:: one-shots and articles ::
Written: September 2005
Word Count: 1,985
Rating: G
“Are you kidding me?” He let out a harsh
bark of laughter. “Angel, put it this way – my family isn’t exactly rich. I’ve
got three brothers and three sisters, my dad’s an electrician, and my mom’s a
teacher. The mechanic that looked at my car wanted about five hundred dollars
to fix it, and I would have needed maybe an extra hundred, maybe two hundred
dollars to get myself back home. We don’t exactly have that much money lying
around. I couldn’t in good conscience do that to my parents, not after all
they’ve done for me.”
Written: November – December 2005
Word Count: 3,193
Rating: G
I had last seen my family at the end of
August, which was the price I had paid for choosing to go to college overseas.
Why I hadn’t followed the lead of my older brother and attended college closer
to home, I still wasn’t sure, and had spent almost every free moment of my
first week at college wishing I had
gone down that path. This was the first time since my arrival in Manchester
that I’d had any doubts, and I wasn’t yet sure if it was because of the
upcoming holiday season that those doubts were resurrecting themselves, or if
it was my mind playing tricks on me. No matter the cause, I needed to deal with
them – and fast.
Written: March 2007
Word Count: 1,943
Rating: G
But guiding Taylor had been her choice,
and hers alone. When she had seen him for the first time eighteen years
earlier, looking up at her with those same sad blue eyes, she’d known it was
meant to be. None of the other guides had wanted anything to do with him, for
reasons known only to them. Aurelia had volunteered, and had taken Taylor under
her wing. And despite resolving not to get emotionally involved, the child had
captured her heart. It was going to be the hardest day of her life when she had
to let him go.
Written: March 2007
Word Count: 830
Rating: G
I turned around to face Charlotte, my
best friend since we had been in preschool, taking in the slightly maniacal
grin on her face and the glint in her dark brown eyes. “You said you wanted to
try something different for once – well, this is it.” She clapped me on the
shoulder. “Come on. Max’ll get you fitted up, and then up the cliff we go.” She
fixed me with a hard gaze. “And I swear to God Taylor, you chicken out and
I’ll-”
Written: November 2009
Word Count: 7,698
Rating: M
I sat there
silently as Mr. Reynolds examined the ring, dreading his response more and more
as the seconds ticked by. I knew very well that being in our mid-twenties,
Isobel and I were more than old enough to marry without permission, but at the
same time I was well aware that Isobel’s parents could make things very
difficult for us if they so chose to. Isobel’s mother liked me, I knew that
much was true, and so I was certain she would have no objection to our marriage.
It was her father that I was worried about.
An Aussie In The Hanson Brothers’
Court
Written: December 2009
Word Count: 1,484
Rating: G
Like many other Hanson fans, I was nearly
thirteen years old when I heard MMMBop for the very first time. For me, it was
a Saturday morning in the middle of May 1997. But unlike many other fans, I
didn’t see the MMMBop video on MTV. My very first sighting of Isaac, Taylor and
Zac Hanson was on a TV show called Video Hits – an institution of Australian TV
and the Australian music industry since June 1986.
Written: October 2010
Word Count: 436
Rating: PG
But there was no backing out of this.
My mother had long described me as one of the most stubborn and hard-headed
people alive, which meant that once I set my mind to something I followed it
through until its conclusion. This was no exception to that particular rule.