Cathy Byland Weeks
@cathybylandweeks.bsky.social
Writer and knitter. I love coffee, books (scifi, historical fiction, romance), movies, ice cream, and homemade tortillas. Oh, and that's my grandpa's French resistance armband in my profile (2nd Battalion, 4th Company of Drôme FFI, June-September 1944).
This is it. After this, I'm out of finished drafts of flash fiction. I'm going to need to write some more of them.
Birds of a Feather Flock Apart
Prompt - Upside Down (400 words): “I will start out this evening with an assertion: fantasy is a place where it rains.” – Italo Calvino, ...
www.tellmeayarn.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:28 PM
This is it. After this, I'm out of finished drafts of flash fiction. I'm going to need to write some more of them.
Found another independent verification of my Grandpa's stories
June 1944: Killing a Kübelwagon - version 4
One story my grandfather told more than once was about the non-commissioned officer in his Maquis unit who, through a spectacular bit o...
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November 27, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Found another independent verification of my Grandpa's stories
A piece of flash fiction that I wrote about a historical event.
Workplace Safety
Prompt - Allusion (300 words). Think of a famous historical event, a well-known piece of literature, or a familiar story from a fairytale...
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November 27, 2025 at 2:32 PM
A piece of flash fiction that I wrote about a historical event.
An interesting cultural difference between France and the USA.
All cemeteries in France are publicly-owned
Well, not private family cemeteries, but all of the others. Every once in a while, I discover a significant cultural difference bet...
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November 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
An interesting cultural difference between France and the USA.
My writer's whinge of the day.
A writer's pet peeves: Cliffhangers
Source: Merriam-Webster Cliff-hanger Etymology I don't really like cliffhangers, in particular BLACKOUT cliffhangers. That's not t...
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November 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
My writer's whinge of the day.
Some flash fiction of mine.
Rosie's Roadhouse
Prompt - The Suitcase (500 words): You are staying overnight in a motel room. The previous guest has left a suitcase in the closet. It is s...
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November 11, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Some flash fiction of mine.
Deleted scene (I think it's a good one, but revisions and changes to the timeline rendered it irrelevant).
1941: The Valence Beat Cop (Deleted Scene)
Henri Mosmeau, Paris Police, and a member of the Resistance. He died in 1944, defending Paris against the occupiers. Source: France24 As...
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October 12, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Deleted scene (I think it's a good one, but revisions and changes to the timeline rendered it irrelevant).
A little bit about the ship my grandparents ALMOST took to the United States.
1947: La Guardia, not Ellis Island
I've always known I came from immigrant stock. I mean, it's kind of hard to miss when your grandparents had a name like Lubinski, spoke...
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October 11, 2025 at 7:22 PM
A little bit about the ship my grandparents ALMOST took to the United States.
A rare bit of fanfiction on my part - Star Trek, of course.
Salvadore Dalí and the Alien Foster Father
Prompt - A Gun to the Head (60 seconds). Your main character is in a life-and-death situation, a gun to their head. Write out their interna...
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October 11, 2025 at 7:18 PM
A rare bit of fanfiction on my part - Star Trek, of course.
I changed my mind. They traveled in a Peugeot 402 Familiale, not a Volvo 802. 😃
May-June 1940: The Exodus in a Peugeot 402 Longue/Familiale
As I mentioned earlier , the taxi my grandparents used to escape the invasion of Western Europe might have been a Volvo PV 802, which,...
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September 11, 2025 at 10:43 AM
I changed my mind. They traveled in a Peugeot 402 Familiale, not a Volvo 802. 😃
Family lore tells me that my great-grandmother Teofila paid for her son's education with her last remaining bit of inherited wealth (they lost nearly everything in 1929, and the rest in WW2), but in so doing, bought his safety. But this is what I imagine it looked like (but smaller).
1939: Teofila's Brooch
Source: DropofDifference . Used with permission. My great-grandparents on my mother's side lived in a very similar manner. They also owned...
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September 8, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Family lore tells me that my great-grandmother Teofila paid for her son's education with her last remaining bit of inherited wealth (they lost nearly everything in 1929, and the rest in WW2), but in so doing, bought his safety. But this is what I imagine it looked like (but smaller).
Sometimes you have to follow Stephen King's advice, and "even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings." Well, I killed off my favorite intimidating miller today. Apologies to Chaucer for borrowing his title, especially since my miller is NOTHING like Chaucer's.
Spring 1942: The Miller's Tale (deleted chapter)
Then, at nighttime, the grain which I got, I put in a buggy, which I pushed myself, a couple of miles to the mill. The mill was a water...
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September 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Sometimes you have to follow Stephen King's advice, and "even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler's heart, kill your darlings." Well, I killed off my favorite intimidating miller today. Apologies to Chaucer for borrowing his title, especially since my miller is NOTHING like Chaucer's.
A VERY short piece of flash fiction that explores the themes of anxiety, isolation, and hope. I wrote it toward the middle of the pandemic, and it shows.
Nobody Goes There
Prompt - Nobody Goes There (300 words): “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded. “– Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, The Yogi Book: I Really ...
