12 February 2016

Published February 10, 2016 by rochellewisoff

NEWS FLASH!!!

Last week we had another short story winner. Margaret Leggatt in Australia.

To read her award winning story click

CONGRATULATIONS, MARGARET!

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The following photo is the PROMPT. Keep in mind that all photos are the property of the contributor, therefore copyrighted and require express permission to use for purposes other than Friday Fictioneers. Giving credit to whom credit is due is proper etiquette.

Please be considerate and make an effort to stay within the suggested word count.

PHOTO PROMPT © The Reclining Gentleman

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Genre: Memoir

Word Count: 100

WHEN THE SUN CONCEIVED A WOMAN

I tasted dusty tile floor. Aware of prying stares, lying in my own filth, I wished I could dissolve between the cracks of the thrift shop floor.

A paramedic struggled to insert an IV into my collapsed vein. “What year is it?”

“1996.”

“Do you know your name?”

My doctor’s words haunted me.

“You’re going to end up dead on the bathroom floor like Karen Carpenter and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Was this the legacy I wanted to leave my children?

Infused with renewed will to conquer the beast, I answered the EMT. “My name is Rochelle.”

****

*Footnote-This was a major wake-up call and the first day of my decision to live. The following sketch is part of a series I did to go along with an inner child story I wrote while in treatment, entitled The Magic Daffodils.

Original Artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

2 October 2015

Published September 30, 2015 by rochellewisoff

The following photo is the PHOTO PROMPT. Does it download a story to your head. Tell us in a hundred words or less–beginning, middle and and end.

NOTE: We have experienced some technical difficulty with the inLinkz box. It was in the middle of an update at the most inconvenient time. PLEASE for future reference, if you’re experiencing a difficulty with the site EMAIL ME! I’m as close as runtshell@gmail.com. Thank you.

Shalom,

Rochelle

PHOTO PROMPT – © Marie Gail Stratford

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Genre: Historical Friction

Word Count: 100

TRASH 80

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Jan showed off his latest acquisition from Radio Shack.

I fumed. “Our electric typewriter works just fine. A computer will end up being another dust collector like your precious Polaroid SX-70.”

“How was I supposed to know the film would cost a fortune?”

***

Thirty-six years have passed since that day. I’ve acquired my own desktop, scanner-printer combo, a netbook for travel and Jan takes sharp pictures with his iPad.

He reads my story over my shoulder and says with a sly smile, “Lemme get a rag for you.”

“Why?”

“You’ve been at it hours. You’re collecting dust.”

.

That’s Life

Published September 4, 2015 by rochellewisoff

THAT’S LIFE

It isn’t often that my birthday falls on a Friday. In 1953, September 4^th also fell on Friday and I made my debut at 3:59 a.m. Perhaps that’s why I’m such an early riser.

I’ve been privileged to celebrate sixty-two birthdays, for the most part, in good health. When I was a child 62 meant Mah Jhong, rocking chairs and Geritol. But as I celebrate this, the beginning of my 63^rd year, it’s not old at all nor do I own a rocking chair. In fact 2015 has been, as Frank Sinatra sang, a very good year.

A ten-year journey has led up to this very good year, beginning with my first draft of PLEASE SAY KADDISH FOR ME and soon after that, its sequel, FROM SILT AND ASHES. Writing quickly became my passion.

Along the way, I’ve had the good fortune of having mentors who taken the time to help me hone my craft. In the midst of it, Louella Turner, the owner of High Hill Press invited me to write and publish a short story anthology. THIS, THAT AND SOMETIMES THE OTHER was released in November 2011 and features not only my short stories but my artwork as well.

Soon after that, I started a blog which, during its first year might have garnered ten views and three comments. One day as I surfed the net, I came across Madison Woods’ post with an open invitation to join a short story blog challenge called Friday Fictioneers.

How was I to know on April 12, 2012 that writing one hundred word flash fictions would become a magnificent addiction from which I do not care to recover? Nor did I know that within the inside of six months I would become the facilitator of Friday Fictioneers.

That same year, I signed a contract with my agent Jeanie Loiacono, president of Loiacono Literary Agency for my first novel.

