I was going to Photoshop all the wires and utility poles out of the photo but then thought better of it. This is how my sunrise looks, warts (or rather, wires) and all.
This week, a video about people living in malls popped into my feed—because I’m a little obsessed with abandoned spaces, malls in particular. I wish they’d spent more time showing us all the different apartments. But it was still interesting, and yeah, maybe there’s a story idea or two in there.
In fact, Coffee & Ghosts, Season 4 (The Ghosts You Left Behind) has an abandoned (and the same not-so-abandoned) mall as one of the main settings. I based that particular mall on the one in my hometown, which opened when I was in eighth grade (I think) and was a Very. Big. Deal. This part of the story was fun to research and write, although I probably spent more time looking at “vintage” Orange Julius storefronts than was strictly necessary.
I also had fun exploring the whole “what if you’re locked inside the mall overnight” scenario. 0/10 would not recommend, but it helps if you have some ghostly companions.
So that’s me this Sunday. I think I’ll quit now before I go completely off the rails with this questionable 80s mall nostalgia.
Writing Wrongs 
That’s a lovely sunrise — hope you’re enjoying some of the warmer weather we’re expected to get over the next day or so.
And thanks for the episode about the repurposing of mall space. Seems like an interesting idea, and maybe especially for older people who are not yet quite ready for the “independent living” concept. I always wanted to live over a bookstore… (living over an Orange Julius, though? I’m not so sure about that.)