15 March 2019

Published March 13, 2019 by rochellewisoff

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The following photo is the PROMPT. It is proper etiquette to give credit where credit is due. Thank you.

PHOTO PROMPT © Anshu Bhojnagarwala

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The following is a snippet from my books AS ONE MUST ONE CAN and A STONE FOR THE JOURNEY. Rachel is a favorite character of mine. Perhaps I’ll write a novel about her in the future. At the very least, a short story. 😉

Genre: Historical Fiction circa 1907

Word Count! 100

SHORTSIGHTED

Miss Kline glanced at three-year-old Rachel and back at Havah. “She’s—”

“Blind.” Rachel grinned. “I don’t have floppy nerves.”

“Optic nerves,” said Havah.

“May I play piano for Miss Kline, Mommy?”

“Play something pretty.”

Rachel’s dog led her to the upright piano and lay down next to it so Rachel could use her for a step stool.

“Surely you don’t allow her to bang on that lovely instrument,” whispered Miss Kline.

Havah smiled but said nothing. Rachel danced her tiny fingers across the keys.

Miss Kline clapped her hand over her mouth. “Bless my soul, it’s… it’s… Bach’s ‘Musette’!”

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A DAY IN THE LIFE

Published March 9, 2019 by rochellewisoff

This week Pegman is still wandering around in the Northern Hemisphere. However this time Pegman visits Greenland for the first time.

Your mission is to write up to 150 words inspired by this week’s location. Feel free to use the photo supplied with the prompt or search for your own. Be warned–you won’t find much in the way of streetview or photospheres here.

Once your piece is polished, share it with others using the Linkup below. Reading and commenting on others’ work is part of the fun!

Thanks to Karen and Josh for hosting the challenge.

A DAY IN THE LIFE

So, it’s Saturday morning. Like every Saturday morning for the past two years, there’s an email in my inbox from Karen or Josh with the location of this week’s What Pegman Saw Blog Challenge.

I laugh at a picture of a flock of penguins on the ice preparing to swim. Surely there’s a story in that. I could write an amusing tale of anthropomorphic birds at a royal ball in black and white tuxedos. After all, talking cerebral animals worked well for Deborah Howe in her hilarious children’s book, “Bunnicula.”

After thinking it over I decide against penguins. Magnificent landscapes aren’t inspiriting me. In the end, I’ve decided to go with my first thought. I couldn’t help myself.

In the movie “A Hard Day’s Night,” which followed a fictitious day in the life of the Beatles, an interviewer asked John Lennon, “How did you find America.”

“Turn left at Greenland.”

*

DEVOTION – Weekend Word Prompt

Published March 3, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Thanks to Sammi Cox for the weekend challenge.

The affair began in innocence

Understanding

Accelerated into devotion

Ardent passion

Resistance is futile.

I am a hopeless love slave.

Writing is a jealous lover.

1 March 2019

Published February 27, 2019 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 © Jean L. Hays

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I hope the new format for the inLinkz works. Just click on the froggy. I’ve put the update off for a month. Don’t you love updates? I think I’ve done this right. I’m still resisting the new WordPress dashboard. 😉 In any event, after wrestling with the new inLinkz format, here’s my ‘story’ for this week.

Genre: Hysterical Fiction

Word Count: 100

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

“It’s not what you look at that matters…,” said Sandra.

“…it’s what you see,” said Shrawley.

“Our Fairy Blog Mother posts it almost every week like it’s highly significant or something.” Russell repositioned his clown nose while his pooch, Liza Jane, warbled a tune. “Ask Louisa May Alcott Wisoff-Fields yourself.”

“You yanks are so obtuse,” fumed Ali. “Don’t you see the flying saucer over the market?”

“Pfft!” Dale rolled her eyes. “Give it up.”

Rochelle’s frustration mounted. “The prompt is a mere suggestion. Use your imaginations, please.”

“Oooh. Now I see it.” Russell pointed to the Coors sign. “Bottoms up.”

INDISTINCT

Published February 23, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Thanks to Sammi Cox for the challenge.

Word Prompt

Indistinct

This week is a snippet from my WIP “What the Heart Wants.”

The shop dissolved into a miasma of indistinct outline and shadow. Asher saw only Papa’s oozing, hollow eyes.

