’m tired.’  And ‘Can you remind me why you’re doing this?’  And, ‘Wouldn’t I look like an idiot if someone actually published your book?’

Obviously, my sons parroted his negativity with comments such as, ‘Why are you doing this?’  ’Can you stop typing and feed me?’, and my favourite, ‘That book thing is dumb.’

Lastly, my daughter didn’t even seem to notice I was doing NaNoWriMo, which I count as a blessing, considering the other responses I got.  (My dogs really liked NaNoWriMo as they liked to cuddle on me while I was sitting still for so long)

I want to make it clear that I DON’T CARE what they say.  I am so DAMN proud of myself.  I have a box of first chapters of books in my basement as well as some notebooks upstairs containing similar material.  I have never ever ever done something so large, so great, so amazing before (other than getting married, having kids etc.).  While I tired of answering the multiple ‘BUT WHYS‘ of my reasons for participating in this challenge, I DON’T CARE (did I say that?).

My friends, both virtual and in life, loved the idea of me writing a book,and were very supportive:

Some of my NaNoWriMo supporters

although my very best friend wanted to know why I wasn’t just writing about her. She DOES have an interesting life.  I have a line-up of readers who want to see what I wrote, including the person who inspired the story.  I want to thank Kristin Klasbergen, who blogs at Peace, Love, and Muesli for seriously getting me through this.  I would totally have quit if it wasn’t for her.

Now, I will interview myself about the book, since of course my goal is to be Jewprah:

Jewprah:  So, can you tell us about your NaNoWriMo book?

Mara: My book is called, ‘Love in the Time of Twitter’, and its about Isabelle and Ted who meet through a Twitter follow-friday.  The book has some quirky characters and incorporates some of my romantic fantasies like being surprised by my one true love, who happens to be rich, with a beautiful mansion complete with a Kardashian-style closet. There’s one major love scene, but I sort of chickened out when it got past 2nd base.  I got a bit serious at the end as well, so major editing is required.

Jewprah:  What kinds of challenges did you face when writing?

Mara:  Well, I had trouble remembering the characters names and any details about them. Maybe it’s because I let the words just flow without any preparation. Plus, I always have trouble with names, and it seems even those in my own head were also hard to recall.   There are some continuity problems in the book that will need to be fixed, such as the names, tone, tense, and voice.  I sometimes struggled with actually getting down to the writing, although, when I did it, the words just flowed.  The other thing that was hard was always being funny.  The book is supposed to be a quirky, humorous tale, but the last bit got a bit serious.

Jewprah:  What’s your process?  Do you do any planning?

Mara:  I only knew the title and the premise.  I didn’t plan at all, and it seemed that the characters took over the story. Stuff happened that I didn’t plan on, and that was sort of fun because as I was writing, the scenes just developed themselves.  It was all news to me!

Jewprah:  So, what’s next?

Mara:  Well, I might avoid the book for a while.  I’d love someone who is in the know to actually read it and let me know if its worth editing and fleshing out to a full novel. Once whoever that is tells me how amazing I am, I plan on taking my advance and going to Ireland to meet Maeve Binchy

Jewprah:  Well, you look like you’re itching to get out of here. Where are you off to?

Mara:  Well, for the first time in a month, I’M NOT WRITING A NOVEL! That’s for sure!

 

 

Filed Under: Humour, Life, NaNoWriMo Tagged With: , , , , ,

I’m WRITING! I SWEAR!

November 3, 2011 By
I’m WRITING! I SWEAR! (image source www.writerunboxed.com)

In the vein of my friend Lynn at AllFooked up, I’m going to provide you a list of everything that I’m doing and thinking about other than writing my 1700 words for NaNoWriMo.

