5 December 2025

Published December 3, 2025 by rochellewisoff

The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

The photo shows a small grocery store with rows of jars and some decorations. In the background are some refrigerator cases. To the left are to square tables with folding chairs.

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Genre: Memoir
Word Count: 100

TURKISH DELIGHT

Shelves lined with souvenirs and jarred delicacies; Mediterranean Market didn’t look like much. However, the smoky baba ghanoush and succulent kabobs more than compensated for the lack of ambience.

My cousin Kent and I enjoyed long lunches and chatting with the Turkish co-owners.

“I miss the mountains,” Jihan would say with a faraway gaze, “and my mother.”

Sinan, the more gregarious brother, with black hair curling below his ears and huge eyes that didn’t quite go the same direction, would ask me, “You like the food?”

“The best.”

He would grin and giggle. “When the womens is heppy, everybody’s heppy.”

This is a true story. I only wish I’d gotten pictures of the Sinan and J’han. I really miss this little market where Kent and I spent a lot of time writing together.

28 November 2025

Published November 26, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

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This Friday, November 28, Jan and I will celebrate our 54th Wedding Anniversary so I took the easy route and wrote a little reflection.

Genre: Anecdote
Word Count: 100

DESTINY

The saying goes that hindsight is 20/20. In other words, if I’d only known then what I know now, would I tell the eighteen-year-old child bride to run?

And what if she’d listened?

Perhaps she would have married someone else—someone without the same rough edges—or fierce loyalty.

Would she trade three handsome sons for what might have been?

Silly questions change nothing.

I’m thankful for my children and the man I married fifty-four years ago. His smile warms my heart more now than it did when I walked down the aisle to him. Two became one. My destiny.

20 June 2025

Published June 18, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

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Genre: Rambling Anecdote
Word Count: 100

AUDITORY CORTEX

Round like a circle in a spiral…

Earworms—tunes that go around and around in my head like a merry-go-round.

Like a wheel within a wheel.

Some days they seem never ending like an ever-spinning reel, don’t they?

Pictures hanging in a hallway…

Every one of those pictures is crooked. This situation must be rectified immediately.

…and the fragment of a song.

There. The pictures are straight. Much better.

Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?

I had at least four anonymous commentors last week.

Why did I come into this room in the first place?

6 June 2025

Published June 4, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

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Genre: Anecdote
Word Count:100

CONNECTING FLIGHT

“Are you ready to go to the airport?”

I shuffled through the piles on my desk. “Daddy, I can’t find my passport.”

“Hurry!” He paced the floor.

Then I remembered I only needed my real I.D.

When we arrived at the check-in, panic set in. I’d forgotten to pack. We rushed home where I flung clothes into my purple suitcase: black swimsuits, black skirt, black pants, black…What’s with all this black?

Next-thing-I-know I’m lying in bed. I open my eyes. Somewhat relieved, I look at the clock. It’s 04:00. Dad’s been gone these past thirty years. Gee, I miss him.

*I wrote this shortly after I woke up from this very dream. Wasn’t sure what to call the genre. 😉

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And just a little something extra. 😉 It’s kind of long and has nothing to do with Friday Fictioneers. It’s an interview I did a few months ago with my author friend Diane Yates.

9 May 2025

Published May 7, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

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I admit this is quite similar to a story/rant i wrote five years ago February Nothing’s changed. If anything things have only gotten worse. So you may refer this as a sequel.

Genre: Anectdotal Rant
Word Count: 100

ONE PILL CAN KILL

Every day a new one appears. If you live in these Divided States, you know what I’m talking about. Prescription drug advertisements.

Who comes up with those colorful names? They’re insane, usually starting with the letters X and Z. They treat everything from obesity to bipolar disorder.

Ya gotta love ‘em—from bright and breezy to sensual and sleezy. They all make me queasy. While happy people prance across the screen celebrating life, the gentle voice over recites a list of possible side effects.

Wait! I got lost somewhere between anaphylaxis and cardiac arrest. What was this supposed to treat?

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Okay, this one starts with A. But it’s pretty much what I’m talking about.

