The End of #WorldsEnd -- *sniffle*

If you haven't already, scroll down to my blogroll on the side-margin, and find the blog titled A Beginning, an End, and all that Lies Inbetween.  Now read the title of the latest post.  Yep!  That's me.  My story finally went live on Wednesday night.  Oh my gosh what a thrill ride!  Minutes after J tweeted that it was published, my twitter exploded with commentary from other writers.  It was so much fun.  I've never publicly aired a story before, so this was a whole new world for me.  It felt strange to know that others were reading something I had written.

Oh, and J wrote a very sweet bio about me too...check it out here:  Introduction to Gumball by Jodi Leigh.  

AND for a complete list of all the #WorldsEnd stories, including author bios, check out this entry by my twitter pal, Rob Kristoffersen (us #WorldEnd-ers call him Huggy Bear): #WorldsEnd - The Compilation.

The story I wrote, "Gumball," should sound familiar, because I used the story of Elijah's endless childhood search for a free gumball as the inspiration for my story.  Something about the way he never gave up his search for that stupid gumball, and how his faith was rewarded in the end, seemed to be the perfect symbol of hope for the #WorldsEnd series.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I did write a part 2 to the story.  I don't have a name for it, so for now I'm just calling it Gumball: Part 2.  After reading the story, J mentioned that I was creating an entire world, and that I should keep the gumball traveling from story to story until I've created a book.  Shannon reiterated this same point as well.  I love the idea, but hate to interrupt my current WIP with a new project.  Although writing short stories IS a lot easier for me than trying to flesh out an entire novel, so maybe I'll give it a shot.  If I take it one story at a time, it could be a lot of fun without the same pressure as my DoT manuscript.  We'll see.

About my new[ish] blog, It Makes a Sound.  I never announced it because I wasn't sure what I was doing with it yet.  So far all I've done is post a few poems and short stories from my old blog, and then the two Gumball stories.  I'm thinking I might merge my Glazey art blog with this one, turning it into my personal space for both paintings and writing.  The problem is I know myself, and I'll probably go months in between entries.  That's why I'm not advertising the blog--it's too much pressure. 

Okay, enough rambling from me.  I'll just sum up this post by saying that the #WorldsEnd project was an amazing experience, I befriended the most awesome people, and I feel so blessed that I got to be a part of this project.  A shout-out to Joshua Hewitt for an ingenious idea that brought so many writers together. 

Oh, I almost forgot!  With no further adieu, here is The Gumball: Part 2 (did you catch that rhyme there?)....