Toward the end of January 2015, I received an email from her, saying she thought she was close to selling PSKFM and did I have FSAA ready to go? After three weeks of going over FROM SILT AND ASHES with fellow writer/editor/brutally honest friend, Douglas MacIlroy, I sent the manuscript to Jeanie.

https://ironwoodwind.wordpress.com/

March 13^th, Friday the thirteenth, if you will, I received an email from Jeanie that began, “I hope you’re sitting down…” William Connor of Argus Publishing wanted both novels!

PLEASE SAY KADDISH FOR ME, also whipped into shape with help from Doug, was released May 8, 2015. So far, I’m pleased with the responses to it.

As many know I’ve been counting the days to my retirement, slated for October 4 of this year. I’ve been looking forward to switching gears from job to career which seems to have come sooner than later after a fashion.

One morning in June I woke with a sore spot on my gum. Thinking I’d rubbed it raw with my new electric toothbrush I ignored it. After two weeks the sore had swollen and my tooth ached. I finally went to the dentist who treated it with medication which didn’t help. By the end of July I discovered a white spot which turned out to be bone poking through. The dentist referred me to an oral surgeon who told me it needed to be taken care of immediately.

The beginning of August I had the surgery which did bring considerable relief. Happily I went for my follow up appointment only to be told that I’d developed Osteomyelitis, a bone infection, in my jaw.

To quote John Lennon, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I now find myself on six weeks short-term disability leave with a picc line in my arm and daily IV infusions of antibiotics.

It’s not nearly as horrible as it sounds and proves that blessings may come in strange disguises for I now have more time to spend with my husband Jan as well as time to pursue a dual career as author and illustrator.

In my mind I hear Old Blue Eyes singing and I smile and say, “Yes, Frank, that’s life.”

http://a-argusbooks.com/ http://www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com/ http://www.highhillpress.com/

***

Check out my author page on the Loiacono Website. Also Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Art and Blogs.

Available Internationally on Kindle and in Print

If you’ve read and enjoyed, please leave a review on one of these sites. It helps sell books. 😉

Shalom,

Rochelle

ANGUS & ROBERTSON AMAZON B&N BAM BOOKWORLD FISHPOND SHELFARI BOOK DEPOSITORY WATERSTONES GOODREADS IDREAMBOOKS

24 April 2015

Published April 22, 2015 by rochellewisoff

The following photo is the PHOTO PROMPT. What do you see? Don’t be afraid to step outside the confines of the box. Use your imagination.

My unstory will follow the prompt and the blue frog link. 😉

PHOTO PROMPT – © Douglas M. MacIlroy

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Genre: Non-fiction/Non-story

Word Count: 99

The story you are about to read is true. No names have been changed to protect the innocent.

THE ULTIMATE COP OUT

“It’s a fantastic prompt,” I tell Doug.

“I’ll take history for $30,” I mumble as I read an article about Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach the South Pole.

After days of edits, illustrations, full time job issues and insomnia, my busy brain, swirling with a thousand-thoughts-a-minute, is at a loss for a flash fiction.

Word came this week that my novel is going to be released in two weeks. So soon? I just sent the manuscript back to the publisher and I’m still writing acknowledgements.

“Another time, Roald.” I click out of Wikipedia. “No story this week.”

***

It’s true. For the first time in three years, I didn’t have the head space to write a story. I hope you’ll find it in your hearts to forgive me. Last week I received an email from my publisher with the following notice:

Beginning on April 20 Please Say Kaddish For Me will be available to preorder from Kindle in ebook form and to preorder from http://www.a-argusbooks.com/GalleryComing.htm in print form. Release date scheduled for May 8.

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

Many thanks to Cuzzin Kent Bonham for using his expertise to make the following book trailer. Click here for LINK. Of course the date’s a bit sooner than I was expecting. 😉

Voice of a Spanish Dancer – Refracted Bliss

Published January 10, 2015 by rochellewisoff

REFRACTED BLISS

Sub-zero-degree temperatures and frigid winds for the past week have kept me indoors. Whenever I’ve thought about making the less-than-a-mile trek to the fitness center I’ve talked myself out of it. Although my vacation plans included swimming to my heart’s content, stinging cold has made it easy to curl up with a hot cup of coffee instead.

This morning the walls close in on me and I’m drowning in a sea of despair. I know what I need to do. No matter how cold, wet or icy, I’ll let nothing stand between me and the lap pool.

