It’s been a busy week, helping my in-laws organize a project (more about that later), running after Vivian, and everything, but I’m pleased to say that I managed to get a number of writing projects out of the way. It’s mostly freelance journalism stuff, but it’s still writing and it feels good.

I’ve also written two pieces of, essentially, fan fiction, one relating to Doctor Who and the other relating to Fathom Five (yes, I think it’s possible to write fan fiction for your own universe). I don’t often do short pieces, so I was pleased to have been able to make the time for these two. Short fiction is an excellent way to keep your fingers nimble and our mind alert, but I’ve been spending too much time on my blog to really pursue anything here. Now you know why my blogging has been a little intermittent this month.

The Doctor Who short story (really short) is entitled Comparing Notes, and I have it stored over at my long derelict LiveJournal. This tale was inspired by Captain Jack’s first meeting with the tenth Doctor in Utopia, and the Doctor’s constant disapproval over Jack’s out-of-control sex appeal. The Doctor is one to talk, isn’t he? Read the story to see what happens, and you’re welcome to tell me what you think.

But the Fathom Five fan fiction story is a longer, more serious (but still funny, I hope) short piece entitled The Great Man-to-Man Talk. I wrote this story after some fellow writers, critiquing Fathom Five, questioned whether it was realistic that Rosemary’s father would so shamelessly tease Peter about being Rosemary’s boyfriend. Would a father so gleefully encourage a young man to become romantically attached to his daughter, they asked?

Well, my answer was that Rosemary’s father was teasing Peter and Rosemary because, while they were close, they weren’t romantically attached. That attitude would likely change once he realized that Peter and Rosemary were serious. But how so? Given that Rosemary’s father liked to play the cliché of the father asking potential suiters ‘what are your intentions toward my daughter’, I thought his reaction would be quite amusing, and this is the result.

In other news, Fathom Five received a glowing review from the Teen Book Review site TeensReadToo. Thanks to Carrie Spellman for giving me a wonderful ego boost!