Thread by @MaryRobinette

My flight is delayed. I'm trapped for the next several hours.

The Writing Excuses cruise has scholarships & I'd like to able to offer more.

Donate via paypal to [e-mail] as SCHOLARSHIP, report back and I'll write a microfiction.

writingexcuses.com/2020/01/06/wxr…

If we raise enough to add a fifth scholarship (about $2000), I'll read everything aloud that I write.

Add a sixth? I read them again. With my phone sex voice.

And if you fund a scholarship all by yourself?

I'll write a 250-word piece of flash and mail that sucker to you.

Oh-- and since I know some folks are shy about telling people that they are donating, you can message me via my website, which I'll see faster.

maryrobinettekowal.com/contact/

If you want to give @WritingExcuses ongoing support, this is our Patreon.

patreon.com/WritingExcuses

We pay our instructors, but the core cast volunteers to teach. The money from that goes to the operating costs of the podcast and to scholarships.

@WritingExcuses John frowned at the playback from his electronic drums. There was a subtle doubled beat happening on the cymbal, but he'd been using a brush. It sounded good, but WTF?

Turning back to the drum kit, he tried again, paying more attention.

And his kitten batted at the brush.

END

@WritingExcuses The rhinoceros sighed over his reflection in the watering hole. The other male rhinos had luxurious eyelashes. Not him.

A tourist car stopped to take photos. He charged half-heartedly and they fled.

Nosing about the things they dropped...Mascara?

WHY DIDN'T HE HAVE THUMBS!!!?

@WritingExcuses Bartholomew was known to his friends as Mew. His skills included interpretive shedding, hairball sculpture, Post-Post-Modern Furniture in the deconstruction aesthetic and demon hunting.

He was currently working on mastering an escape room.

"BARTHOLOMEW! GET! IN! THE! CARRIER!"

@WritingExcuses Interrupting the stories to add an FAQ:

Q. How much do I have to donate to get micro-fiction?
A. There's no bottom limit. Every dollar helps.

Q. Will you use my name?
A. If you ask me to.

Q. Why a rhinoceros?
A. It was requested.

@WritingExcuses The rhinoceros carried mascara in his prehensile lips. He peered over his shoulder to the birds on his back. "Jeff, got a minute?"

The oxpecker flitted to his horn. "Yes?"

"Could you?"

The little bird applied the mascara carefully.

Another rhino farted their approbation.

@WritingExcuses Q: Really?! The cute little birds on the backs of the rhinocerous are called oxpeckers?
A: Yes. Really. Also, they drink blood.

Q: Did you already know that or did you do research to write a 240 character story?
A: I plead the fifth.

@WritingExcuses The astronaut pressed her shadow puppets against the thick glass of the cupola. Against the vivid backdrop of Earth, tiny silhouettes acted out an age-old story of a broken bridge.

Officially, it explored applications for human prosthesis in space.

But mostly, it was fun.