Why has my muse stirred my mind? Why now, when I am busy with a project that is moving ever nearer completion?

I'm grateful, but confused and frustrated by the timing.

May the words continue to flow, while they can...

#OGREsquire

The Line.

That which separates what can be, and what can't be.

No, not fiction.

Calendar and clock dominate as margins narrow.

Numbers, ever shrinking, continue to diminish and steer towards a nadir last experienced so long ago.

Patience.

May it suffice until fear, worry and stress are dispelled when nadir returns to a mere vague possibility.

#OGREsquire

"To do" lists are not very exciting, some might even say they're depressing little shits, and they will be if you constantly delete those things you've already achieved.

Got a long, long, long list for the development of my website and I'd be frustrated as hell if I hadn't kept the completed items on the lists and highlighted them in green.

Yes - there's a lot left to do...

BUT

I can clearly see how much I've already achieved - in spite having to learn PH from the ground up!

#OGREsquire

Solitude.
Intense and silent.

Alone with this constant companion.
Teen years wasted in a bedroom.
My only friend, the moon, bore the saddest of expressions such that I wrote of "The Sorrow of the Moon".

Maybe it knew of my loneliness.

Time has passed.
Now I understand her sadness.
She saw us as we are, not as we pretend to be.
And solitude, ever present, is comforting.

I'm not alone, but the sanctuary of isolation from those others, "them", ever summons me.

#OGREsquire

#WritingWonders 20 May: Do illicit substances play any role in your story?

"The Commonwealth Series" - Tommy McNulty.

The Galactic Corporate (unofficially) use Agent 257, aka "Death Wish", to suppress the human critical censor to make their footsoldiers fearless, even of death. Creating a dangerous adversary under any circumstances, even more so in the vacuum of space. (Published)

"The Warlord Series" - Tommy McNulty

Agent 257 is weaponised by a fugitive warlord. (In progress).

#OGResquire

Death's head clouds of billowing smoke loomed large, making the fleet appear toy-like as an immense coruscating conflagration pursued them at inconceivable speed.

#OGREsquire

** Passing Thoughts **

The wondrous isolation of unity, being just one amongst so many, is an island of peace and tranquility in the constant susurrus of multitudinous, oft conflicting, opinions.

Yet true peace comes only from the unity of the diverse entities that comprise our species.

In that place where there is true justice and differences are little more than passing comments, acknowledged and accepted.

May we all come to live in that ever elusive eutopia.

#OGREsquire

#MastoPrompt

An ancient tome for instructions.
A dark room, tall candles to border the circle around a pentagram.

Incantations muttered.
Chants repeated.
Ever faster, ever louder.

Then screams.

The #repercussions ?

None remained to tell.

#OGREsquire

#MastoPrompt

Happiness: a cape, or shawl (if you prefer), worn in celebration of those moments when good feelings outweigh the darkness.

Sadness: the pall or #shroud of darkness draws us towards the abyss that would consume everything.

For balance we must wear each with consideration for the consequences for ourselves, and for others.

#OGREsquire

#Horror365

The abandoned mausoleum called to them.
A call that could not go unanswered.
They neither knew, nor cared why the building had been sealed.

Breaking in wasn't easy.

The dust sparkling in the Sun's rays inhaled without notice, until the spores lodged in the lungs, hatched and became a psychotropic #fungus that nullified their critical censor.

That was when they came to understand why the building had been sealed with all residents still inside.

#OGREsquire

What's on my mind?

Social media really isn't my thing.
I'm not much of a social animal.

The bird site had better prompts, but came with soooooo much baggage (and is now owned/run by a moron).

Here there are fewer hashtags visible... hence, fewer posts.

Silence tends to reign... **sigh**

Never mind.

#OGResquire

#horror365

The perfect crime.
Deep sea fishing.
Private charter, late night departure, no crew and a couple of buckets of chum.
The whining had finally been silenced when I'd surrendered to the rage she always provoked.
Over the depths I poured the contents of the buckets, then settled in for the night.

A vile stench awakened me to find her reconstituted shredded features capped by #seaweed facing me in the cabin.
"I told you I'd never leave you..."

#OGResquire

@Jaden2

I can't speak for others, but for me... having a start point and an end point makes the writing process much easier.

Filling the gaps isn't easy, but it is easier to fill gaps rather than the gaping maw of the abyss lurking where the end of the story should be.

Oh, and a story may require a single book, a series or several series to finish the telling.

#OGResquire

#horror365

The darkness.
The fear.
The adrenaline rush of the pursuit.
Instinct overriding logic to make the best decisions.
Near misses.
Close calls.
Heart pounding.
Weariness suppressed.
Left.
Right.
Over.
Under.
Through where necessary.
The pack relentless.
Your only goal?

To #survive.

#OGResquire

Time for a poll - related to Professor Snagglebeard.

Assuming you've read the introduction - should I continue? If yes, with what frequency?

Thank you for any/all replies to this poll.

#OGResquire

#Almanac Page 1

Dear apprentice,

Welcome to the start of your training in the mystical arts of magic.

Before you get excited about being given free rein in what you probably imagine to be a book of spells, I must disappoint you.

The Almanac is not a manual, but a guide intended to kerb, but not eliminate your enthusiasm.

I will not go into specifics as the details will be provided in the practical classes associated with your education in magic.

Professor Snagglebeard.

#OGResquire

@TashPoetry

Pain.
An uncomfortable reminder of our sentience.
Better than the numb silence of the depths of the abyss, though it would seem not by much.
Feeling something reminds us that we are open to stimuli.
When pain gives way to better sensations... that is what we seek.
May peace, tranquility, comfort replace that which you feel now, and remove the weight of your burden.

#OGResquire

#Horror365

Verdant pastures turned to dust.
Trees rake the skies with with clawed, leafless branches.
Crumbling pillars of concrete mark the end of a civilisation whose home became a ransacked #mausoleum with bones strewn upon the ground.
Ancient writing told of their inability to prevent their demise as their folly was endemic to their culture.
Their god was a thing they called money.
But even the wealthiest could not lie their way to survival.

#OGResquire

@strange_aeons

#Horror365

The house was clean.
Immaculately so.
Everything where it should be.
Except the owner.

No one concerned themselves with the small pile of ash on the hearth of the inglenook #fireplace.

Beneath which lay a charred pair of soles.

Combustion can be so... spontaneous!

#OGResquire

@TashPoetry

A degree of uncertainty is to be expected as we develop and grow, expand beyond what we were to become what we can be.

We were all rough outlines once, I have had many drafts, been overwritten many times.

Now, I am more complete than ever, but I cannot be sure if I will ever be the "finished product".

May your growth be welcoming and prove fruitful.

#OGResquire