Little Thoughts About Books and Stuff

So wasn't really thrilled with either thing I wrote last week, but at least I'm writing! Prompt: Dear Mom D o you remember that pool party you and dad were hosting when you dove into the pool, fully clothed to rescue the doll I pitched into the deep end on a whim when I was three?  I wanted to see if she could swim, you wanted to prevent a future meltdown when I no longer had her to cuddle to sleep. E very observant, I’m still not sure how you noticed I had thrown it in when you were over on the other side of the backyard talking to Mrs. Cress.  But there you came out of nowhere to leap into the pool to rescue Masiey, causing quite the stir as all the guest turned to look at the commotion.   A dmittedly, I did know better than to throw her into the pool. You had warned me not to throw my toys into the pool after the incident with the barbie, and that one time with the princess crown.  They always sink to the bottom and get stuck in the filter on the floor of the...

 I'm only sharing the one prompt today because I wanna work more with the other one and I'm not ready to share it yet.   Prompt: Only human He kept humming the bars of a song. The earworm was stuck firmly implanted in his brain as he tried to work on a budget report, a memo about quarterly spending, and reformatting a spreadsheet his coworker had messed up. But what was the song? He caught himself humming it while alone on the elevator at work and wondered again for the thousandth time what the song was and why it was stuck in his head. After lunch, he put his headphone in and tried to drown it out by listening to any other song on his playlist. When that didn’t work he decided maybe he should try to find out the song title. This way he could eradicate it by listening to the real song. He opened up the app on his phone to identify songs and hummed. Yea, that didn’t work. Maybe Jessica knew what song it was, he sent her a text explaining the situation and t...

 A few weeks ago I attended my first virtual write-in.  We were given a prompt, some time to write, and then volunteers could read.  The first prompt was: did I just say that out loud I freeze, did I just say that out loud? I ask myself as I notice the sound coming from my computer has stopped.  I quickly looked down to the bottom of my screen to see if I was muted or not.  The red slash is there across the microphone icon and I relax slightly at the sight.  “Amber, did you want to add anything to the discussion? I believe you are muted.” I click to unmute myself, “No, sorry I was just talking to myself as I took notes.  I will add now that I am unmuted that I really like the direction this project is headed in.” I quickly mute myself, not that I feel any better about telling everyone on the call that I talk to myself. I spend the rest of the meeting nodding along, taking notes and clearly not talking to myself. No sooner does the meeting end then...

Write Your Obituary  I based my obituary on one of the obituaries written for Jane Austen. It reads:  Courier (July 22, 1817, no. 7744, p. 4), makes the first published admission of Jane Austen’s authorship of the four novels then published: “On the 18th inst. at Winchester, Miss Jane Austen, youngest daughter of the late Rev. George Austen, Rector of Steventon, in Hampshire, and the Authoress of Emma, Mansfield Park, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Her manners were most gentle; her affections ardent; her candor was not to be surpassed, and she lived and died as became a humble Christian.”  I also went with the idea that I was writing in now with areas where someone could fill in once I pass away.  Times of Trenton (Mon. ?, 20??, no. ?, p. ?), On the ??th inst. at Hamilton, Miss [hopefully this can be changed to Mrs.] Amelia [with any luck a nee will be here] Rodriguez, daughter of the late Mr. Fernando Rodriguez, Auditor with the State, in New J...

I joined this website a number of years ago but didn't stay active. In order to get back in to the swing of writing I thought it would be fun to sing up for their Daily Theme emails.  I'll be writing some short fun pieces over there.

Write a letter to a child explaining how to do one thing (for example, ride a horse or throw a punch) (This is from my thesis story. I'm working on changing a lot of it and one of my ideas is making the recipe sections into letters. This prompt gave me the idea and this is the first one I changed into a letter from a mother passing on a family recipe to her daughter.)  Baby Girl, In the tradition of the women in the family I’m writing you this letter now while you are only days old. You won’t be opening this letter until you are much older. I received the letter my mother wrote to me on the night I graduated from graduate school.  She received her the night before her wedding to grandpop.  I don’t know when you’ll be getting this letter but when you read it, you will finally learn the secret to the family gravy. The recipe currently in my possession is sadly not the exact recipe my grandmother made.  Your grandmother had made some adjustments over the years. It still...

Write about something extraordinary in a flat voice. Mom and I were sitting in the living room watching TV. The phone rang. Mom paused the show and answered the phone. “Hello.” She listened. “Hi Alexa.” She listened. “That’s wonderful news. I’m so happy.” I could only guess but I was pretty sure Alexa was telling her that my sister-in-law was pregnant. Again.