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September 3, 2025 at 12:18 PM
A VERY short piece of flash fiction that explores the themes of anxiety, isolation, and hope. I wrote it toward the middle of the pandemic, and it shows.
The Royal Archives of Belgium sent me my family's Belgian naturalization files today, and there were pictures! I now know what my great-grandparents looked like.
May-June 1940: Eight People and one baby packed like sardines into a taxicab
So after Lillian was born, and as soon as we could move – I didn’t have any car at the time, so I rented a taxi cab – and in the taxi cab, b...
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September 2, 2025 at 10:26 PM
The Royal Archives of Belgium sent me my family's Belgian naturalization files today, and there were pictures! I now know what my great-grandparents looked like.
I have a solid draft of my grandmother's Neighborhood Soup recipe. It's a cross between chicken noodle soup, and egg drop soup. Enjoy!!
Recipe: Roma's Neighborhood Soup (AKA: Chicken noodle soup with egg drops) - Meaty and Meat-free Versions
My grandma, Roma Lubinski, was a fabulous cook, and when my mother and aunts were growing up, Grandma Roma often found herself with a ...
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September 1, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I have a solid draft of my grandmother's Neighborhood Soup recipe. It's a cross between chicken noodle soup, and egg drop soup. Enjoy!!
My grandparents were stuck in the traffic jam from hell.
May 1940: The Exodus (aka the greatest population movement of the 20th century)
French refugees on the road of the Exodus, 19 June 1940, near Gien, France. CC-BY-SA 3.0. This photo was taken by a German soldier. So ...
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August 29, 2025 at 5:57 PM
My grandparents were stuck in the traffic jam from hell.
Watched the new Superman on streaming last night. It was a lot of fun!
It was also no more/no less immigrant-centric than previous versions of the hero. Mostly, it was a fun romp of a comic book movie.
It was also no more/no less immigrant-centric than previous versions of the hero. Mostly, it was a fun romp of a comic book movie.
Movie Review: Superman (2025)
I really liked this movie. It was a lot of fun, and it pulled me out of my overthinking had for a couple of hours, and that's always...
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August 19, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Watched the new Superman on streaming last night. It was a lot of fun!
It was also no more/no less immigrant-centric than previous versions of the hero. Mostly, it was a fun romp of a comic book movie.
It was also no more/no less immigrant-centric than previous versions of the hero. Mostly, it was a fun romp of a comic book movie.
Flash fiction: Made-up characters in a real-life disaster.
The Bridge Inspector
Silver Bridge Before Collapse; Point Pleasant, W. Va . A&M 3914, Duez Collection Virginia and Regional History Collection, West Virginia Uni...
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August 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Flash fiction: Made-up characters in a real-life disaster.
More information has come to light regarding the murder of Madame Auvergne (my grandparents' landlady), including EYE-WITNESS TESTIMONY.
1944-1947: The Élise Auvergne dossier
TLDR: If you don't want to read my commentary, just read the sections in courier text - those are the historical sources. You'll get the st...
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July 13, 2025 at 8:48 PM
More information has come to light regarding the murder of Madame Auvergne (my grandparents' landlady), including EYE-WITNESS TESTIMONY.
A bit of flash-fiction, set in an alternate reality.
Small Step
L-R Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, but from our (non-alternate) reality. Prompt - Alternate Reality (500 words) : Alterna...
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July 7, 2025 at 5:19 PM
A bit of flash-fiction, set in an alternate reality.
I repeated an exercise from 2.5 years ago, and asked AI to re-write a scene I had written from a different character's POV.
AI's storytelling has improved, but it's still pretty weird.
Image source: UCLA Newsroom About 2.5 years ago, I tested to see how well ChatGPT would handle a writing assignment. I fed it a chapt...
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July 1, 2025 at 1:24 PM
I repeated an exercise from 2.5 years ago, and asked AI to re-write a scene I had written from a different character's POV.
Found a set of four letters that together tell a little story (and one of them mentions my mom!) THIS is why people write entire novels in the epistolary format.
1946: When four letters tell a bittersweet story of post-war life
TLDR: Because I am nothing if not wordy, verbose, and even garrulous, you can totally skip my commentary and just read the four letters,...
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June 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Found a set of four letters that together tell a little story (and one of them mentions my mom!) THIS is why people write entire novels in the epistolary format.
My blog post about regrets.
1991: The disappointment [in me] was thick in Grandpa's silence
Real life vs Alternate Reality (Click to enlarge) Back in 1988, when I was recording my grandfather's war stories, he said this: "Well...
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June 17, 2025 at 9:21 PM
My blog post about regrets.
I blogged about the handwriting I've been working with over the last few weeks. Is it any surprise that the doctor's handwriting is the worst? (Note - the thumbnail is of the school teacher's handwriting, not the doctor's.)
Deciphering 80-year-old "immaculate and illegible" handwriting ...in French
A couple of years ago, a historian friend in France went to the Drôme Department Archives, and photographed about 50 pages of corresp...
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June 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I blogged about the handwriting I've been working with over the last few weeks. Is it any surprise that the doctor's handwriting is the worst? (Note - the thumbnail is of the school teacher's handwriting, not the doctor's.)