Janet Alcorn

Janet Alcorn

Suspense | Horror | Romance

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Short story “Proof Text” published in Kings River Life

My short story, “Proof Text,” was just published in Kings River Life! “Proof Text” is a short suspense piece about an exhausted farm wife who must finish one essential chore.…

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March 11, 2025

Writing Your Own Destiny (interview on the Mysterious Goings-On podcast)

Want to learn how to start writing fiction and use short stories to further your writing career? In a recent interview I did for the Mysterious Goings-On podcast, I talk…

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December 10, 2023

Books to Help You Write Better: A Writer’s Reading List

Want to learn to write fiction? Want to learn to write better fiction? You’re in the right place. The Writer’s Reading List: Books to Help You Write Better will point…

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October 28, 2023
  • Arizona,  Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Tucson Botanical Gardens + April review + a fresh batch of memes

    April 30, 2022 /

    Good morning and happy Saturday! It’s the last day of April, a good time to look back at the month that was. Also on tap: art and blooms from Tucson Botanical Gardens, memes, and various bits of personal news. But first: welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Pull up a seat, grab a drink, and let’s chat.

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Saguaro National Park East

    February 3, 2023
    Pueblo ruin, stacked red sandstone, showing multiple rooms and windows

    The Ancient Pueblo Ruins of Wupatki National Monument

    July 6, 2021
    Black greyhound with white and grey muzzle curled up asleep on a dog bed

    Bisbee pics and saying goodbye (Weekend Coffee Share #10)

    October 15, 2021
  • Books and Reading,  Garden,  Weekend Coffee Share,  What's On Your Bookshelf

    Website woes, garden pics and books

    April 24, 2022 /

    Good evening! I’m a couple of days late getting this post up, because Friday morning my website decided to stop loading. I finally made time to contact tech support this morning–after verifying that no, the site still wouldn’t load. The support analyst said it loaded for him. I tested again, and of course it worked perfectly. I remember when I used to do tech support in libraries, and staff would ask me to stand next to their computer so it would start working again. Apparently I’ve either lost my tech support devil magic, or it doesn’t work with cloud-hosted websites. Dammit. Update: right after I typed that paragraph, the site…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Green box with white silhouette of woman on phone and text reading, "I decided staying up all night and finishing my book was more important than being mentally present today."

    The monthly book post–and a great tool for readers

    November 18, 2022

    Desert flowers and the monthly book roundup

    April 21, 2023

    Writing news and the monthly book post

    December 16, 2022
  • Arizona,  Garden,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Sweetwater Trail, flower pics, and a fresh batch of memes (Weekend Coffee Share #34)

    April 15, 2022 /

    Good morning and happy Friday! It’s an abso-freakin-lutely gorgeous morning down here in Satan’s Anus–54 and sunny, heading for a high of 88. But it looks like Weather Bragging Season is just about over–we’re supposed to hit 96 on Monday. *sigh* I’ve had a pretty routine week so nothing exciting to share, just the usual: desert pics, garden pics, and a steaming hot pile of memes. But before we get to all that: Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer. She has flower pix this week too, and they are *gorgeous*! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s get to it.

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Dispatch from Up North, Part 2: Bootleg Lake, Arizona

    September 30, 2022

    Desert flowers and the monthly book roundup

    April 21, 2023
    Cars on freeway heading into wall of clouds and dust

    Risking my life for new bookcases

    August 19, 2022
  • Arizona,  Garden,  Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Spring has sprung! (Weekend Coffee Share #33)

    April 8, 2022 /

    Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! It’s 59F and sunny right now, so let’s chat in the garden. Garden pictures Spring is in full swing out there, so I snapped a few pics before the inevitable hot weather wilts everything. The garden is a work in progress–and looks like it. This area was entirely covered in gravel when we bought the house in fall 2020. As you can see, we’re still constructing and planting, but at least it contains some green things: Some of those green things are actually blooming. The rose covered in flowers is Camille Pissarro. I’ve showed…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Your intrepid blogger with a large man with curly blond rocker hair who insists he's her husband, rocks and Sonoran Desert vegetation in the background

    A post-Thanksgiving hike in Sabino Canyon

    November 26, 2023

    Ironwood National Monument (Weekend Coffee Share #27)

    February 25, 2022
    Hillside studded with prickly pear, saguaros, and other Sonoran Desert vegetation with a dark tan rock formation in the background and a hillside rising on the right

    The desert is in the details: Tucson Mountain Park (Weekend Coffee Share #11)

    October 23, 2021
  • IWSG,  Short Stories,  Writing

    My story became an audio drama (#IWSG)

