Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Before we get started—note that today is Transgender Day of Visibility. Please take this time to write letter to a legislator, or just talk to people, or join a march. I've been having fun with the adventures of James Campbell with Aunt Gertrude MacDonald at Campbell Castle! Follow the links to Parts I to III , Part IV, and Part V . This week I didn't get any inspiration from the #WritePhoto prompt, so I turned to my own photos of castles in Scotland. When last seen, the motley crew of defenders of the last free castle in Scotland (maybe) were working out how to withstand a siege--or to end it--with a few antique weapons and a set of over-sized chess pieces. Photo by Rebecca M. Douglass About 850 words. Part VI: Breaking the Siege Gertrude MacDonald was peering over the parapet, only half hidden behind one of the crenellations. James Campbell came up beside her.   “Careful of showing yourself. Their weapons have a crazy long range.”   “Perhaps.” ...

Last month I combined a couple of #WritePhoto prompts and stories for a single tale of castles and aliens. You can read that here . This week, though I missed Friday (I really missed Friday. Thanks to working on my taxes, it never even crossed my mind about a Friday post), I have another installment for the intrepid defenders of Earth, at the base somewhere in Scotland. That's because last week's prompt (which I missed entirely) was a cannon, aimed out an embrasure. Continuing with my imaginary castle this week, James Campbell and his motley crew are preparing for another attack. Image by KL Caley, New2Writing.com IV   Preparing for a Siege The aliens had gone—for now. James Campbell wasn’t naïve enough to believe that driving them from this one castle one time was enough to save them. What was going on outside—beyond the castle and the village—was anyone’s guess. Radio signals had stopped a few days after they defeated the aliens.   Okay, a few days after Gertrud...

Photo by KL Caley Participating in the weekly #WritePhoto blog hop at KL Caley's New2Writing blog.  I'm a little late with this--expect more of the same this week, and next, but I'll put up a post when I think about it :)  Meanwhile, everyone enjoy the holidays of your choice (me, I'm a little inclined to choose them all, especially any with food associated). Today, in 530 words, we have a little Christmas story for you. Carriage   “Careful how you stow those things.” The order wasn’t necessary, but he gave it anyway.   “Are you sure this is going to work?” That was Crocus, always questioning his judgement. Questioning everyone’s judgement, to be fair. Crocus couldn’t take anything as a given, which he supposed wasn’t all bad.   “I’ve tested the horses. They’ll do.”   “Why can’t the reindeer—” Crocus started to ask.   “They need snow. The bare stones and pavements hurt their feet. Hooves,” he corrected himself. T...

Photo credit: KL Caley I am writing this for the weekly #WritePhoto challenge by KL Caley at New2Writing.com. Read all about it and join in if you'd like!   This week's offering is a quick read at 415 words.   Woodland Crossing   “Oh, look! A stream neither of us has fallen into yet!” My sister gives me a dirty look. “Hush! That’s just tempting fate.” She puts her hands over her mouth, then her ears, like the speak-no-evil monkey. We both laugh as we approached the stream. “I’m sure we’ve nothing to worry about with a little trickle like this. It’s barely two inches deep.” “It’s too wide to step over, though.” Sis studies the damp-looking rocks sticking up out of the middle, trying to decide if she can cross it without getting her feet wet. Me, I’m thinking about some of the streams I’ve fallen into. They were mostly big, fast, full of snowmelt or glacial run-off. Go big or stay home, as they say. I don’t intend to fall into this di...

 Photo Credit K.L. Caley I am writing this for the weekly #WritePhoto challenge by KL Caley at New2Writing.com. Read all about it and join in if you'd like! Kind of a fun challenge this time. It's exactly 1000 words. Past the Tower Tommy and Beth stood and gazed up at the tower-topped entrance to the castle grounds, their mouths slightly open. It looked just like they would expect a castle gate to look.    “You think we’re supposed to just walk in?” Tommy tried not to sound scared, but he wasn’t sure he’d managed. Bethy could always tell, anyway. His older sister put her arm around him.   “The letter said this is where we come, and we’ll be starting our new lives.” If Beth worried that the letter was all a fakement, she kept it to herself. Were there such a things as princes and princess these days? They didn’t have anywhere else to go, unless they stayed at the orphanage. The letter said they belonged here. What was the worst that could happ...

