Weekend Writing Prompt – “EPOCH”

Published February 29, 2020 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 Sammi’s Comment Section

I love the way these word prompts send me in very different directions. Usually straight down Memory Lane. 27 words, title not included.

THIS, THAT AND RECENTLY, THE OTHER

The day my anthology debuted was

overwhelming

epoch.

I write.

The publisher mysteriously vanished.

Still I write.

Four more books-in-print later,

I write.

I write.

I write.

On the verge of a new career in 2011.

Apologies to the inspirational Maya Angelou, may her memory be blessed.

Weekend Writing Prompt – Abysmal

Published February 22, 2020 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 Sammi’s Comment Section

Once more the word prompt took me to a personal place. I’ve used this very word to describe the following story. 93 words, not counting the title. Dedicated to a very dear friend who had a hand in my being alive to write this story.

HIS SUCCESS STORY

One would think a book signing at Barnes and Noble would be a guaranteed success. Right? Of course, right!

Or not.

Few patrons stopped to chat. I signed some of my three-hundred-page masterpieces with “Shalom, Rochelle.”

Then my former therapist, who saw me through my darkest days, showed up.

I threw my arms around him. “Wayne, you came!”

He beamed like a proud father. “How could I not?”

Four months later I learned of his passing.

In a single moment, my perception of that Saturday evening went from “abysmal failure” to “cherished memory”.

Wayne’s the one in the Hawaiian shirt.

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT -SCULPTURE

Published February 15, 2020 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 Sammi’s Comment Section.

DAUGHTER-IN-LOVE

Art nights. Sometimes the boys and I painted with melted crayons. Other times we’d make things out of modeling clay you harden in the oven.

One of my attempts remained intact until my youngest son brought home his fiancé to meet us. Despite her profuse apologies for knocking him off a shelf, I assured her it was nothing to lose her head over.

I rather like him this way, don’t you?

14 February 2020

Published February 12, 2020 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

Click the Frogs (who aren’t blue) to Hop Along

Genre: Histrionic Fiction

Word Count: 100

OVERDOSE

It’s an icy Missouri day that makes me want to swaddle myself in flannel, sip hot chocolate and watch ancient black and whites.

I flip through the channels. There. “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Love me some Gary Cooper.” I settle in.

All at once, one of my favorite movie moments where Longfellow Deeds expresses his admiration for Mary Dawson is interrupted by a drug advertisement. An adorable toddler chases after an irresistible puppy while the announcer rattles off the possibly fatal side effects.

Aromatase inhibitors? Sulfonylureas? Cosentix? Eliquis? Methotrexate?

I’d walk a mile for an old fashion cigarette commercial.

*Note: I don’t know if this is a United States only lament but it seems there’s a new drug on the market every day. It’s not like we can go to the local pharmacy and get these without a prescription so I don’t know why we’re bombarded with annoying advertisements.

CLICK HERE for more info

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT – ELYSIAN

Published February 8, 2020 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 Sammi’s Comment Section.

Thank you, Sammi, for introducing me to a new word. When I learned it’s meaning, the muse took me to my ultimate happy spot. Those who know me well, can guess where I’m going with this. 😉

NUDIBRANCH

Some meditate to achieve absolute peace.

Controlled breathing.

Bio feedback.

For this radiolarian

Tranquility comes in liquid form

Buoying me up to watery heights

Singing an elysian song.

I am a Spanish Dancer,

A sea creature

Blissfully navigating

Waves of purple fan coral

Schools of phthalo-blue tangs

Sunlight beams through the crystalline surface.

Serenity is mine.

*

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

7 February 2020

Published February 5, 2020 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 © Ulrika Undén

For a good time, click the frog!

Genre: Nothing but the Truth

Word Count: 100

THE LITTLE OLD LADY FROM PASADENA

Growing up during the Great Depression, did Maurine Kornfeld figure she’d have already climbed the stairway to Heaven by the year 2020?

Like many Americans she retired at age 65. Although she never cared for swimming as a youngster, she joined a Masters Swim group at the YMCA to stay fit. Setting her first record at age 90, she was recently inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame.

When asked her secret, she replied, eyes twinkling. “If you can’t outswim them, outlive them.”

“Mighty Mo” is my new hero. I want to be her when I grow up.

*

CLICK HERE to meet Mighty Mo

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT – LOOKING-GLASS

Published February 2, 2020 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 Sammi’s Comment Section.

This prompt is one that has me reflecting. 😉 64 words, not including title.

LIKE FINE WINE

TV shows I loved as a kid are retro footage on YouTube. My favorite toys are displayed in antique malls.

I still adore listening to the Beatles. To this day, Paul McCartney’s brown eyes or Man from U.N.C.L.E., David McCallum’s baby blues make my heart flutter.

Somewhere along the line I stepped through Alice’s looking-glass. I’m a child stranded in an older woman’s body.

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT – LOLLYGAG

Published January 4, 2020 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 Sammi’s Comment Section.

MY SHINING PALACE BUILT ON SAND

“My candle burns at both ends,” wrote the poet.

I’ll permit neither frustration nor self-doubt to devour me when my compositions seem to go unnoticed. I’ll neither lollygag nor let my keyboard collect dust. No! I’ll last the night and live to write another day. Whether you see it or not, foes or friends, my candle gives a lovely light.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

*Title not included in word count. 😉

* Hint Hint: If you’d care to read something longer please visit my latest story entitled “1942.”

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT – COMPLEX

Published December 29, 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 Sammi’s Comment Section.

As always with this prompt, I wrote the first thing that popped into my head.

When I first began my writer’s journey, someone told me the characters write themselves. I gaffed it off as existential hogwash and hooey until Nikolai Derevenko, intended sidekick, evolved into the most complex character in my trilogy without asking my permission.

Check out my books HERE

SPAM JAM

Published December 8, 2019 by rochellewisoff

I’m reasonably certain I’m not the only blogger who takes issue with spam. If you’re a Word Press blogger like me, I strongly recommend a daily sweep of your spam folder. Akisment does a wonderful job of keeping these unrelated “comments” from showing up on my post, but there are days I find up to 20 of them in my spam folder. Not to mention that, on occasion, valid comments find their way there, too.

I seriously do not understand what spammers hope to accomplish by littering my posts with links to porn sites or lengthy paragraphs that make no sense whatsoever.

Here’s one from this morning:

Do I need to explain why I can’t read this? Oh wait, I can read “ero-videos” toward the bottom of the comment.

I do not like spam, Sam I Am. I do not like it with toast and jam. Wham, bang, no thank you, ma’am.

Here are a couple from this afternoon. (Yes, I checked it twice today…10 this morning and 7 this afternoon.)

It’s nice to know this person loves junk food. But I’ve no clue what this might have to do with the post which featured a flash fiction about my brother’s difficulties with Latin in high school. CLICK HERE to read that story if you wish. 😉

My brother Jeffrey and his wife Debbie.

Then here’s this next little goody:

Of course I don’t read Russian either. Then I noticed the translate option at the top of the page.

Just what I want to see, right? NOT! Another thing I’ve noticed over the past few years of policing my spam folder is the majority of these annoyances show up on my November 26, 2016 post. I’ve never been able to figure the reasoning behind it, if there’s any reason to be had.

The post in question was a piece I did for Friday Fictioneers expounding on my great love for the color purple. CLICK HERE if you’d like to read.