I pack my gym bag and layer two sweaters, jeans and a heavy coat over my swimsuit. My car’s thermostat reads 16º.

In the locker room I hurriedly peel off the layers and head for the pool. It’s uninhabited and the water’s a clear sheet. All mine.

I slip in and submerge fully then propel myself through the cool water that rushes over and carries me to another place.

Sunlight shining through the long windows paints ribbons across the pool’s blue floor.

Smoother than silk, water is a lover’s gentle caress that massages my bare skin and whispers peaceful words of reassurance in my ear. “You are alive. You are changing. You are safe.”

.

It was so worth it!

12 December 2014

Published December 10, 2014 by rochellewisoff

The following photo is this week’s PROMPT. What stands out? What type of story does it tell you? Tell us in a hundred words or less.

My story comes after the prompt and the blue inLinkz frog. I appreciate honest comments and crit. The artwork afterward is original and used for the sole purpose of illustrating my story. Permission required to use it. Thank you and shalom.

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Sandra Crook

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Genre: Memoir

Word Count: 100

GRACE

In the midst of running, swimming and daily calisthenics, all at a frenetic pace, I fantasized about onion rings and fried chicken. Low numbers were all that mattered. One hundred calories per meal. Twenty pink pills to purge them. The scale hovered between eighty-five and eighty-four.

“You like my new jeans?” I asked my friend Linda. “I can’t believe they fit.”

“What size?” Her ice-blue gaze met mine.

“Zero.”

“You’ll look nice in your child-size coffin.”

__________

Now I run and swim at a comfortable pace and not a day goes by that I don’t thank Linda for my life.

Author’s Note: After I made the difficult decision to move on, Linda and I tossed those skinny jeans down the trash compactor in the backroom of our store. I don’t tell this to garner sympathy. It’s something I went through and have conquered with the help of excellent therapy and good friends. Life is all grist for the mill, isn’t it?

Originality is the Art of Concealing Your Source…Or is it?

Published October 28, 2014 by rochellewisoff

ORIGINAL ARTWORK Copyright- Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

ORIGINAL ARTWORK Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Not too long ago I read an article by a blogger who had used copyrighted photos without permission. What seemed perfectly innocent to her resulted in ugly legal repercussions.

It’s so easy with social media to pick out images as if they were free samples in a candy store, isn’t it?

From the other side of that fence, I’ve used some of my original sketches or snapshots to illustrate particular stories. Imagine my surprise when, more than once, these showed up on another blogger’s page.

My friend and fellow author Marie Gail Stratford recently shared important information for all of us who blog and or use social media. Click her name to read and be educated.

Shalom,

Rochelle

AUTOMATIC BLUES

Published October 20, 2014 by rochellewisoff

I GOT THEM STEADILY DEPRESSING, LOW DOWN MIND MESSING, MY CAR’S IN THE SHOP AGAIN, BLUES.

This past year has not been the best year for my car. In fact I’m beginning to think it’s the incarnation of the Li’l Abner character with a cloud over his head. Remember him? For those of you who don’t…never mind.

In the midst of our frigid Missouri winter, my Chevy Cruz’s heater went out. So it spent some time in the shop. Due to the lack of a small part that had to be ordered my car was MIA longer than expected.

My joy at being back in my little car was short lived. The day after getting it back it died in the parking lot after work. This time it had to be towed to the dealership but not before I spent an hour in the car keeping warm and bandying words with the dingbat at the dispatch center. It seems she sent the tow truck driver to Lee’s Summit, Missouri when I’d specifically told her I was at 23^rd and Lee’s Summit Road in Independence, Missouri.

After another week in the shop, my car was returned in perfect working order. End of story? I wish.

About a month ago, on the way to work, a deer on a suicide mission ran out in front of me. While I was shaken by it, I wasn’t hurt and the car was drivable. Thank God for insurance and a $100 deductible.

Front end after hitting the deer.

A week ago last Thursday we were on our way home from an event when the driver of an SUV decided he needed our lane on the freeway as well as his own. He sideswiped us and barreled down the road not so gently into the rainy night.

Of course, the car’s back in the shop. Because we filed a police report and it’s a clear case of hit and run it won’t count against us on our insurance. I’m also grateful to be here. It could’ve been so much worse.

