Writing Time

Editor's note: updated regularly to include new additions from the Twitter thread.
Another Editor's note: October is "horror fiction" month. Though not my usual genre, I've done my best to capture the spirit in the selections below.

After 20+ years as a tech CEO, I have decided to return to an early love; creative writing. While I work privately to produce, and hopefully publish, some of my work, I am also participating in a fun public creative writing challenge. The Very Short Story Twitter project is a large community of writing professionals who post daily mini-stories (only 280 characters long) based around a monthly theme and a daily prompt word.

I've decided to spend the month of October posting daily stories in the voice of one of the characters from my longer, super-secret work in progress. It will be a fun way to challenge myself daily to peer into the mind of my heroine and experience life (and horror themed prompt words) from her perspective.

You can follow my mini stories at: https://twitter.com/pamohara
You can follow all of the #VSS365 stories on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/hashtag/vss365

My Story (as VSS365 tweets):

10/01: I’m 15 years old w/16 #nights left to live. Do I dive into darkness to unravel a madman’s tangled mind? Build a fortress around my life, leaving others to suffer slaughter? Or live my lifetime of love in a few remaining days? Help me decide.

10/02: Although I sense the early notes of the chilling screen music foreshadowing my #murder, I feel compelled to inch forward. I know the evil that is here, so must find him & fight. No watching through the safety of the door cracks as others perish.

10/03: Silently walking down the hallway, I anticipate the pools of #blood that will soon stain these sterile floors. I must find the madman before he unloads his bullets of rage. I know he’s coming for us. He doesn’t know I’m coming for him.

10/04: There’s no #organ music playing in my horror story. A street smart poet w/grit & guns sings of survival, inspiring me forward to face the mad killer. Armed w/only a sharp blade & a bad bitch tune, I head for the fatal fight.

10/05: I’m willing to take #away the shooter’s life to save my own & my friends. Entering the classroom where he’ll unload his rage, I wait silently, contemplating the depravity I’ll need to stop the depraved one.

10/06: I’m not alone in this empty room. The short, sharp gasps of someone trying not to breathe break the silence. Is it the #demon, or another come to fight him w/ me?

10/07: “J?” I ask the darkness, tightening my grip on the steel blade behind my back, terrified I’ll need to use it.  “Is that you?”

“I’m here,” he responds. “We’re all here.”

The whispered oaths of reinforcements is #music to my ears.

10/08: The smell of thrift store grunge w/a kick of #perfume tells me my army of girlfriends are here. I wait, emboldened by their silent support, for the killer to arrive.
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To learn more about the release of the full novel, please follow me on Twitter at @pamohara