Friday was Publication Day for my little flash story, “Meditation for Mars” in the fifth issue of Inner Worlds Magazine. (That second link takes you to the editor’s letter which introduces the issue, and I think it’s well worth a read, too. It also gives you links to all the other stories, so go ahead and dive in!)
What’s the story behind this story? I was mentoring a newer SFF writer, and mentioned to them the Weekend Warrior challenge that goes on in the Codex Writers’ Group. They were interested, so I mimicked the prompt-based contest by writing up a few open prompts and giving us both a full month to write a story. This story was what came of it.
As is usual for me, I mashed together two prompts: “Someone isn’t coming home” and the one where you open a nearby book to a certain page and use that line as your prompt. The line I read was, “I lose the pattern of my calm breathing.”
I wanted to lean into the SF side of SFF for this one. Over the past several years, I’ve been communicating off and on with a few other writer friends about wanting, or not wanting, to leave Earth and settle on Mars. The other two would go in a heartbeat, if only they could. Only I would not–or at least, not eagerly. I’d miss the outdoors too much, and the safety of free air. But if I had to go, I think I’d be a lot like this unnamed person, seeking grounding (and solitude) in meditation.
If given that same choice to leave or not, what would your choice be? Go, or not go? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, if you’d like to engage.
And now we get to the “travel” portion of this post. The reason this post isn’t on Friday is that Friday was a travel day for me. My family in Ohio celebrated Christmas over the weekend, so I flew north to partake in all the festivities, totally immersing myself in that fun. We decorated all the cookies–there were a LOT, but nowhere near as many as in my youth, thank goodness!–exchanged gifts, talked and laughed and cried with people we hadn’t seen for months, and ate until we were full, then ate a wee bit more. I returned on Monday, exhausted yet happy, and fell into bed. Whew!
And now, it’s time for my gentle reminder that, if you enjoyed my or any other story you read at Inner Worlds, please consider dropping a few pennies their way, so that Inner Worlds can continue to bring similarly lovely fiction to readers. Thank you.
I hope the remaining days of this December and this year are filled with peace and happiness for you and yours. Happy Holidays to you all, and happy reading.
Everyday Magic | M. E. Garber
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