  • Maybe I should go get the mail. There may be some important mail in the mailbox, you never know. For example, a large cash prize, a letter from the government explaining I wasn’t really born in Canada, or even a card advertising my dream home.
  • I should eat something. Its always better to write on an full stomach. Or is it an empty stomach. A full stomach makes you feel sedentary, but an empty stomach drives you to push yourself to excellence.  Look at how lean the lead actor in the movie ‘The Gods Must be Crazy’ was. He certainly achieved.
  • My dogs are cute. Look at their cute faces. They are so cute I should kiss them. Then, since they are so cute, I should run around with them. And talk baby talk to them. Because, they totally understand me.  I should probably make videos of me talking to my dogs and them understanding me.  On the other hand, people might take my kids away if I do that.
  • I think my NaNo novel characters have taken over the story. I hate being told what to do.  I think they need a time out, so maybe I should write later.
  • Yoga would help me think.
  • There’s a tweet again.  It may be very important if someone is tweeting me right now. Missing that tweet could change my life forever. So I’d better go check and see who it is.  Oh, its a spammer. Wait, there it goes again. It could be a friend in need.  Of my witticisms.  Laughter is the best medicine, or so they say.
  • NOW my email bleeped.  Usually I get just junk emails.  But, what if this time its important.  Like, for example, a member of the former Russian aristocracy who REALLY requires my most excellence servicing, and will pay me $15 million as long as I provide my bank account number, my date of birth, my address, and my shoe size.
  • That dog is really cute. But he’s so dumb. He’s trying to get food by scratching at a 6 pack of beer.  Have the kids been giving the dog beer again?  I’d better go text them and make sure they didn’t.
  • Young and the Restless really needs to have me guest star. I’d make a great prison inmate. I look so good in orange. And Sharon looked so good after her prison makeover. Really, she never looked better.  Oh wait, she’s out of jail.  But she gets to choose between hot veterinarian, Dr. Sam, gorgeous but evil Adam, and of course, Nick.  And what about Ronen.  I’d totally dump my husband for him.  But he would need to stop disappearing. Except my MIL would be Nina. Ewwww.
  • I should go to yoga later.  Or maybe now. Yoga is good for you. But not too much.  Yesterday, when I was ‘researching’ for my novel, I happened upon an article that says too much of anything isn’t good for you.  So, maybe I shouldn’t go to yoga. We’ll see.
  • Facebook is very interesting today.  A lot of people are posting videos, and it would be rude not to watch them and then comment.  Oh…wait..my sister put up a blog post. One MUST support one’s sister in her pursuit of bloggy excellence, right?
  • Have I showered yet?
  • What’s for dinner?
  • What if my sister’s nanny doesn’t come and I have to give her my nanny who I don’t actually need but I want, and then I have a relapse of my housework allergy whose symptoms are me being a TOTAL BITCH.  I hate acting like that, but it’s not my fault. Its an allergy.

In no way can this list be considered procrastination.  I totally and legitimately have important things to think about.  As well, I totally and legitimately am working to overcome my START/STOP impulse as well as my fear of rejection, insurmountable obstacles, and small spaces.

Note from the Editor:  Chicky has been spanked at sent right to Scrivener to start her words.  Stop TWEETING her. OR ELSE!!

Filed Under: Humour, Life, NaNoWriMo Tagged With: , , , , ,

Seeing The Forest for the NanoWriMo

November 1, 2011 By

Can't See the Forest For the Trees (image source: www.summitpost.org)

According to dictionary.com, the expression  ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ means someone who is too involved in the details of a problem to look at the situation as a whole.

Today I’m feeling the reverse.  As the time to begin NaNoWriMo is upon me.  (was upon me 8 hrs and 50 minutes ago, to be exact).  I realize that I have focused way to much on the big picture.

‘Picture? ‘You ask, ‘I thought NaNoWriMo was about writing a novel.’ ( I guess I am a novelist, as I’m putting words in your mouth…)

‘Its a metaphor’ I respond. ‘For my lack of preparedness.  I got so excited to write the dang thing and become a novelist that I forgot I HAD TO WRITE THE GODDAMMED WORDS EVERYDAY. LIKE EVERYDAY. LIKE 1700 OF THEM.

I was all about the signing up for the project. Making it public. Starting a twitter hashtag (follow along at #nanobliss), and encouraging others to write their novels too.  The 50,000 words over 30 days didn’t seem like a big deal. Its was a nice round number.  I was looking at the forest from the satellite view of Google Maps.