My story doesn’t end here.

I’m part of a dying breed of people in the United States who prefer a standard transmission as opposed to an automatic.

It wasn’t always so, but circumstances thirty-five years ago dictated.

When Jan taught me to drive a stick he assured me coordinating my left foot and right hand would become second nature. I had my doubts as I popped the clutch and bounced down the street like a rubber ball.

It happened as he said, though not overnight, it happened. Since then every car, I’ve owned has been a standard.

Ever hear of a loaner car with a standard transmission? I shouldn’t complain, right? It could be worse. At least I have a car.

An automatic requires intense concentration. When coming to a stop, my left foot trembles and my right hand wanders aimlessly. More than once I’ve slammed both feet on the brake and nearly catapulted myself through the windshield.

Tonight, I hope, my car’s coming back home, with luck, slightly worse for wear and virtually unwrinkled. I might take her for drive to experience the sheer joy of downshifting to a stop.

I hope my brake lights work.

The Gift

Published July 3, 2014 by rochellewisoff

For the first time in over two years I took a two-week break from Friday Fictioneers. The reason being that I had some special out of town guests and I wanted to devote as much time to them as I could. Many of you know these two stellar writers, Janet Webb from Naperville, IL and Douglas MacIlroy from Kamuela, HI.

Since Doug planned to be in town for a couple of disc golf tournaments I invited him to the “Fields Bed and Breakfast.” Naperville isn’t far from Kansas City so I extended an invitation to Janet. One of the perks of having more than one guest room is that we can accommodate more than one guest.

It was nice to relax and get in some recreational reading. I think I was waking up from a recreational nap when Doug snapped the photo.

Doug sitting at my desk.

One of the high points of the visit was a trip to Joplin where we had lunch with Russell and Connie Gayer. Since they live in Arkansas we met in a somewhat central location. On the way we stopped for gas in Webb City, MO. Doug snapped the next photo. Too good to pass up.

Janet Webb in front of that Webb City water tower.

Connie and Russell Gayer. A rather serious expression on one of our favorite humorists.

The man behind me is my husband, Jan. Connie took the picture.

We celebrated Doug’s victory in his division of the KC Wide Open.

One of Doug’s favorite Kansas City sites. A disc golf shop downtown. The photo’s a bit blurry but the expression on his face says, “I’ve found Paradise.”

Selfie in a reflection. Doug had to snap this one so you get an idea of the differences in our heights. (One of us has some.)

While Doug was in Columbia for his second tournament, I managed to break my toe, the second in two months. You can read all about it here.

Y’all come back now. Take your shoes off…at your own risk.

Toemageddon

Published June 29, 2014 by rochellewisoff

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE

I’ve often claimed to be my own anecdote. But if I can’t laugh at myself…and so on and so on and Scooby dooby dooby do.

Although I don’t like to share my physical trials and tribulations, sometimes a situation presents itself that’s too ridiculous not to share. For example, some may recall post about my minute clinic excursion for a mouth ulcer last year that led to a trip to the ER for an abnormally low heart rate.

My story begins during the last week of April when I slipped and stubbed my left big toe before going of to work. I thought nothing much of it as I donned my shoe. No bruise, no swelling. It was uncomfortable but not unbearable the rest of the day. Imagine my shock and amazement when I removed my shoe that afternoon.

X-rays showed that I’d fractured it at the top joint.

A month later, another x-ray showed that my poor broken digit hadn’t healed. My sentence was another four weeks in the stylish, open toed “oxford.” Ironically I haven’t had much pain with this one. For this I’ve been thankful.

This brings me to this past Friday morning. As I blissfully stepped out of the tub after a refreshing shower I banged my right toe against the sliding-door track. Sharp pain. But I’ve done that before many times over. Nothing to worry about, right?

Instead of subsiding, the pain grew steadily worse as did the swelling and discoloration. By yesterday morning (Saturday) it had swollen more. My husband insisted on taking me to the local ER.

Before all was said and done I warned the ER nurses about my heart rate which for me is normal. (49 for those curious readers.)

A tech came in and snapped four different x-ray views. I prayed for a diagnosis of simple bruising. Go home put ice on it.

No such luck.