July Magpie Monday!

[dialecticdreamer]

Welcome to the July Magpie Monday!

Yes, it's BACK!

Because an appointment dragged on interminably, I'm posting this nooon(ish) on Monday. That means I'll be accepting prompts through Wednesday, 12 July at midnight, just so everyone has plenty of time to participate!

Here's how the magpie gathers story ideas, bright and shiny as new pennies: first, someone gives me a prompt (or more than one, in which case I'll pick among them) and I write 500 words minimum. For those who boost the signal by advertising Magpie Monday in their corner(s) of the Internet, I'll add a hundred words per signal boost. How do know about it?

The readers reply to this post for their prompts, or signal boosts (or both), and include links to the site. If this is your first Magpie Monday, let me know and you'll get an extra five hundred words. (My usual stories are running in parts of 1k-1500 words right now.)

What's the theme for this month? Moments of courage.

Everyone has a moment where they can choose the easy thing, or the hard thing. Today, the hard thing was facing a phlebotomist to have blood drawn, when I honestly think that leeches might be preferable! So, the moment of courage can be large or small, and since the emphasis in my stories tends to be comfort and growth, the reader can be assured of happy endings.

Because every penny of tips is spent on medical expenses, I want to say thank you in advance, again. For anyone who can spare it, there's a Paypal link below, and this is the only time I ask for such tips.

Let's get the ball rolling by asking a question: which character do you think /needs/ to face a moment of courage, and what kind? (That'll get the brain going!)

The Magpie is closed to prompts as of midnight, 13 July 2017. I am always grateful for tips, however. Do expect a follow-up report with word counts and brief teaser summaries for each of the un-posted stories, very soon!

Comments

[alexseanchai]

bump

[Singular 3rd pronoun of your choice, preferably not 'he', goes here] is utterly terrified of getting the thing [pronoun] wants most in the world.

It's [Party Alpha]'s moment of courage, no question—but [Party Alpha] could not possibly [do / have done] it without a teeny push from [Party Beta].

Reading copy

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent! I'd love to work this into the cluster of people G and the others meet on the It's Your Body Shop trip!

Re: Reading copy

[alexseanchai]

*bounce*

It may be small, but the first step is always a doozy!

[capriuni]

Someone in a position of authority owns up to (a small) moment of privilege/bigotry -- a first step to breaking out of that.

(And of course leeches are easier -- they've evolved to take your blood without you even noticing ... 'cause otherwise, they'd be eaten before they've finished eating. Talk about awkward!)

Now, if bio-engineering could figure that trick out...

Re: It may be small, but the first step is always a doozy!

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent, I believe? Did it arrive?

Re: It may be small, but the first step is always a doozy!

[capriuni]

Yes-- did you not get my Thank You reply?

Prompts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Shiv dealing with the aftermath of Halley's boundary violation. It's not the first discovery that requires courage, because the first thing Shiv does will be throw a tantrum over the fact that someone he thought was decent did the same damn thing everyone does to him: dig for whatever they want, regardless of what he's willing to share. What takes courage is going back to Dr. G after the embarrassing meltdown and then trying to talk out what went wrong and what to do next. Which is going to suck, but will be fascinating to see.

Re: Prompts

[dialecticdreamer]

Well, I had to clear the boards, so to speak, and write the explosion. The /courageous/ part I'll tackle after some sleep. Your private copy of Shiv-Imitating-Vesuvius is in your email box!

Warning: there is barely enough comfort in there to warrant including the word to make the phrase "hurt/comfort." Oh, and the swearing filter broke!

[chanter_greenie]

I'm late late late, and for that I apologize, but it's... before midnight in time zones west of me?

Gingerblast: Memo realizes what's up with his potential ability. Bonus for good family support. I know this is a reach as far as the actual prompt goes, but I just sharding well like this young man and his family. :)

G Bishop standing up to a shipboard bigot (fellow passenger?), for Smoke/the teen formerly known as Ignacio's sake. Smoke/said teen need not be present, because the poor gal does not need more trauma. Maybe G's just got her in mind when standing up, rather than himself?