Study a stranger.  Go home and write a  tragedy  about his or her mother. Dennis gave a deep sigh as he turned down his street. All the other houses were decorated for the holiday season. Some houses simply had a few candles in the windows with a wreath on the door. Other houses were more ornately adorned with lights that danced and twinkled. There were houses with giant blowups on Santa or snow globes. Then there was his house with no lights and no decorations. He hated driving home on these winter nights when it was so obvious they were the odd family out on the block. He pulled into his drive way and groaned when he saw that the house was completely dark. His mother hadn't turned the lights on, which meant she was sitting in the dark. He wondered if she even realized that she was sitting in the dark. Dennis walked into the house and stopped. He heard his mother humming. It wasn't unusual that she was humming, but the song was one he hadn't heard her sing since his chil...

Find a photograph.  Write a story about what's going on outside the frame. Claire turned the volume up on her iPhone. The music drowned out the voices of the kids playing next door. They were cute, when they were quite, and right now they were anything but quite. She had needed to get out of the house and since she technically was grounded the back yard was as far as she could go, not that it was a big yard. She was only about 100 feet from the back porch, but it was still outside. Claire leaned back and watched as some ducks made the turn to swim down their section of the lagoon.  She should have grabbed some bread to feed to them. They kept a bag of stale bread in the microwave just for feeding the ducks. She was debating on going to get some when the kids next door threw something into the lagoon. The ducks scattered and Claire swung her head around to look. Just as she turned her head another projectile launched towards the ducks. It was a rock! “Hey!” Claire stood up, rip...

Describe a time when you were brave. I looked up to my destination. It was a long way up to the peak, but the view was worth the climb. I know it was worth the climb because I had made the climb before, but always with help. Today I'd be doing it on my own. No one was around to help me and I wanted to see the view. I knew I could do it, two steep jumps.  The first onto a wide landing.  Today there was some debris on the landing but there was still enough room for me to make my landing.  Ok here it goes. Jump! I did it! I stuck my landing.  Now for the second treacherous jump. This jump is a bit more difficult without help.  I'm jumping blind since the peak is behind a curtain. This jump is always easier with help, but I know the peak is back there and I know it's worth the jump.   The ledge I'm on has a small outcropping that makes the jump easier. I can use it to help push myself through the curtain. I ready myself for the jump, push off the outcropping, a...

Tell your life story in ten lines. Once upon a time a Princess was born to a King and Queen and there was much joy. Two years later a Prince was born and there was more joy to be had for all except the Princess who was no longer the center of attention. Many years of prosperity passed and the family was happy.  Then the King died too young and there was much sadness. The Queen did her best and raised the Princess and the Prince to be successful and happy adults. The Queen was ready for grandchildren but the Princess was too busy exploring the world of academia. The Prince provided an heir and the Queen rejoiced. The Princess thought she was off the hook, until the Queen started in on the desire for more grandchildren. The Princess buried her nose in a book and mumbled something about working in a female dominated profession. The Queen will not stop until she has more grandchildren, redheaded preferred, and the Princess will keep evading the Queen on this front.

Write a letter to your 16 year old self. Sixteen wasn't a good year for me, and I really don't know what I would write to myself. A few things stuck with me when I sat down to write this one.  What happened to me at 16 is probably a fixed point in time and can't be changed, so there's no point in writing a letter warning myself about it. Reader's Digest did a contest for life stories told in 100 words and I thought it would be interesting to keep my letter to that word limit.  In high school a friend and I would write our letters with "To You, From Me" or "To Me, From You". Here's my letter: Dear Me,  Sweet Sixteen!  Sadly, sixteen for us will not be sweet. It’s hard to think back that far from where I am now. I can tell you that what sweetness you’ll have will be so very important to your overall well-being.  It is going to be a rough year but you will learn so much about yourself during that time. What you learn will be the foundation th...

Describe your favorite sound Snore. Snore, whimper. Snore, whimper. Snore, soft bark. Snore, soft bark. Snore, whimper. Snore, whimper. Snort. Yawn. Snort. Hack. Snort. Hack, hack, hack. Gag. Lick. Yawn. Lick, lick, lick. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Plunk-swish. Plunk-swish. Plunk-swish. Plunk-swish. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Click-click-click-click. Lick. Yawn. Snort. Lick, lick, lick, lick. Snort. Snort. Snore. Snore. Deep breathing. Snort.