: Kishinev Pogrom 1903

15 February 2019

Published February 13, 2019 by rochellewisoff

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As always, please be considerate of your fellow Fictioneers and keep your stories to 100 words. (Title is not included in the word count.) Many thanks.

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 © J Hardy Carroll

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Genre: Memoir

Word Count: 100

MOTIF

South City View—we kids replaced ‘View’ with ‘Zoo.’ I suspect our overworked teachers used the same handle.

A bright spot for me was Mr. O’Neill, a teddy bear of a man. He taught art to all the elementary grades in the Center school district, going from school to school and room to room. His visits served as once-a-week holidays from routine classroom tedium.

In junior high, Mrs. Spears filled his vacancy in my life, followed by Mr. Creamer in high school. I often wonder what became of Robert H. O’Neill who added color, form and composition to my childhood.

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PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORIES

Published February 10, 2019 by rochellewisoff

This week Karen has invited us to take a cruise to the British Virgin Islands for WHAT PEGMAN SAW. As I’ve been in quite the reflective mood lately, I’m sharing a memory. Here in the frozen Midwest the skies have been dreary and the roads icy. A trip to a tropical island is just the ticket for this sleety Sunday morning.

St. Thomas © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Genre: Memoir

Word Count: 150

St. Thomas © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORIES

Lush hills and tree-studded mountains surround St. Thomas like an imperial crown. Is it any wonder my son and his bride fell in love with the area? They exchanged their vows there and invited their parents to share the honeymoon.

Later, my son told me they had planned to have the ceremony on a mountaintop so his mother wouldn’t be tempted to swim away. Who would do something so utterly rude on such a grand occasion?

However nothing compared to the thrill of snorkeling along the underwater nature trail in Magen’s Bay in St. Thomas or exploring Water Lemon Cay in St. John.

I feasted my gaze on purple fan coral, yellow tangs and crimson starfish. As water takes on the shape of its container, I took on the shape of the water in an indescribable oneness. Unfettered by the mundane, I embraced the sea and it welcomed me home.

“When we’re in the water, we’re not of this world.”
……Gertrude Ederle

HORIZON

Published February 9, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.

I find the word and varying word counts a refreshing challenge. This week the word “Horizon” took me down a different avenue without a GPS. Who’d ever heard of those in 1980? We didn’t even have a CB Radio yet. “Kick ‘er back. Come on, now.”

Many thanks to Sammi Cox who posts this prompt challenge every week.

Our 1980 Plymouth Horizon was a lovely shade of mauve with four on the floor.

“Left foot clutch, right foot gas,” my husband said. “It will become second nature.”

I did learn with a few bounces, lurches and pops along the way.

Fast forward thirty-nine years.

Every time my precious 6-speed’s in the shop it happens. Did you know loaner cars never come with standard transmission?

Both feet hit the brakes. It’s second Nature.

***

8 February 2019

Published February 6, 2019 by rochellewisoff

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As always, please be considerate of your fellow Fictioneers and keep your stories to 100 words. (Title is not included in the word count.) Many thanks.

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.

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When I saw this picture, I decided it was the perfect time to rerun one of my favorites. Some of you might remember this one from four and a half years ago.

Genre: Hysterical Fiction

Word Count: 100

FIRE IN THE HOLE

Two months ago my husband bought a dehydrator, a nifty gadget that reduces ten pounds of apples to less than a pound of mummified slices in a matter of hours.

“Think of the money we’ll save,” said Jeff.

“Seriously?” I rolled my eyes.

The final straw came when he dehydrated jalapeños.

A short time later the dog begged to be let out. With my howling baby tucked under one arm and a handkerchief over my stinging nose I blindly kicked open the front door.

It took a week to fumigate the house. It’ll take longer to let Jeff back in.

WOOLGATHERING

Published February 2, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Thank you, Sammi Cox for this word prompt challenge that keeps sending me down Memory Lane. 😀

My 4^th grade teacher, Mrs. Smith, scrawled a big question mark on my report card next to “pays attention.”

“Wool-gathering in class.”

Once upon a time…

I’d retreat to my happy place

and tell myself stories.

*****

Mrs. Smith was one of my favorite teachers. Although I’m sure I frustrated her with my messy desk and my daydreaming, she never belittled me. I remember her with great fondness. ❤