Then, I woke up this morning and thought,

‘Oh crap. crap crap crap crap crap crap.I have to write some of those words TODAY. Like NOW.  I told EVERYONE. And there’s a deadline. And I have to write the thing.’

My supposed ‘support group’ on Twitter started pressuring me.

That one totally freaked me out.

How about this one?

How rude. With that, she was just trying to make me feel bad.

The self-doubt started to wash all over me.  The Start-Stopper was taking over.  The Start-Stopper is a very strong influence.  But then, I thought about what I want out of life,  and how Sharon DeVellis has started Speed Skating, which is Holy Mother of Coffee scary if you ask me.

And how Sharon’s Speed Skating metaphor is about starting to zoom in on that forest and start looking at the trees (actually that’s my metaphor. She doesn’t have a metaphor. She is literally speed skating because she really wanted to and it scared the shit out of her).

About how when you only look at the forest, you get so excited about big the forest is, and how great your plans are, but then if you don’t look at each tree individually, and how its going to grow, and how you’re going to water it…etc etc.. then the trees will die and there will be no more forest.

Sharon goes to her Speedskating and just speeds skates. And doesn’t worry about winning the Olympics or being Queen of Speedskating, or getting rich from endorsement deals, she just skates. She looks at the trees.

Today, I’m going to start looking at the trees.  Instead of JUST focusing on my goal, and who’s going to star in the movie of my invisible novel (Robert Downey Jr.), and how many pairs of UGGs and Lululemons I’m going to buy with all the money, I’m going to actually figure out how I’m going to get there;  the doing it.

THIS IS MY TREE:   I’m going to write 1700 words every day before 4:00, until and by November 30.  

(30 days has September, April, June and November.  All the rest have 31 except for February, which has 27 and on occasion, like this year, 28.  Are you telling me you don’t recite that every time you need to figure out how many days are in a month?)

Hopefully those words will coalesce into something coherent. Or else, after I submit, and get my ‘Winner’s Certificate’. I’ll hit the delete button and start over.

In other news, but related to the forest, ITS MOVEMBER.  Since I can’t grow a moustache (THANK GOD AND MY GOOD GENES), I will be supporting the cause by growing my leg hairs as part of Noshember (No Shave November).

Let’s hope it gets long enough for braids & some beads because that would be pretty.

Noshember (No Shave November) in support of Movember

Filed Under: Humour, Life, NaNoWriMo Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

NaNoWriMo: It’s a Slacker Beat Down!

October 31, 2011 By

Today is Halloween. Everybody else is writing a nice Halloween post. However, since its already 2:30, its a bit late for a Halloween post.  Plus, I’d be a bit of an imposter if I wrote a Halloween post since:

a) I don’t have a pumpkin yet

b) there’s a slim to none chance I will be getting a pumpkin since trick or treating starts in 4 hrs.

c) my kids have abandoned me to teen-dom and either aren’t dressing up or have forbidden my husband to follow them (‘them’ being my 12 year old) around while ‘they’ trick our treat with ‘their’ friends (‘following’ being hiding behind bushes and generally stalking in a not-creepy however appearing extremely creepy sort of way)

This pumpkin-less situation brings me to the actual reason for my post.

I know it’s shocking news, but I’m a procrastinator.  In other words, I’m a do-it-later-er.  As in ‘why do it now, when you can do it later?’  Sometimes, when I can’t decide if I want to do it now, I let my car decide if its going to turn, and therefore do it now.  For example, I guess my car didn’t want a pumpkin as it didn’t turn into a lot to buy one.   Seriously, the pumpkin, or  lack thereof is an inelegant segue/metaphor into my newest attempt to crush the procrastination demon and turn myself into a time maximizing whirlwind of activity. (Chances of that happening?  Well, I’m not good at math, but I wouldn’t want to take the book on that wager…)  Anyways, I’m totally into self-improvement, plus, I’ve also got another major character flaw, totally related to the procrastination beast, called the ‘start-stopper’.  I have many great intentions, but large projects or new activities tend to beat me down, and then I just avoid them.  For more on my failings, look here.