A man has been murdered.  Wind the clock back 10 minutes and describe what the murderer sees at this moment. Gregor awoke in a daze. He yawned and stretched before taking a look at his surroundings. He blinked a few times and realized everything around him was a sickly green. He looked down at his hands and saw massive black paws. The panther roared Mikhal , he thought, was going to pay for this. I'm having some fun trying to write this writing prompts in 55 words or less.  This one comes in at 53 words but it was a bit longer to start with, about 112 words but I think I cut it down quite nicely.  

write a poem including the word frail I wrote a hiku about my cousin: I am many things in pain, worn out, sick and tired but I am not FRAIL!

He sent the letter in a hot air balloon. It had taken him days to write the letter.  He needed it to be perfect. Once he was sure it was perfect he secured the letter in the envelope.  Tomorrow his father would place the envelope into the sky lantern and they would send it up to heaven so his mother could read the letter.

It was clear to see he was a thug. “He ain’t look like to thug to me.” Anna walked around to stand behind Robert’s computer. “I mean, look at him, I could take him.” “Robert,” Anna let out an exasperated sigh, “you are supposed to be looking up pictures about what you want to be when you grow up.” He looked up at her, “I was. I typed in thug. See.” He pointed at the search box on his screen. He had typed ‘thuge’ and Google had done a search instead for ‘thuggee’. “First off thug isn’t spelled with an ‘e’.  Second, that is not a viable career option in either spelling.” “Ms. Anderson, I have a question.” Anna looked up to see Robert’s hand in the air waving widly. “Robert you don’t have to call out, just raise your hand.”  Anna made her way over to his computer station.  He now had the Wikipedia article up for Thug Behram, the man whose picture he had criticized   a few minutes earlier. “Robert I said” Anna started but was quickly cut off by him. “I know, but I w...

Look in the mirror and describe what you see. 7 am – a blur of bed head as I shuffle past the mirror on my bedroom door 7:02 – more bed head, a little less blurry as I shuffle into the bathroom 7:20 – a mass of wet hair and freshly scrubbed face as I get out of the shower 7:22 – hair wrapped in a towel as product gets applied to reduce puffy eyes and diminish blemishes 7:30 – damp hair that is currently finger tussled with the application of anti-frizz product 8:00 – blown dried hair, curled, slight presence of frizz, damn humidity 8:02 – hair pulled back, face currently bring moisturized and tinted 8:05 – toothbrush sticking out of mouth, head moving side to side as I try to spot blemishes 8:07 – face slightly darker with foundation powder 8:09 – eyes lined, mascaraed lashes, brushed brows, lightly shadowed lids framed by glasses 8:13 – sheered lined lips, slightly colored in 8:15 – hair tussled into place, slightly more frizz then when it went up 15 minutes ago 8:30 – double check ey...

For week 3 our discussion  read: After reading Chapter 8 in The Scene Book , pick one of the examples offered in Elaborating Sentences (page 121) and write a single paragraph using descriptive language, symbolism, and imagery to communicate the deeper meaning of the simple sentence.   I chose the simple sentence: The attack happened in the blink of an eye.  And wrote this descriptive paragraph: A glitch in the system and then damage reports came flooding in; right and left hands reporting minor damage, left knee was hit hard, right knee reporting only minor scrapes, right shin is reporting high levels of pain, no word from back or any join locations. Movement in all extremities. Attempting to stand in 3, 2, 1. Stand achieved. Lower back is reporting major pain with limited movement. Humility has been depleted. Embarrassment level on the rise. All systems are functional; continue walk into house.

For our second meeting in April our Writers' Group prompt was: When _____ ignored the "Enter at Your Own Risk" sign on Mr. Sedgewick's property line, she had no idea what the consequences would be. This got me thinking about a story I had wrote years ago, so I dug around in my files and found the story, but somewhere along the line I had deleted most of it and only had a beginning and some notes. As I looked it over I realized that with some tweaking this could work as a pretty good story.  I only got so far as to edit what I already had written and this is what I presented: Welcome to the little town of Trent Valley.  There isn't much to do here.  The kids have options limited to the bowling alley, the one screen movie theater, the Trent Diner, or Keller's Pizzeria and Ice Cream Shoppe. By the time they turn seventeen and get a driver's license they are ready to get out of town on a Friday night. Again their options are limited, to the mall the next town ...