Sera Ashling's Blog

For Day 19 of the #31daywritingchallenge, I wanted to write another cool and creepy short... but nothing is stupider than throwing up all night long, which is what I did last night. Ugh. I hate you, stomach flu. It's 2 PM and all I've managed to stomach is a cup of water and a small granola bar. Go awaaaay.

So this will have to be my writing for 19. I'll try to scrounge the energy for something a little more creative tonight, once my stomach stops rolling.

Day 18 of the #31daywritingchallenge! An October-themed short story. *ghost sounds*

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“Over here,” Jeremy said.
The trees in the woods were dark and richly colored, heavy with thick pines and firs. Jeremy’s sneakers crunched through the needles and twigs on the forest floor as he trudged beneath them, hiking up his bookbag a little higher. He pointed at a ring of uneven stones on the ground, rectangular and clearly manmade, but old. They were so overgrown, the boys could barely make them out....

For Day 17 of the #31DayWritingChallenge, Halloween-themed. Creepy families be creepy.

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We Keep Him In The Basement
Kaylin can’t come over,not today, Mommy says.Today is Dinner Day;today Brother gets fed.That’s a shamebecause I don’t like Kaylin anyway.
Daddy’s coming home earlyto bring the feast,and I get to feed him today.My first time feeding Brother!I’m a big girl now; soon maybe me and Brothercan even play.
Daddy brings her in,snot gumming up her nose.They’re always like that,dirty, but B...

For Day 16 of the #31daywritingchallenge, since it's the midway-ish mark, I'm going to take a second to talk about how the challenge is going and what I'm learning.



It's been very different from the first time I did this challenge in January. Beyond just the stuff I've already mentioned, like being busy with Halloween orders from my online store and getting sick. I've clearly had to play catch up way too often this month, but I'm still improving and learning a lot with the experience.

The first...

Alright, finally writing on the correct day! Hopefully it will stay that way, because it's much easier, but there's some sickness going around the house, so no guarantees. Here's Day 15 for the #31daywritingchallenge, October-themed! It's finally getting cold out here. I love fall.

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Groundhog Day
I walk the same pathas I have done again and again.Down the hallto the old piano,right at the staircase…and I hear the cry.Again and again.I know what I'm going to seebut I pretend I don't.The thump...

For Day 14 of the #31daywritingchallenge. Sorry for the dump all at once, just needed to catch up again after a couple busy days. But! Time for some flash fiction instead of a poem. This one was slightly inspired by one of the two-sentence horror stories I wrote back near the beginning of the challenge.

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Lacey knew there was a monster in her mirror.
Sometimes—only sometimes—there was a creature that pretended to be her, moving with her movements, but always a little off. If she washed her ha...

For Day 13 of the #31daywritingchallenge, October-themed!
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We of the Forest
Pitter patterand the rain is coldand the wind makes it colder,and he’s just a little thing,rolled up in the heather,at the base of old Father Oak,shivering longunder his sheltering leaves.
Such a beautiful thing.
His breath is like fogand his eyelashes frost,and we curve around our treethinking maybe he’s lost.Which foolish mortallet him run astray?We slink down the trunkswirling, singing,to see if he wants to play.
-サラ...

For Day 12 of the #31daywritingchallenge! October-themed~
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Love Bites
Lovemakes you strange,makes you a stranger,makes you a beast.It has made me.
Teethsink into flesh,sink into veins,sink into heart,that pumps love my way.
I’ve never been more powerfulor afraid.What love gives,it also takes away.

-サラ sera ashling

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Well, I've been keeping up with the writing, but not so much with the posting. Busy is busy. Time to swarm a couple posts all at once again. Here's for Day 11 of the #31daywritingchallenge!
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When Death Showed Itself
I saw it waiting for me on the stairs.Death, I thought,in a veil of long white hair.I spent all daytrying to avoid stepping there.Finally I had to passthe shade of yesterdayswith its porcelain skinof dust and bones,and eternal, eyeless stare.I had barely made it pastwhen its voic...

An entry for Day 10 of the #31daywritingchallenge! This one is an older one I wrote back in college, that just really needed a good edit to make it what it was supposed to be. Still going with the Halloween-ish themes. I love Mrs. Ramona! I love to practice writing different kinds of people when I do these poems and short stories, getting down their voices and mannerisms in a way that feels more legitimate, and Mrs. Ramona was one of my earlier attempts that always makes me smile.

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