The Ideal Gift

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A Unique Story Just For You!            *** CURRENTLY ONLY £40 ***

For just £40, Morgen will write a story using your components – see the form below – up to 2,000 words. It will be emailed to you (or someone you nominate – you will also receive a copy) as a pdf file, with its very own suitable picture cover, within two weeks of receipt. Ideal for a birthday (or whenever!) present for yourself or someone you know who would enjoy having something written exclusively for them. *The £40 fee includes two revisions of the story if required. She looks forward to writing your stories!

Simply complete the form on https://morgenbailey.com/your-unique-story then head over to the shop (click button below) and you will receive the story within two weeks. Example flash fiction on that page… and you will receive a link to ten another stories when you make your purchase! (Link below) NB. The story will be yours / your recipient’s to do with as you wish other than to sell it, especially as your / their own creation. Full copyright will stay with Morgen.
PURCHASE HERE

Would you read/review for me?

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Yes, if you love reading and would be willing to give feedback (from answering a handful of questions to pulling the story or novel apart) on my writing, please take a look at the …Beta Readers page. And / or if you’d like to review any of my books on your website, let me know from the choice on my Amazon page. Thank you!

This Blog’s Highlights

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Rather than clutter this home page, below are this site’s highlights:

And you can email me via morgen@morgenbailey.com.

Sunday short short story: Such A Pterodactyl by Morgen Bailey

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Posted every Sunday, the following piece of flash fiction is from Morgen’s shorter short story collection, FLASHES,  available in e-book from Morgen’s online store where you not only get the best price but can either instantly download the collection or purchase the paperback dedicated to you or as a present! We hope you enjoy this story…

Such A Pterodactyl

“Dad! Maisy won’t share!”

“Eddie, you’ve got your own,” Simon pointed out.

“I’ve finished it.”

“So you have. That’s not Maisy’s fault.”

“But hers is pineapple.”

“Then you should have ordered the same.”

“But I didn’t want to.”

“And?”

Neither of the children replied.

“Yours looked nice Eddie. Cranberry Crush, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, but…”

“Oh Dad,” Maisy piped up. “You’re such a pterodactyl.”

“What?” Simon asked, face screwed up.

“It’s a dinosaur,” Eddie explained.

“I know,” Simon replied. “But I don’t…”

“Never mind, Dad,” Eddie continued looking longingly in the direction of his sister’s dessert.

“OK,” Eddie said when Maisy had finished. “Are we done now?”

With her lips blue from the pineapple and damson ice cream, Simon smiled at his daughter. “Something else?”

Maisy shook her head.

“Really? You two usually work backwards; dessert, main, starters. Not hungry?”

Maisy shrugged her shoulders.

Eddie grabbed a menu.

“And you Eddie?”

Eddie nodded but stared at his sister’s blue lips. “Anything blue.”

Simon laughed, but before anyone said anything else, the fire alarm went off.

“Shouldn’t we evacuate?” Eddie said, proud of his knowledge of the word.

“I’m sure it’s only a drill or someone’s burning the toast. Can you smell smoke?”

The children shook their heads.

“Well, then. Go on, have whatever you fancy.”

###

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 7 Aug

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Hello. Here are your prompts for this week.  As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent (who pretties these sheets before they go live) will be posting Word Count Wednesdays so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These posts will still include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have to text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

  1. Zoos warned on safety
  2. She/he gripped the chair arms like…
  3. Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23) Everyone seems to be taking potshots at you and you don’t deserve it.
  4. Your total level of student debt is a completely arbitrary number. What matters is how much you pay off.
  5. Hugh Mitchell, 55, Abington Grove, kept a vehicle that was not licensed; fined £200
  6. Farewells: famous names among the many who died in 1991. Five photos of: Claudio Arrau, Klaus Barbie, Ralph Bates, Paul Brickhill, Coral Browne
  7. Culture – museum will store Welsh recordings
  8. Thimble – some say this is the most powerful sign for luck and happiness. Perhaps this is why porcelain thimbles are souvenirs of places visited.
  9. silhouette of an aeroplane from above with ‘check in, chill out’
  10. Discount rivals

Word Count Wednesday

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Yes, it’s that time of the week again. How have you been getting on?

