This is a Different Kind of Story Behind the Story.

Janko Ferlic on Unsplash

Yesterday Frazzled published my most recent humor piece, Your Child Is Creepy Good. Frazzled is a publication on the Medium platform, and Creepy Good Child was selected for what is known as the Boost Program there. That means the powers that be at Medium will provide it with additional promotion, leading, presumably, to greater readership. Which is always gratifying. 

Seriously, I have no idea how I came up with this story.  I can tell you, though, it began in December during my annual Advent/Holiday Hell Project. During Advent, which, okay, is the month of December, I don't try to work on anything major or even work on anything regularly. Instead, each day I try to start a flash or humor piece. Your Child Is Creepy Good was one of last year's starts. I found it a couple of weeks ago when I was looking for something to work on.

 I'm not making a major effort to publish regularly at Medium anymore, because readership has plummeted. I'm casting my net wider now, as I'm sure I've mentioned here before. However, I'd already done a lot on Creepy Good Child back in December. The big changes/additions involved the teacher/narrator's hostility. That was significant, but it wasn't weeks of work. Because I didn't have to spend a great deal of time on this, because I thought it would work for Frazzled, and because I've had good experiences with Frazzled, I went ahead and submitted it. It was well worth it.

Of my twenty-five 2024 Advent/Holiday Hell Project starts, I've had three published, submitted one, and have a couple I'm working on. That makes the Advent/Holiday Hell Project a success story as far as I'm concerned.