Which brings me to….the badge at the top of this blog.  Maybe you know what it is, maybe you don’t.  What it means is that I’m participating in NaNoWriMo.    Its a Writing Festival. A Writing-a-Thon.  A Writing Bonanza.  In honour of National Writing Month, basically you write a 50,000 word ‘novel’ or chunk of one in 30 days.  That’s approximately 1,700 words per day. That’s a lot of writing.  Every day.  And it’s public. My name is on their website, with a WORD COUNT.  And now, I’ve written it here too. On my happy place. That means I have have to do it. Right?

Did I say that I’m taking on a HUGE commitment to write FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS IN THIRTY DAYS. What a way to tame the procrastinator start-stopper beast!

Its a known fact amongst those who know me that I’ve always wanted to be a writer. There’s a book stuck in my sternum. So far, pieces of 500-700 words have been just the right length for me. The shoebox full of Chapter Unos is a testament to that fact, as well as to the character flaws as clearly outlined above.  NaNoWriMo is how I’m having a SLACKER / PROCRASTINATOR / START_STOPPER BEAT DOWN.

Apparently, a beat down that involves a lot of words.  DID I SAY FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS?

Cuz, ya know what they say…GO BIG OR GO HOME.

Stay tuned for periodic whiny posts about my project. (If you want to stalk me on the NaNoWriMo website, my user name is ChickyMara)

ps, apparently it was advised that I write a outline and notes, as well as doing research to facilitate the 50,000 words to be written in 30 days.  Do you think I did that?

Filed Under: Humour, Life, NaNoWriMo, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

On Swearing, Branding, Self-Love & Chonga Dresses

October 17, 2011 By

I’ve been away from my blog.  Where?  Ready for the Oxymoron? At  Blissdom -THE blogging conference in Canada for women who..ummm..blog. Or write. Or want to blog or write. Or know people who blog or write.  Or, just want free stuff and fun parties.  Or like to hang in the company of 300 or so amazingly smart and fun women.   (In case you were wondering, I fall into all of those categories.)

Motivation:

Part 1: Last year I went to Blissdom as a newbie.  I’d written like two blog posts and wanted to learn everything: technique, SEO, promoting the blog, and what the world of social media was all about.    This year, obviously, went as a very experienced blogger, having written 100 or so blog posts.  I went with a different type of ear.  I was hoping, this year, to gain persecutive. To understand where I was, where I wanted to go, and more importantly, who I wanted to be.

Part 2: Recently (actually one month ago today), I was involuntarily liberated from my excellent and fairly lucrative corporate job.  I won’t get into the details here as the interweb is a public forum and I’m a very private person (HA!).  Nonetheless, I was handed the opportunity, at least for a few months, to explore a future doing what I love, with people who accept me as I am.

The Result:

I didn’t take away as much practical and applicable knowledge from Blissdom as I did last year.  However, I did get some of this (and I will try to attribute where my addled brain allows):

1. Everybody has a superhero inside of them.  You just need the cojones to let your superhero out (Jeff Pulver).

I’m not really a fan of satin or pleather, but I just might be Super Awesome Mara.

2.  Sometimes you seek out your brand and sometimes it just finds you (Dee Brun).

I’m still on the fence about my brand. I haven’t decided or it hasn’t found me.  But, apparently, everyone is looking forward to seeing me say words like Fuck on my blog, and also I’m now known as the lady with the pervy husband. (well if he insists on goosing me and copping a feel at every opportunity, I’m going to tell everyone!)

3. Writing is work. Its a job like any other and you have to get dressed and off the couch.  Don’t spend the whole day procrastinating on Twitter (Bon Stewart & Tanis Miller)

Now that my primary employment is as a self-promoter, I have to treat that as a job so that I can get clients and then treat my work for them as a job.

4.  Set GOALS.  You cannot achieve anything if you don’t know what you’re working towards.  And you won’t know if you got there, if you didn’t know where you were going in the first place.