I’m delighted to say that I’ve finished the fourth Writer’s Block Workbook with an extra c.10,000 words this past week (last Wednesday to last night) and I’ve started the fifth, a new batch of sentence starts, akin to the first volume.

Do leave a comment below to share your progress, successes and otherwise, and of course anything else that’s happened to you, writing wise, over the past seven days.

For more information About Me as an Author, Mentor, Speaker and my Fiction, Non-fiction, and you can sign up to my Newsletter.

Sunday short short story: Knew Better by Morgen Bailey

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Posted every Sunday, the following piece of flash fiction is from Morgen’s short short story collection, SHORTS,  available in e-book from Morgen’s online store where you not only get the best price but can either instantly download the collection or purchase the paperback dedicated to you or as a present! We hope you enjoy this story…

Knew Better

Emily knew better. She’d been told over and over. Only she thought she knew better. That it didn’t matter. She’d been out to the ice-cream van a hundred times, probably more, but always hands clasped tightly to grandfather, grandmother, or mother. Never alone… ’til now.

*

It was a classic scenario. Hot summer’s day, ice-cream van, little girls in school uniforms. A dream scenario to Frank. He’d promised the judge he’d behave, told the parole board enough times so they believed him, but he knew better. They thought he knew better.

And there was this one little girl. She looked like a Lucy. He liked the name Lucy. Used to have a cat called Lucy, until his father took it away. Told him it had been run over but Frank knew. His father looked guilty, just for a second, just long enough for Frank to know. He knew everything that his father did. And vowed never to be like him. But he couldn’t escape. Just like the little girl who’d gone to his car to see the puppy, holding the ice-cream that had already started melting. Except there was no puppy. He couldn’t have pets after Lucy. Couldn’t bear to let them go. He wouldn’t let her go… this little girl in her navy blue and white uniform. So smart. With navy blue shoes and long white socks.

They had holes in them. Not old, like his socks, but symmetrical, like the middles of flowers. Frank loved flowers. His mother would buy fresh ones every week until his father had lost his job and they’d run out of money.

But Frank had plenty of money now. He’d look after Lucy like she was his flesh and blood. She’d forget, and call him “father”. She’d be the sister he never had. The daughter he’d always wanted.

*

She knew it was wrong. “Don’t talk to strangers” that’s what she’d been told. Except there was something familiar about him. He reminded her of her father. The little she could remember. And his smile. He had a nice smile. Friendly. And she was in need of a new friend.

It had never been the same since they’d moved. So many times after her father had gone away. Her mother had promised that it would be fine, that there would be plenty of little girls for her to get on with, but she’d had that look in her eyes that Emily had seen before. Her mother had said that this was ‘it’ this time, that they’d stay, but Emily knew better.

###

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 31 July

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Hello. Here are your prompts for this week.  As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent (who pretties these sheets before they go live) will be posting Word Count Wednesdays so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These posts will still include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have to text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

  1. The guest house
  2. 43
  3. They were complete opposites…
  4. Gemini – a choice you have to make will have big consequences but you will have a good idea about what you intend to do.
  5. Cinnamon sticks – these beautiful objects are very lucky and will spread joy.
  6. I was keen for the doctor to be spiky
  7. 1992
  8. Jan 13, Johan Holst – with picture / bio of Norway’s foreign minister (of 10 months)
  9. Anniversaries: Friday 16 February 1894
  10. It’s frustrating if they come to class and they’re on their phones, shopping online or tweeting
  11. cartoon of a variety of objects, people and ships
  12. A VIP London spa break
  13. Coton
  14. Peter McCaffery, 27, of Hester Street, kept a vehicle that was not licensed; fined £400
  15. History – mystery behind the Google of 1865 left on a charity shop’s doorstep

Word Count Wednesday

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Yes, it’s that time of the week again. How have you been getting on?

