Week 537 (October 1-15). Story topic: Potion in a Vial.

[M]

You have until October 15 to post a story, and from October 16-22 we’ll vote for which one we thought was best!

Please post directly into the topic and not a link. Please don’t use a story previously used in this group. Only one submission per person is allowed.

Your story should be between 300 and 3,500 words long.

REMEMBER! A short story is not merely a scene. It must have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

This week’s topic is: Potion in a Vial.

The rules are pretty loose. You could write a story about anything that has to do with the subject/photo but it must relate to the topic somehow.

Most of all have fun!

[Garrison]

Well...this will come as a shock to absolutely nobody, but...my bad mental health will keep me out of the contest this time. I'm starting to think it's autistic burnout more than anything else. It feels like depression, but it takes longer to recover from and the usual remedies for depression aren't working. Maybe schizophrenic avolition has something to do with it, but the signs for autistic burnout have been there all along. The closer I got into the 2010's, the slower my work rate became. And then the 2020's happened and my work slowed down tremendously. It's a combination of working myself too hard all these years and the 2020's being bad for mental health in general. I definitely think it's autistic burnout...

[M]

You’ve rescued a lot of contests, Garrison! You aren’t giving yourself enough credit.

The potion in the vial was supposed to act as a magical motivation, prompting lots of stories, but apparently it had the opposite effect. Alas, there’s a skill to concocting potions that don’t backfire.

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

Garrison wrote: "Well...this will come as a shock to absolutely nobody, but...my bad mental health will keep me out of the contest this time. I'm starting to think it's autistic burnout more than anything else. It ..."

I agree with M, Garrison. You have rescued more threads than you think you have! You are one of the WSS's most prolific writers and when you need a break you should never feel guilty!

[Garrison]

I appreciate both of you cheering me up. Those messages were just what I needed. Thank you, M and CJ. :)

[C. J., Cool yet firm like ice]

You're welcome Garrison!

And M I know what you mean by last week. Sometimes I will try to make a creative prompt.

One time I ran a contest where I only took part of a popular expression hoping people would find more freedom in what they were writing and it turned out people just used the phrase that I was trying to avoid! And I just wanted out of interest to check the poems for that week (was having trouble finding it. I forgot what the post was even called!) as it probably had poems but no story posts.