4 April 2025

Published April 2, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast

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I’m indulging in a bit more of an intro than usual. I want to share how I got from Jen’s photo to the story I ended up with. At first, I zeroed in on the game Sorry which I played a lot when I was a child. Later, I would play it with my kids. So naturally I Googled the history of the game and came up with George Swinnerton Parker, founder of Parker Brothers and inventor of such games as Sorry, Tiddly Winks and Monopoly. Then as I was playing Scrabble on my iPad, which I do several times a day, it occurred to me I was following the wrong thread. This story is based on my own family history. 😉

Genre: Anecdote
Word Count:100

GAME ON

In 1948 James Brunot redesigned the game Criss Cross and renamed it Scrabble. It was first marketed in Great Britain in 1954.

My parents played on otherwise quiet evenings.

Mom was an avid crossword puzzle worker. Dad’s vocabulary didn’t compare to hers.

She spelled out, “QUA”

“What the hell is that? I challenge!” Flipping through dictionary, he muttered, “Oh, here it is, ‘being; in the character of’” Then he played his tiles. “SCREAM. Double word. Beat that, Mrs. Know-it-all.”

Mom added five letters to QUA to form SQUABBLE. “Triple word and my name for this game. I win. I quit.”

7 March 2025

Published March 5, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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Genre: Anecdote
Word Count:100

FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH

“Something’s happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.”

My thoughts scatter this morning like bits of flotsam, jetsam and lagan. The news blares in my ears and assaults my mind. Opinions swirl and spin with tornadic force. As the saying goes, everybody has one…nu?

Meanwhile, I’m gagging on social media fast food.

Yes. I have my own views. I don’t care to get into a virtual shouting match. Speak to me in private. I’ll say what I think. Or maybe I won’t. I hope we can still be friends. If not, perhaps we were never friends to begin with.

And while we’re at it:

10 January 2025

Published January 8, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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CLICK TO HOP ALONG

Genre: Anecdote
Word Count: 100

PURPLE PROSE

Addicted? Me? Nah. No way.

It is true that I’ve always loved purple—all shades of it, from pale lavender to deep violet.

It’s more than a color, or colour, depending on your locale. In North Carolina there’s even a boutique called, of all things, Purpleologist. They sell everything from knickknacks to jewelry, sunglasses, and clothes.

Twelve years ago, at a writer’s workshop, we bloggers were encouraged to create a memorable title to build our brand. “Addicted to Purple” was born—a bit of humor that seems to have caught on. That’s all.

Addicted? Me? Nah, I can stop anytime.

Here’s a link to Russell Gayer’s take on my addiction that he posted in 2012. (Note, he was at that same workshop)

A few years back, someone sent me the link to this song. He said it should be my theme song. 😉 It is my iPhone’s ringtone. 😀 What can I say? It works.

I can quit anytime.

3 January 2025

Published January 1, 2025 by rochellewisoff

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025, FRIDAY FICTIONEERS! HERE’S TO ANOTHER TWELVE MONTHS OF STORYTELLING!

Note: To anyone who has photos you think are prompt-worthy, please send them my way.

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Genre: Non-Fiction
Word Count: 100

SOGGY HOLIDAY

I purchased my tickets last March, for my annual North Carolina, “sibling revelry” visit, dreaming of sunshine, beach combing and ocean swimming.

August came. In anticipation, I boarded my flight in Kansas City. My thirty-minute layover in Charlotte turned into two and a half hours in a thunderstorm. After a thirty-minute flight I was greeted by my brother and his wife in Wilmington after midnight.

Lost luggage, computer glitches, Hurricane Debby (not to be confused with my gentle sister-in-law Debbie), and a rained-out concert made for a challenging “getaway.”
And that, my friends, is how I spent my summer vacation.

We made it to the beach…once…for an hour. After that the heavens opened once more.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM BENJI, PIP AND DIVA.

29 November 204

Published November 27, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Personal Musing
Word Count: 100

COME WHAT MAY

Every day it’s a-gettin’ closer.
Goin’ faster than a roller coaster…
I think back to the day we said our “I do’s.”
Sometimes we did. And all too often we didn’t.
Three babies came. Thankfully, one at a time—each with his own unique personality.
We weathered the lean times.
Hamburger Helper was what was for dinner.
We endured the alone times—both physical and emotional.
We survived chicken pox, broken bones and injuries requiring stitches.
Every day it’s a-gettin’ closer
Goin’ faster than a roller coaster
Life was never ever neat.
Love like yours has surely come my way.

Tomorrow marks our 53rd year of marriage. Our parents gave us six months. I guess we beat those odds. Sometimes I think we stayed together out of pure stubborness. At any rate, I’ve waxed reflective this month. Thank you for understanding. 😉