I’ve been continuing with the fourth Writer’s Block Workbooks this week so have a couple of thousands words this past week (last Wednesday to last night). I’m hoping it’ll be finished by this time next week and I’ll have moved on to the fifth before returning to fiction (another Henry Short Story then to one of my part-written suspense novels).

Do leave a comment below to share your progress, successes and otherwise, and of course anything else that’s happened to you, writing wise, over the past seven days.

For more information About Me as an Author, Mentor, Speaker and my Fiction, Non-fiction, and you can sign up to my Newsletter.

Sunday short short story: Almost by Morgen Bailey

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Posted every Sunday, the following piece of flash fiction is from Morgen’s shorter short story collection, FLASHES,  available in e-book from Morgen’s online store where you not only get the best price but can either instantly download the collection or purchase the paperback dedicated to you or as a present! We hope you enjoy this story…

Almost

You stare at him and wish he hadn’t done it. It was a simple enough request; time for yourselves, just the two of you but he’d thought better, involved the whole family. You thought you knew him by now, that he knew you, but you realise that two years counts for nothing when you’ve spent little of that together.

He steps forward and kisses your forehead. You normally find it endearing but this feels patronising. You hear his mother sigh, proud of his son… the perfect team. Better than him and you.

You look down as he picks a thread of cotton off your blouse, his favourite top, the one he bought you for your nineteenth and you suspect that he had help.

At fifteen years your senior, you liked his maturity, but as you look around the room you feel almost a child.

Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box, the blue velvet box that you recognise from his briefcase, the square diamond large enough to feed a country.

The room is silent, waiting for what everyone expects to happen next.

You shake your head. You know you shouldn’t, but you can’t help it. For once you do what you want.

You mouth a ‘sorry’ and turn to leave but he grabs your arm.

“Don’t you dare,” he hisses under his breath, the smell of whisky almost overbearing.

###

Fiction Fodder Fridays – Fri 24 July

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Hello. Here are your prompts for this week.  As well as these sheets every Friday, the lovely author assistant/editor/lady Friday(!) Caroline Vincent (who pretties these sheets before they go live) will be posting Word Count Wednesdays so you can let us know how your writing’s been going over the previous week. I aim for 300 words a day which is an astounding 109,500 words a year and so, starting today, you could have that (or more) by this time next year!

These posts will still include the text versions together with explanations of any individual pictures so that anyone unable to see the picture and prompts will be able to read the text, or have to text read to them. It also means you can copy and paste the text should you wish to use it for your own writing.

Make of them what you will and let me know how you get on in the comments section below (or on Facebook/ Twitter). NB. just give us a summary unless you want to share the whole piece but if you post the actual writing, it’s deemed as published and you’ll be limiting where you can send it. So here goes…

  1. Farewell, superjumbo, you will be missed
  2. ‘Teddy bear’ work at Sharpness
  3. Dec 21, Stella Adler with the photo/bio of the American actress
  4. Myrtle – if you are on the trail of love and beauty you will already have one of these plants growing in a pot. This is the way to urge the myrtle to bring you ongoing happiness.
  5. weakness
  6. 38
  7. elaborate framed illustration of two deer stags locking antlers over: United States of Freedom, guarded by innocence…
  8. Capricorn Dec 22-Jan 20: You and Gangnam-style pop star Psy (also Capricorn) may have been separated at birth.
  9. Denise Wheeler, 45, of Hawkins Close, Daventry, destroyed a telephone belonging to Northamptonshire Police; fined £80 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £20.
  10. Retail: shopping centre opens its doors after 10-year wait
  11. As she/he pulled down the balaclava…