    April 6, 2022 /
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    It’s the first Wednesday of the month, also known as IWSG Day. For those of you who are new to my warped corner of the interwebs, IWSG=Insecure Writers Support Group, a wonderful online community of, well, insecure writers. Once a month we organize our insecure selves into a blog hop, where we (you guessed it) share our insecurities. Or in my case, some of them. If I were to share all my insecurities, I’d fill a warehouse the size of that one at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark: If you’re as impatient as I am, skip to about 1:10 in the video above to see the warehouse…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    Taking stock of my writing career

    April 5, 2023
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    On inspiration and perspiration

    May 3, 2023
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    7 things I love about reading (and writing) crime fiction

    October 4, 2022
  • Featured,  Short Stories

    “A Christmas Duet” is published in Harmony Magazine

    April 5, 2022 /
    Cover of 2022 issue of Harmony Magazine

    My short creative nonfiction piece about my mother’s last Christmas, “A Christmas Duet,” was just published in Harmony Magazine! I wrote the first draft right after visiting my mother on Christmas Day 2018. After a little revision and a lot of tears, I’m thrilled that this story has found a home. Harmony Magazine is a visual arts and literary journal published annually by the Medical Humanities department of the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Issues are available free online. You can find my story in the 2022 issue beginning on page 12. Note that it’s written under my real name, so now y’all know my not-so-secret identity. What’s “A…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Cardboard box sealed with strip of plastic tape

    My poem won a prize!

    November 12, 2022

    My short story, “Woe is Me, Poor Child, for Thee,” is published!

    December 27, 2021

    New short story published in Trouble in Tucson

    March 9, 2023
  • Arizona,  Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Flagstaff, Writing Classes, and the last of the 2020 COVID memes (Weekend Coffee Share #32)

    April 1, 2022 /

    Good morning, and welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s get to it. Video of the Week I’ve spent the last several weeks inflicting 2020 COVID memes on y’all (see here, here, and here). We aren’t quite done yet, but before we get to the last batch, I have a treat for you. Trent McDonald, a fellow Weekend Coffee Sharer, created an excellent parody of “Yesterday” at the beginning of the pandemic. Thanks, Trent, for giving me permission to share your work here–I love it! Crisis truly inspires creativity. Writing News

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Flowers and Sunsets–and a Tragedy on my Campus

    October 7, 2022
    Yellow building with cream arched doorway and brown door with brick walkway and garden in front, national park shield on outside wall, labeled Tumacácori National Historical Park

    Tumacácori National Historical Park (Weekend Coffee Share #5)

    September 11, 2021
    Black greyhound with white and grey muzzle curled up asleep on a dog bed

    Bisbee pics and saying goodbye (Weekend Coffee Share #10)

    October 15, 2021
  • Flower of the Day,  Garden

    Maurice Utrillo rose in my Tucson garden (#FOTD)

    March 29, 2022 /
    Rose with red, yellow, and white stripes, yellow closer to the center and whiter at the edges

    It’s been awhile since I’ve participated in Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge. I need to get back to taking pictures of my garden now that spring is here. We just planted this Maurice Utrillo rose last weekend. It’s part of the Painters Collection of striped roses inspired by the French impressionists. We collect striped roses, at least as much as our small city garden allows. See more of our roses, most of them striped.

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    Janet Alcorn

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    The weekly update: bobcat sighting, books, garden pix, and a small batch of memes

    May 21, 2022

    Ebb Tide rose (#FOTD)

    May 10, 2022
    Closeup of Camille Pissarro rose, red and yellow stripes toward the center, red and pink stripes toward the edges.

    Camille Pissarro Rose (#FOTD)

    October 17, 2021
  • Garden,  Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Garden pix and more COVID memes (Weekend Coffee Share #31)

    March 25, 2022 /

    Good morning and happy Friday! It’s supposed to be 91F today here at Camp WTF, and it’s still March. W.T.F. The worst part? In 2 months, I’ll be ready to kill for a day when it’s only 91. OK, I’ll stop whining. Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s get to it.

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Flowers and birds and whining about the heat

    June 24, 2023

    Survivors of the first frost

    December 18, 2021

    Paying the price for my procrastination

    June 3, 2022
  • Arizona,  Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share,  What's On Your Bookshelf

    Joshua Tree Forest, writing news, books, and more pandemic memes (Weekend Coffee Share #30)

    March 18, 2022 /

    Last week I bored you with my trip to Vegas. This week I’m going to bore you with the drive home. Then we’ll talk books and time travel back to March 2020 for some more early pandemic memes. But first: welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer, and the What’s on Your Bookshelf Challenge, hosted by Deb, Sue, Donna, and Jo. Grab a drink, pull up a seat, and let’s get to it.

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Flowers and Sunsets–and a Tragedy on my Campus

    October 7, 2022
    Looking down on the US-Mexico Border, a black fence across a desert basin

    2024 is off to a strong start: the January recap

    January 27, 2024

    Spring has sprung! (Weekend Coffee Share #33)

    April 8, 2022
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