(Needs no elaboration)

5. You cant just make your content go viral.  You need to do something that will connect or resonate with people, even if its something silly like a cat typing. (The Viral panel)

So…umm. that’s probably why my video of me reading the newspaper in sunglasses didn’t really blow up.  Everybody knows how to read the newspaper.

6.  People really like the New Kids on the Block (btw I keep calling them the Backstreet Boys).

I learned this when Jordan Knight showed up at Blissdom Canada and then some of my fellow Blissdom’ers almost fainted.  I know nothing about the New Kids on the Block (Except now I can’t get that that one phrase ‘Backstreet’s Back OK’ out of my head, even though he’s from the NKOTB), but I took a picture with him anyways since I was dressed in a slutty orange satin dress.

7. Love what you do.  Be yourself. Don’t align yourself with a brand or philosophy just for the money.  Don’t compromise on that, amongst all the other compromises in the world, your integrity and self-love are non-negotiable (Publishing panel)

I keep saying that stuff, and now I want to believe it.

8.  Women know how to party, particularly me. (My husband & his friend when they picked me up at the costume party)

I was so glad that my hunky hubby could come and meet some of the Blissdom-ers.  He particularly realized that I’m not any crazier than anyone else, which is a good thing.  He also thought I looked really sexy in my Chongalicious costume which actually concerns me.

9. I’m even more forgetful than I thought I was, having left my brand new flat Iron, and my Mac Book at the hotel when I left, plus my sweater and other sundry items in my room.

10.  I am willing to do anything for a cheap laugh.  Case in point:

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: , ,

The pathetic explanation for my blog holiday

August 22, 2011 By

An open letter to anyone who’s ever read my blog and wondered what happened to it.

Dear single blog reader:

Well, here it is. A long awaited post on my blog. Please don’t be bored, as I’m going to ramble for a bit and quite possibly you won’t care what I have to say.

I lost my bloggy mojo a few months ago, and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find it. It had disappeared, muddled in the detritus of my somewhat apathetic mind. I didn’t lose my marbles or anything-I continued on with my daily life, working, getting my kids ready for camp, going to yoga. But I seemed to misplace my zingy zesty self that feels the need to be reflected in the written word . And the longer I went without writing, the worse it got. You see, what I possess is the avoider of guilt syndrome, sometimes known as momprastination or to be more personal, Maraprastination. If I don’t do something I know I should do, instead of doing it, I just avoid doing it for longer. I erase it from my mind.

What my Maraprastination brain looked like when I thought about writing a blog post.

What spurred this bout of Maraprastination? It was a big glass of behind, shaken with a big juicy dose of shame thrown in for good measure. (Do you like the liquor references? I’m trying to be literary here)

Let me explain. So, my other blog, www.booksandbrands.wordpress.com was getting some good face time and I was offered a lovely brand new Explorer from Ford to drive, plus a gorgeously giant whack of books from publishers like HarperCollins and Simon and Schuster to review. Except, I never did it. I never wrote a thing. There’s the behind, and a bit of the shame. That’s not so bad, you say? You still tweeted about the books, you say? You weren’t so behind. We still like you.

My terrible awful shame

Well, wait till you hear the rest of the shame and then maybe you’ll change your tune. The rest of the shame is a Terrible Awful (a The Help reference. Go see the movie. For sure read the book. You won’t be sorry).

You may notice some of your favorite blog posts missing from this site. This is because I removed them. I referenced my work life in them-in a very sarcastic way. This was very unprofessional of me, and nevermind made me look like a total misfit and dork. As well, I found that I was making you, dear lonely single reader, laugh at my own expense. This self-depracating humour was not shining a flattering light.

All of this made me feel shame. The kind that makes you hide in your bed. The kind that, if my Dad had been alive, would have caused him to berate me upside down and backwards. For like 10 hours. At least.

So, that is the cause of the Maraprastination. And this post is the end of the Maraprastination. I will start writing again. Hopefully I’ll still make you laugh, or sometimes tug at your heart strings. But, I will also try not to look stupid. Because I’m not. I’m a smart woman-person. And I think you’ll like me, you’ll really like me (Sally Field reference…)

So, keep reading. Tomorrow you may hear about my dog toileting problems. Poop is always funny.