Image credit KL Caley I am writing this for the weekly #WritePhoto challenge by KL Caley at New2Writing.com. Read all about it and join in if you'd like! I have decided to try my best to join in on this hop again, and while this photo is particularly challenging in my opinion (there's a lot of empty space there... what's that tractor up to?), I think I can pull off a bit of something, so here goes. Super short, just over 300 words. Farmer's Revolt Jane Amelia was bored. Bored, bored, bored, bored. She’d driven the tractor across this field a hundred times, trying hard to keep the rows straight and even, as her father had instructed her. And for what? She left neat rows of cut hay for the next bored driver with the rake, then the baler, while she moved on to the next field, and the next, and the next. World without end, amen. The house was just over there, behind the trees that kept the yard separate from the fields. She could go home, have a cup of coffee a...

A little fun flash fiction this week in response to a lovely picture from KL Caley of New2Writing.com for this week’s #writephoto prompt. Here's the scoop: Every Thursday KL Caley posts a photo prompt, and you have until Tuesday to post. Any kind of writing, poetry, flash fiction, haiku, whatever the photo inspires. Since I'm pretty busy just now, mine's not quite 300 words of pure goofiness.     Saturday Night at the Tidepool Sam the hermit crab was having a great night. He’d headed on down to the Tidepool after work for a few drinks a bit of kootchie-koo, and it was working out as hoped. Heck, he’d even managed to make a date for the following night with a promising she-crab with a suggestive tilt to her shell. For a hermit crab, or really for any sort of crab, Sam was a social being. He loved to hang out with the Limpets, who were surprisingly good company if a bit clingy. The Minnows were chatterers, but made a nice background noise if you just ignored them for the mos...

Many thanks to KL Caley for running the weekly #WritePhoto challenge ! How it works:  Each Thursday KL Caley posts a photo, and participants post their response by the following Tuesday.  There is no word limit and no style requirements, except that your post must take inspiration from the image and/or the prompt word given in the title of the post.  If you participate, link back to the WritePhoto page at new2writing.com  *** Since I've been a little busy and distracted, my entry today is a haiku. Innundation Green man preserve us! Streams long lost to open air Breaking through the wall?   Your turn next!  ©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2021  As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated. Enjoyed this post? Avoid missing out on future posts by  following us .

I had to pull it together at the last minute, but I couldn't pass up this week's #writephoto prompt from KL Caley at New2Writing.com , because the photo is mine!    Through the Portal It was just a walk in the park. Lady Wilhemina Anscott-Bartleby, known to her friends as Willie and to all the old biddies as “that dreadful daughter of Lord Bartleby, poor man,” snuck out of the house as soon as the rain stopped. Three days shut up with the family and her parents’ dreadful friends was more than enough. Fresh air was required. To avoid problems with servants and relations, she dressed in boy’s clothes and snuck out the back door, her outfit crowned by the most disreputable newsboy’s hat. Actually, Willie knew Tommy for a perfectly respectable newsboy with an excellent reputation. What’s more, he had a head for business. He’d driven a hard bargain about that hat. She’d ended up not only paying him full replacement costs but an extra charge for the time he’d spent breaking it in f...

As always, thanks to KL Caley of New2Writing.com for the weekly #WritePhoto prompts! A photo and a word, and off we go. Have a look at the other offerings either linked in the comments of the Thursday lunchtime prompt post , or in the round-up this Thursday.   This week's word is Subsea   Photo by KL Caley   Since I'm so deep in working on my novel, I didn't want to write a full-length flash. I came up with a sorta silly hiaku instead. Subsea The rainbow’s end fell Into the fish bowl and spilled. Which fish ate the gold?   Now it's your turn!