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
  • Weekend Coffee Share

    Anniversary, nominated for an award, new Facebook page, other odds and ends (Weekend Coffee Share #6)

    September 17, 2021 /
    Courtyard with shrubs and a mesquite tree. Brick building and cement pillar to the left of the tree. Concrete path to the right. Metal bench underneath.

    Good morning and happy Friday! Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Natalie the Explorer! Come on in, pull up a seat, and join me. It’s starting to feel like fall here in Tucson. We’re still having triple-digit temps (it’s Arizona), but the nights are cooler, and this morning we even have clouds. The featured image on this post was taken a few days ago outside my building at work. Everything is still so green and pretty from the monsoon rains. 30 years! How is that even possible? Today’s chat will be a quick roundup of odds and ends, because I’m leaving soon for a weekend trip to Bisbee,…

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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
    Picture of Grumpy Cat with tinsel on her head and a banner headline reading, "HAPPY NEW WHATEVER JUST DON'T SCREW IT UP"

    The 2023 Highlight Reel: Writing, Travel, and More

    December 29, 2023

    Snow in Tucson and the monthly book round-up

    February 17, 2023
  • Arizona,  Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Tumacácori National Historical Park (Weekend Coffee Share #5)

    September 11, 2021 /
    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

    Happy Saturday morning! Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share! Grab your drink of choice, pull up a chair, and let’s talk. It looks like monsoon season is over here in Tucson. It’s supposed to be sunny and 103F today and triple-digits all week. But I promise I won’t spend this post complaining about the heat like I did last week. It’s hot in Arizona. We know. Instead, let’s pay a visit to a small but fascinating national park site less than an hour south of Tucson: Tumacácori National Historical Park, which includes the ruins of three missions from the Spanish colonial era. The site also does a good job of…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Brick path through trees with iron sculptures on either side

    Tucson Botanical Gardens and a few laughs (Weekend Coffee Share #15)

    November 21, 2021
    Two-lane, curvy road surrounded by green grass and trees, headed into green mountains topped with storm clouds

    A Photo Safari Through Madera Canyon, Arizona, After a Very Rainy Summer

    August 15, 2021
    Neon sign that reads BOOZE BEDS FOOD

    Gratitude, wins and losses, and weird Bisbee (Weekend Coffee Share #9)

    October 10, 2021
  • Short Stories,  Weekend Writing Warriors

    Snippet from “Collateral Damage” (WeWriWa #1)

    September 4, 2021 /
    Desert wasteland with post-apocalyptic settlement

    Welcome to my first post for Weekend Writing Warriors! Yes, I’m joining yet another blog hop. If this keeps up, I’m going to have to find a support group for people addicted to blog hops. Anyhoo, I’m especially excited about WeWriWa, because it involves sharing snippets of writing, published or unpublished, and since my search for an agent is about as successful as New Coke (if you’re under 40, ask your parents), these posts might be the only time anyone outside my critique group gets to read my work. For my first post, here are the first 10 sentences of my postapocalyptic short story, “Collateral Damage.” This story won first…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    My story became an audio drama (#IWSG)

    April 6, 2022
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    My favorite thing I’ve written–and the terrifying real-life event that inspired it

    October 5, 2025
    photo of candle-lit formal dinner setting similar to where most of the action takes place in my short story, "The Fourth Man"

    “The Fourth Man” won a prize!

    December 22, 2023
  • Photos,  Weekend Coffee Share

    Saying goodbye to summer (Weekend Coffee Share #4)

    September 4, 2021 /
    Orange sky with silhouetted desert mountains

    Good morning, and welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share! It’s Saturday morning here in Tucson, the start of Labor Day weekend. It’s sunny and humid, and the wet pavement by my front door tells me it rained last night. The air is cool (well, cool for Tucson) and fresh, so before it gets unbearably hot and sticky, let’s plop on the porch with a morning beverage (got my Diet Coke right here) and look back on summer. But it’s still summer, you say? Well, yeah, the equinox is over two weeks away, and it’ll feel like summer here in the Sonoran Desert till November. But to me, Labor Day weekend…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    meadow of dry grass in front of forested hills

    Lockett Meadow, writing news, memes, and more

    June 25, 2022

    Summer in Tucson part 2: more rain, more sunsets, more bats

    August 12, 2022

    Sentinel Peak, Enchanted Hills, and Valentine’s Day nonsense (Weekend Coffee Share #25)

    February 11, 2022
  • IWSG,  Personal Development and Productivity,  Writing

    Define your own success in 6 easy steps (#IWSG)

    September 1, 2021 /
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    Today we’re going to talk about success. I’m not going to define it for you, and I’m not going to tell you how to get it. I suck as a self-help guru. Instead, I’m going to suggest a way of thinking about success that doesn’t get much traction in our rise-and-grind culture. But first: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group monthly blog hop. On the first Wednesday of each month, I and my fellow insecure writers post something related to writing, and then we visit the blogs of our fellow members and read and comment on their IWSG posts. This month’s optional question is, How do you…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    Writing through the seasons of life

    June 4, 2024
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    Where do I get my writing ideas?