Love,

ChickyMara

PS if my Twitter bestie @suzieswapper who tells it like it is and writes at www.wrestlingwithinvesting.com and www.spaghettiandspanx.com hadn’t forced me to write this, I wouldn’t have. So thanks. I owe you!

Filed Under: Life, Life Lessons Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tuesdays. A Short Story (by my son) Part 1

March 29, 2011 By

My Dad always said I shouldn’t over-promote my kids.  I say, Why the heck not!?!!?!  Here’s an original Short Story by my middle spawn, fondly known as Bubba.

(He’s now mortified that I posted it, but completely flattered at the same time. And people…that’s how you parent. Embarrass then praise;  horrify, then glorify.)

TUESDAYS

Sunday, January 31st, the day I fell in love.  Monday, February 28th, the day my heart was broken.  Tuesday, March 1st, the day I died.  They say that the best day to go get your drivers licence is on a Tuesday.  This is because they say that Tuesdays are the least busy days of the week and nothing happens on Tuesdays.  I beg to differ.  Let me elaborate.

I don’t know why I did it, but something inside me pulled me to the phone to give Mackenzie a call.  It was the day after she had told me that she wanted an ‘Alpha Male’ and that I was a ‘Beta Male’.  It didn’t make sense to me;  what classifies an ‘Alpha Male’?  Im decent at sports, adept in musical arts, what else could she want?  Anyways, she neglected to answer the phone, and I know that she declined the call because it only rang twice before I lost connection.  I decided that it would be good for me to get out, so I proceeded to a diner to get something to eat and get my mind off things.  It was two o’clock in the afternoon, but dark as a dungeon. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to meniton that I am currently a citizen of Juneau, Alaska.  Here in Juneau, sometimes we don’t get much sun.  At this time of year, its dark most of the time.  I don’t mind it much.  I love lividng up here, although I don’t know anyone and its only been two months since I moved here.  I moved to Alaska for her.  Mackenzie.

I got to the diner and it looked empty to me.  But, the sign said ‘OPEN’ so I walked in.  As soon as I did, I regretted it.  Water rushed out of the door, engulfing my ankles in liquid.  There must have been a leak, I thought, and looking back on it now, what a stupid thought.

What happened next was the biggest mistake of my life.  If I could take anything back, it would be walking into that diner.  If only I could remember the name of the diner, I would sue them for my death.

So, why did I go in?  I figured that if I could get to the telphone behind the counter, I could just call the owners and inform them about the leak, especially since I was already wet.  No need for me and them to both be wet, right?  Thinking back, I wonder, “What was I such a good guy?”

I started trudging through the water, and was about three metres in when I stubbed my toe on a lump in the water.  Bending down to pick it up, I realized that it wasn’t an overturned chair or a coat left from a previous customer.  It was a body.

I was completely freaked out.

“What happened here?” I whispered to myself.

At that, the body, which I had assumed was deceased, sprung up from the floor and grabbed me by the forearm.  I yanked my arm away and ran, as fast as I could, through ankle deep water, and right to the door. 

But the door was somehow stuck closed and wouldn’t open.  The pressure from the water was preventing the hinges from letting the door move.  The next closest place to go was the bathroom.  The body was making its way toward me.  Not very fast, but it was still coming.

‘What are you doing?”  I asked him.

No response.  I started to freak out.  The night before I had watched a horror movie, and I was 99% sure that this man was not a man.  It was a zombie. 

The bathroom door swung open and I sped in, slamming it sharply behind me.  I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.  I looked in the mirror and washed my face.  This situation was so weird. 

As I turned to the left, I caught sight of a girl just huddled in the corner crying.  She had been sitting there silently since I walked in.  It was Mackenzie. 

Tuesdays with Zombies

Stay tuned…. for the riveting next installment of  TUESDAYS

Filed Under: Fiction, Teenagers Tagged With: , , ,