5 December 2025

Published December 3, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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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.

11 April 2025

Published April 9, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Nancy Richy

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PLANT-BASED REALITY?

I was nine years old when I saw Day of the Triffids, a movie about man-eating plants. They crashed through windows and chomped off heads of unsuspecting humans, engulfing the world in an avalanche of terror.

Eighteen years ago, after surgery, my husband was gifted with a houseplant. Pothos—known for its tenacity. It grew from one end of our living room to the other, until an accident broke off its long tendrils.

Still, it thrives.

Maybe it’s my wild imagination, but should I be concerned about those chomping noises I sometimes hear in the middle of the night?

Does anyone remember this?

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.”

28 March 2025

Published March 26, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

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INVISIBLE WARRIOR

The second world war to end all wars raged. Thousands of young men were invited by their draft boards to participate.

Eighteen-year-old Susan read a want-ad in the Baltimore Sun. “Eastern Aircraft is hiring women to be riveters.”

“That’s no job for a lady,” said Mama.

“It could pay my way to college.”

Determined, Susan joined 600,000 black women.

“We ladies worked together as an integrated America.” Ninety-nine-year-old Susan Taylor King, who’d earned two college degrees from Morgan University, told reporters. She fingered her red polka-dotted neckerchief with pride. “I’ve lived long enough to be black and important in America.”

21 February 2025

Published February 19, 2025 by rochellewisoff

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If this photo prompt looks familiar to you, it’s because it’s a rerun from Aptil 2016. I’m sort of rerunning my story from that week although it needed tweaking. 😉

Genre: Fact and Fiction
Word Count: 100

SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE

At a critique group I shared an excerpt from my historical novel set in 1904.

“‘…The taller officer, an imposing presence with dark skin, fascinated Havah. Although she had read about them in Professor Dietrich’s books about Africa and American history, she had never met a Negro face to face.’”

“I hate to burst your bubble,” said another writer with self-assured conviction. “I doubt there would’ve been a black officer back then.”

Returning her smug smile, I opened my Kansas City history book to a photo of Lafayette Tillman on horseback. “Second one on the KC force.”

.

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29 November 204

Published November 27, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

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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. 😉

If you don’t already have an earworm, let me help. 😉

30 August 2024

Published August 28, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Anecdote
Word Count: 100

GLASSMITH

Charles was a glassblower at the amusement park called Worlds of Fun where I spent a summer as a caricature artist. I loved to watch him create his glass menagerie.

Years later I visited his shop in a local mall.

“Such beautiful work,” I said. “You’ve only gotten better.”

“Are you still drawing?” he asked.

“Of course.” Then, I saw a figure on a shelf—a dancer. “I’ve sketched her many times! I must have her.”

Instead of selling me that one, he crafted another on the spot—just for me.

Her fluid choreography will forever grace my whatnot shelf.

12 July 2024

Published July 10, 2024 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Histerical Fiction
Word Count: 100

THE THLOT PICKENS

“It was a matter of time,” I told Lois. “The man was evil personified. He cast a dark shadow on everything and everyone. It boiled down to where and when.”

Lois looked up from her register. “How did you end up doing it?”

“Derringer at close range.”

A gasp interrupted our conversation. I turned to see a blue-haired lady clutching a cantaloupe, her eyes wide and mouth agape.

Busted! My cheeks blazed. I flashed a sheepish grin. “Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone else was listening.”

“Not to worry,” Lois pointed at me. “She’s just a crazy writer.”

It’s not exactly fiction. An author needs to be careful what she says in public. 😉 Believe me, this character really did need killing.