I started a project back in May with a website called Odyssey Authors. It’s a collaborative writing site with a few other fun things thrown in. The website had a major facelift recently, and interest is growing. The admin just sent current members an email this morning saying:

Holy cow the site is blossoming like Blossom from the TV show Blossom!
These last few days have been a masterful success for Odyssey Authors. With
our new site design and our recharged advertising campaign the site is
starting to fulfill the vision we all had for it when we first created it.

We’re right on the tipping point, ladies and gentlemen. All we need is a
few more days of your continued activity while new people are checking us
out. Take a look around the site, make a couple posts, be generally jolly.
The chat rooms are back up, so maybe hop in there and see what’s crackin’.

As always I <3 you all. Thanks for your dedication to our cause!

I was proud to have the first Odyssey and to see a contribution. It’s way past my turn to write the next chapter. Feel free to stop by and even join. They are a great crowd.

This was the story as I wrote the first chapter. Notes and background information are available at the link.

The Story Thus Far:

Rick absent-mindedly thumbed through the change in his pocket as he walked into work. As a general practice, he parked in the very last row of the parking lot in order to get a bit more exercise. Combined with the habit of always taking the stairs, he hoped that he was burning a least a few of the calories coming from the muffin he ate for breakfast.

About halfway to the entrance, he began to get a dull headache behind his eyes. As a distraction, he pulled out a coin from his coat pocket hoping it was a quarter. He didn’t collect the 50 state quarters, but he found it distracting enough to see which states he had collected while going about everyday life. He hoped it would be a new Montana quarter.

To his surprise, he found the weathered image of King Kamehameha I staring back at him. Reading the state motto, Ua mau ke ea o ka‘aina i ka pono, his headache worsened when he considered its meaning. Pausing to get a deep breath of the chilly morning air, he put the Hawaii quarter back in his pocket and fished for ibuprofen in his other pocket.

Looks like a three-pill day, he muttered to himself as he swallowed them. Rick did not like swallowing them without a drink of some kind, but there’s no water fountain or anything else until he comes off the stairs on the third floor.

He thought to himself about the assorted paper-pushing projects sitting on his desk and let out a groan. He comforted himself that it was Thursday and that the weekend was near. Walking steadily, he made it to the front door and turned to take the stairs alone.