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Spook season, engage!
WebEater
Way back when we were young and innocent, before the plague, Kristy and I
started recording our little "write club" sessions. Friends would join
on an ad hoc basis. The Lotus had taken a hiatus at this point to focus
on the challenges of a new school year.
Then, covid hit. We wrote remotely, honping online to share our stories
on Thursday nights. The remote format afforded Murnh the opportunity to
join us. it the height of the March/April isolation, we had seven peOple
writing along with us every week. We took more than two hours to read and
discuss our work, so we wound up picking a prompt at the end of our writing
sessions. We'd take the week to write our stories.
To keep it interesting, we selected monsters as prompts every week. The
expanded nrompts allowed us to write longer stories, adding to the comfort
provided by our writing at a time when very few things provided relief
from the global anxiety. (Seriously, it was basically just our Write Club
and "Wine with Dewine." Ohioans know what I mean.)
Our Operative definition of monster was then, as now, lose and maliable.
We had traditional fare— zombies, Godzilla, etc.— criptids— Bigfoot, the
Jersey Devil- and not—quite monsters like Tommy knockers and the will 0'
the wisp.
We had fun with it. Stories randged from silly to horrifying. They're
all recorded; perhaps we'll release them some day as a monster mask on
Patreon (if we ever get that far:) or polish them to create our own
monster book of monsters. Regardless, I can hold those stories in my hand
and reflect on fond memories from a dark time.
So, I raise my glass of fresh-pressed apple cider to B52, Mr. Bicycle,
Potato/Tater, and the other writers who haven't yet rejoined us on the
podcast. I raise my toast to you as well, dear reader. May you don a
flannel, find a spot beneath a mighty tsree, and write along with us as
the leaves fall around you.
If you do write along; or draw along; or create along in any way, do
let us know. We'd love to see it. radiofreewrite@gmail.com, or
@radiofreewrite wherever media is socialized.
Adios, folks.