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.
My decorating supervisor, Mack had an undeniable presence. Although I’ve no photo of him, I have an image in my mind that will never fade. Bushy white moustache and flushed cheeks under a flat cap.
He had been creating gorgeous cakes since I was in diapers. Flowers crafted from extra-stiff icing were his specialty. Roses. Daisies. Pansies. Chrysanthemums.
Eyes twinkling, he called me “Whats-Your-Name.”
A better mentor I couldn’t have asked for—never stingy with his tricks of the trade. I’ll always cherish the greatest compliment he ever gave me. “You can do anything I can, and you know it.”
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Mack also told me I had a bright future as a cake decorator. I never told him that wasn’t exactly the future I was hoping for. 😉 From him that was huge. He’s gone now. I really wish I’d taken a picture or two of him.
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.
A blank computer screen mocks me. I type, “It was a dark and stormy night.” I backspace over it. Frustration reigns supreme. “He was a stormy, dark knight.”
Screw it.
Backspace.
My mind’s as gray as the sky outside. Whoever heard of a sky inside?
Oy.
Maybe it’s all the binge watching on Netflix that has my empty mind swimming in circles.
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 Sammi’s comment section.
Those beguiling brown eyes could melt the coldest heart. Even when I knew I should not give in; he would convince me with a pleading glance.
“My parents warned me about sleeping with guys like you.”
He snuggled beside me, his heart thumping against mine.
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 Sammi’s Comment Section.
AMERICAN LEGACY
Nineteen years ago, I experienced southern hospitality in Selma, Alabama with friends
A restaurant we went to served wonderful food with a side of grisly history. A pit beside the front door had been a holding cell for slave auctions. I lost my appetite.
As we drove over the Edmund Pettis bridge my heart swelled. I imagined the hundreds of American citizens who marched across it, tenaciously fighting for what was rightfully theirs.
No fiction in this story. Guess it’s the time of year. Martin Luther King Jr. day is tomorrow in the States. He was a true American Hero who leaves behind a legacy…for all Americans. (At least that’s how I see it.)
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 Sammi’s Comment Section
As I’d hoped, this week’s word is perfect for the sequel to my last week’s kvetch and moan piece. 😉 Thanks, Sammi.
Genre: Just the facts, Ma’am.
OLD BOUCHERVILLE
“This photo’s amazing, Dale. I’m tempted to paint it.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not sure I can pull it off.”
Dale’s photo with its stellar composition and unique lighting rented space in my head, refusing to leave.
The preliminary sketch took days. And, oh those many trees.
What am I thinking?
My trial by fire didn’t end with the watercolor. The paper, nothing I’d used before, was a cotton rag with its own personality—my crucible, challenging every stroke.
When all is said and done, I’ll never ever be a fan of that paper, but I am pleased with the outcome.
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 Sammi’s Comment Section.
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 Sammi’s Comment Section.
So this is where the word took me. I couldn’t help it, it was there. 😉 (Forgive me, Mark Knopfler.)
DIRE LYRICS
Back in the ‘90’s my husband Jan and a coworker argued over certain song lyrics. It didn’t matter how many times or ways Jan pointed out and proved the error. Kevin wouldn’t budge.
Even now, when we hear Dire Straits sing it, we laugh and sing along using Kevin’s lyrics. “We’re the sultans, we’re the sultans of suede.”
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And just for fun…it’s such a great song, especially with the right words.
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 Sammi’s Comment Section.
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.
This week marks my 8th anniversary as Friday Fictioneers facilitator and my 5th anniversary as a retired sign maker/cake decorator. So I’m taking the liberty of sharing a twofer.
Genre: Hysterical Faction
Word Count: 100
HONCHO DORI
My coworker and best friend was fired for saying, of all things, “Hunky Dory.” Her flippant reply to my “How’s your day going?” at her register. I kid you not. The charge was “sarcasm to a customer and, therefore, misconduct.” Seriously?
The company’s plan to purge the “old folks” put a target on my back, too.
At an emotional low I joined Friday Fictioneers. I tried it. I loved it. By October 24, I inherited the blog challenge.
Eight years later, my friend’s victorious lawsuit is a story we retell with glee. Friday Fictioneers? Yep, I’m still steering the bus.
It’s still hunky dory with us.
YEE-HAW!!!
I ran out words to tell you my friend was fired March 7, 2012 and I joined Friday Fictioneers a month later on April 12.
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Now for the second go around as promised. 😉 I posted this 24 October 2012, after inheriting Friday Fictioneers from creator Madison Woods. This was the only time I didn’t title my post with the date. I was told by a fictioneer that it was too confusing for me to post my title because it gave the impression that my title was part of the prompt. I complied and never saw her again. Go figure. There are some fictioneers who stuck with me, even though they were here before me. You know who you are. 😉 If I list them I’m bound to leave someone out. At any rate here’s my first story as facilitator. Same photo prompt.
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Word Count: 100
OF SIGHT AND SOUND
A stunning contradiction of cropped black hair, bronzed skin and sea foam blue eyes, Aggie McKewen’s face reflected her Inuit and Scottish parentage.
Keith, who worked at his uncle’s café in Seward County, Alaska, longed to speak to her but didn’t know sign language and she was fencepost deaf. Every Saturday he served her grilled salmon in shy silence.
After six weeks of night classes he felt ready to declare himself and asked her out.
With a voiceless giggle she snatched his pen and order pad. There she wrote, “I’d love to but why did you call me a tampon?”
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 Sammi’s Comment Section.
I love the challenge of learning a new word and then using it creatively. And this one was a challenge. So I digressed to a darker time in my life. Not to garner sympathy. I’ve recently finished a novel with the working title “Last Dance with Annie” based on my own experience with an eating disorder. Much of it is fiction, but a lot of it isn’t. So, without further exposition, this is where the muse took me this morning.
She walked the line
Between brilliance and insanity
Writing
Drawing
Obsessive Compulsive.
Drowning in the river
Denial
Chipping away at the megalith
She couldn’t climb.
Her mirror lied
Demons dined
Until she made a decision.
No looking back.
The boulder crushed to powder,
She writes, paints and
Celebrates life.
*Below are three of the many sketches I did as art therapy during the dark times. If you look closely you can see they’re dated 1992. A different place. A different person.
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 