Rochelle Bradley Author

As a child I must have asked a lot of questions and pestered the dickens out of my mother because she always asked me "Are you writing a book?" Looking back, I smile and wonder if this idea was subconsciously planted in my mind. I have said before if I would have been a cat, I'd be dead because curiosity would have killed me. I've always asked questions, especially regarding the etymology of words. Are you writing a book? Why not? Find a starting (once upon a time) and an ending (they lived happily ever after) point. The journey from start to finish shouldn't be a straight line or else it'd be a boring story. The character needs a few bumps along the road to make the story interesting, a downed tree blocking the road is even better. Forcing a character to make challenging decisions- to go around the log to the left and X, Y & Z happens or go to the right or maybe, just maybe, the character will find the strength or a friend he or she needs to hurtle ...

Recently, I met a few women and over an evening of dinner and drinks, we had enough inside jokes to fuel many laughs and spawn a short story. Usually my stories come from dreams but, in this case, I was inspired by companionship, smiles and laughs. One of the women took a quiz on Facebook: what would your name be today? We searched the decades and giggled over our names from the 40s or 1890. Our alter egos: Bella, Gia & Electa were born. These three names have been swirling around in my head with a plot for a week or so. In the story, the characters live by the mantra "good friends don't let you do stupid things alone." I plan to write a 1K word story today. This flash fiction will be a gift for two of the women who volunteer their time to work with children. With any luck it will earn a few giggles.