Kais Aslan makes a first attempt with flowers and luck. Bonus points for success.

plenty of time, chanter!

[dialecticdreamer]

Because an appointment really chewed into my morning, I'm keeping the Magpie open to prompts until Wednesday, midnight, Pacific time.

[alatefeline]

1. Trying to be brave in the same small way over and over, especially when it's invisible to everyone else because they expect you to just deal with the thing and have it not be a problem, can be exhausting.

2. Letting joy sweep through you can be courageous.

prompt fill sent

[dialecticdreamer]

I picked one of the two, but it was a /hard/ choice! Thank you for a great idea!

Re: prompt fill sent

[alatefeline]

Awesome!!! I loved the prompt fill you went for!

Re: prompt fill sent

[dialecticdreamer]

Grin!

That's the whole point of the Magpie!

Time to ASK for help!

[librarygeek]

Joshua, or someone else, asking for help, with something seemingly easy he's having problems with, right now.

I need help doing the grocery shopping, I don't have enough spoons to follow the list, self care, and NOT get autistic meltdown from the over stimulation and heart condition exhaustion.

I'm either slurring my words to the friend helping me, or need to hold the cart to not fall down. :-/

Re: Time to ASK for help!

[dialecticdreamer]

Sent, and I took you at your example because I've had the same problems (save for slurred words; they just STICK in my brain and I can't find them).

Have you ever driven from box store A to box store B in the next town because A is out of the electric carts??? Yep. It's that important to keeping my spoon usage tolerable!

Re: Time to ASK for help!

[dialecticdreamer]

Your reply was sent via PMs-three of them.

Re: Time to ASK for help!

[alatefeline]

Not currently, but I have been there with groceries and combined physical + mental illness + exhaustion. So. Would like to offer you virtually many MANY hugs.

Re: Time to ASK for help!

[dialecticdreamer]

Virtual hugs are always appreciated!

You'd like Bennett's plan for tamales, but that's another story...

(I'm not teasing; remind me in about a week to write that part of things, so it's "in the wings" for a day when I cannot start a multi-part story like the Monday before the Fishbowl.)

Re: Time to ASK for help!

[alatefeline]

*hugs*

Got it, I think...

[mama_kestrel]

Thank you for keeping the Magpie open!

1. Another for Shiv - accepting, if he can, a game offered offered as an act of contrition by Halley.

2. And for Halley, the act of courage involved in facing Shiv ever again, either to apologize or after - because super-intelligent or not, emotionally thon is still a child. Even once he's able to be calm in thon's presence, or facing thon's image, thon will be a a mess.

3. For Edwina, the acts of courage required to be herself in the face of social expectation and explicit family pressure after her parents' deaths.

4. For the Drs. Graham - letting Aida go scuba diving again! (Getting back on the horse is easy. Letting your kid get back on the horse? Not so much!)

I'm sorry the tip isn't more - I'll be able to do better soon, I hope.

Tips

[dialecticdreamer]

Don't apologize for any amount, please! I chose the word 'tips' very carefully for this: a tip is extra, but people forget that it represents more than just excellent service on one side. On the other side, it's money they can /spare/, above the cost of X, whatever that may be.

Every tip gets me a little closer to daylight in the medical expenses pit!

prompt fill sent

[dialecticdreamer]

Just in the nick of time!

Re: prompt fill sent

[mama_kestrel]

Received the set and love them. Even knowing that both Steel and Moderato are right there and giving Aida their full attention only helps so much....

Re: prompt fill sent

[dialecticdreamer]

You're a parent; you KNOW that the parents are all listening to their brain going "Nothing's going to happen. Nothing's going to happen!"

But having their heart stop every single time they worry that something IS happening that's out of the ordinary, well, that's parenting!

double the fun

[callibr8]

Warning: this is pure fantasy (i.e. has never actually happened, to me anyway). Confronting someone who has violated one's trust (such confrontation itself being a courageous act), *and* having that person [1] hear you out, respectfully and [2] show their own courage by realizing *and admitting* that they screwed up, and offer at least an apology, and possibly reparations.