Hi-ATE-Us!

Good mornin' y'all!

And it IS a good morning. Far better than yesterday, at any rate. The sky is clouded a pearly white, my house smells like oatmeal, and there are no invisible assassins in it.

Also, it is November. And I'm sure you know what that means.

IT IS NANOWRIMO TIME, PEOPLE!!! AND WE ARE BEHIND!!! SO BEHIND!!!

That is why we have very calmly and rationally decided to take a one month hiatus from 30 Min Mad. And I have helpfully prepared a list of suggestions to occupy you until December 1st, when we shall be up and running again!

If you feel BORED: Come and visit! I swear, this will banish all your boredom. We are very exciting people, even when we are all sitting in a row typing furiously and shushing each other. If you live too far away, follow me on Twitter! Or check out my personal blog. (I promise not to completely abandon it this month.) And if I'm not enough, well, here's Kiersten White, who is guaranteed to be far more entertaining and enlightening. And here is the lovely Lisa's blog, which has enough pictures of cute babies to make your head asplode. And here, completely unrelated, we have a happy kitten.

Do you still feel bored? If so, go clean your room.

If you feel DEMOTIVATED: Join us! NaNo is fun, I swear. It's not too late! There's also 750 Words, which is just like this blog but with no writing prompt and no social element and no strict time limit. But it's awesome anyway. It has become like my competitive journal.

If you still feel demotivated after doing NaNoWriMo and writing your 750 words, then you probably need serious help and this blog cannot give it to you. Go clean your room.

If you feel SAD: Hello? Halloween was just a few days ago! Bring on the chocolate!

Then you can also clean your room.

And if you feel OVERJOYED: What the heck are you doing reading this post? If you don't like the blog, you can go somewhere else. You don't have to wait for us to go on hiatus. Clean your room, lowlife.

Erm ... yeah. This post turned out rather longer than expected. And ... I think I sense an underlying theme. Perhaps a message from another plane. I'm going to go clean my room now. See y'all in a month!

Sarah's Bid For Authority

Now, I know I haven't been writing anything for these prompts lately. I've been hanging out at 750 Words and NaNoWriMo instead. *hangs head in shame* But I am here now, because I MUST present a writing prompt.

Today, dear friends/slaves, we will be continuing our terror theme. Only this terror? It involves darkness. And assassins. And possibly an urgent need for a bathroom. Write away. I will post my response below.

* * *

I cower in the darkness, breathing in the stale air trapped beneath my covers. It smells bad. And I'm talking really bad. Like, mountain-lion-who-hasn't-bathed-in-months bad. I swear I brushed my teeth.

Or did I? Perhaps all this, all the life I have been living for years, is just a dream. And the dream, the one that haunts me? It is reality.

I really don't want that to be true.

A floorboard creaks in the next room, and every muscle in my body is instantly tense. I close my eyes, trying to pray, but unable to wrench my focus from the violent death that probably awaits me. Do I get a last request? Because I would really like a trip to the bathroom right about now. Not that it really matters that I wet my bed, but I'd really prefer that the cops investigating my murder not have to deal with that mess. There will probably be blood and gore enough.

So I wait. And I wait and I wait and I wait, until, finally, I have to believe that nothing is going to happen. I am alive, and I am going to stay that way. And so, with a sigh of relief, I let the covers fall away from my face ... and stare straight into another one, right above my bed.

I scream. Loudly.

My little brother cracks up.

I sit straight up, clutching my pillow to my chest. "I ... You ..." I splutter.

"Got you!" he chortles. "You were scared, admit it."

That's it. This time, I am actually going to kill him. Or, you know, let Mom finish the job. I don't want my fingerprints on the body.

* * *

Oh drat. That just freaked me out even more. Well, it can't be too long until sunrise, can it? Can it?

*checks how long until sunrise*

For the record, I did not just swear.

Terror

Happy November, world! For those of you doing NaNoWriMo, like Mom is, today is a very big day! We wish you all the best in this adventure.

The writing prompt today is terror. As in, chased by fire. And dinosaurs. And brutal tyrants. And... well, you can come up with this one.