    July 5, 2023
    Insecure Writer's Support Group badge

    3 ways I’m finding my way back from a writing slump

    February 5, 2025
  • Weekend Coffee Share

    Welcome to the Butt Rock Lounge (Weekend Coffee Share #3)

    August 27, 2021 /

    Good evening, and happy Friday! I’m writing this week’s Weekend Coffee Share post on a Friday night, which doesn’t seem like the right time for coffee, so we’re going to do something a little different. Welcome to the Butt Rock Lounge, where the hair is big and the spandex is sweaty. Pull up a leopard-print beanbag chair, and let’s get this party started! [Narrator: She’s in a faux-leather office chair in front of a garage sale desk, her hair is in a messy bun, and she’s in stanky gym shorts and a 20-year-old Def Leppard t-shirt.] Ignore the narrator. He’s an asshat. Let’s crank the tunes. How ’bout a little…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Cartoon in which a bare-branched birch tree says to a decorated Christmas tree: "Don't you think you're over-dressed?" The Christmas tree replies, "Birch. Please."

    What I’m reading and some holiday laughs (Weekend Coffee Share #19, What’s On Your Bookshelf #1)

    December 17, 2021

    More Snow in Tucson!

    March 3, 2023

    Books, Tunes, and Memes–What Else Could You Possibly Want? (Weekend Coffee Share #22, What’s on Your Bookshelf #2)

    January 21, 2022
  • Garden,  Personal,  Weekend Coffee Share

    New story coming out, bird rescue drama, and more (Weekend Coffee Share #2)

    August 21, 2021 /
    Closeup of red and white striped rosebud with part of an open striped rose to the right

    Good morning and happy Saturday! Welcome to my second post for the Weekend Coffee Share. Grab the beverage of your choice, get comfortable, and let’s chat. It’s Saturday morning as I write this, so let’s pretend we’re sitting on the back patio, smelling the roses and watching the bees work the cinnamon basil flowers. In last week’s post, I told you about our drive to Madera Canyon, but that was only half of our weekend adventures. I’ll tell you the other half in a minute, but first: Big news: my story will be on a podcast! I have a short story coming out as a radio play! It’s due out…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Spring has sprung! (Weekend Coffee Share #33)

    April 8, 2022

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

    April 15, 2022

    Ebb Tide rose (#FOTD)

    May 10, 2022
  • Arizona,  Flower of the Day

    Velvet-pod Mimosa (Mimosa dysocarpa)

    August 16, 2021 /
    Closeup of velvet pod mimosa blooms in various stages, from buds to bright pink open flowers to faded light pink flowers

    I saw these gorgeous wildflowers for the first time Saturday on our way to Madera Canyon (more pix from that trip here). Learn more about them from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. See other posts for Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge here.

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    Janet Alcorn

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    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

    Summer in Tucson part 2: more rain, more sunsets, more bats

    August 12, 2022
    Last in Line at the Rialto in Tucson Arizona

    Busy April: Last in Line Concert and Tucson Travel

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

    A Photo Safari Through Madera Canyon, Arizona, After a Very Rainy Summer

    August 15, 2021 /
    Two-lane, curvy road surrounded by green grass and trees, headed into green mountains topped with storm clouds

    Join me on a short photo safari in and around Madera Canyon, which, thanks to the rain, doesn’t look like it belongs in Arizona. This is my first post for Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share blog link-up. Why yes, I am addicted to blog hops and photo challenges. Why do you ask? Blog hops like this one provide an opportunity to connect with other bloggers, so we can learn about each other’s lives and support each other. This particular blog hop should give me a great way to share the random bits and pieces of my life with the kind folks who read my blog. So, dear readers, grab a cup…

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    Janet Alcorn

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

    March 18, 2022
    Cars on freeway heading into wall of clouds and dust

    Risking my life for new bookcases

    August 19, 2022

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

    April 15, 2022
  • Flower of the Day,  Garden

    We love our striped roses (#FOTD)

    August 11, 2021 /

    Today’s entry in Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge is a bud from our Rock & Roll rose. This poor thing has suffered through two moves and a ridiculous amount of neglect. We bought it in Southern California in about 2012. We dug it up in 2013 and stuffed it in a pot when we moved to Flagstaff, then planted it in our backyard, where it was abused by grasshoppers all summer and froze all winter. We eventually moved it to the front yard, where it would get more attention and better soil. Then when we moved to Tucson in 2020, we dug it up and stuffed it in…

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    Janet Alcorn

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    Ebb Tide rose (#FOTD)

    May 10, 2022
    Rose with red, yellow, and white stripes, yellow closer to the center and whiter at the edges

    Maurice Utrillo rose in my Tucson garden (#FOTD)

    March 29, 2022

    Survivors of the first frost

    December 18, 2021
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