12 March 2021

Published March 10, 2021 by rochellewisoff

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 note of thanks to those who sent photos. The response to my plea was overwhelming! I’m always open to quirky or intriguing shots. Send them to runtshell@gmail.com. 😉

PHOTO PROMPT © CEAyr

Click the frog to join the party.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

THE GREATEST GENERATION

Great-Grandpa Harry’s war stories made wonderful essays for my seventh-grade history class.

“I never seen anything like it.” His faded blue eyes brimmed. “Charles Jackson French. The ‘human tugboat’. Ever hear of him?”

“No, Grandpa.”

“A-course not. So Imma gonna tell you.”

I poised my pencil.

“After the Japs sank our ship, a few of us wounded escaped on a big’ol life raft. Charlie tied the tow rope around hisself. Eight hours o’dodging sharks and bullets, he swam us to safety. Never received the full honors due him.”

“Why?”

Great-Grandpa fisted his gnarled hand.

“Worst reason ever, son. Skin color.”

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Weekend Word Prompt – Element

Published March 6, 2021 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 I’m led down Memory Lane. I can’t say I miss the job, but I did have some good times and meet some interesting people. The photo has very little to do with the story. It’s me with my very first book–an anthology of short stories. I had five more years to go at the J.O.B.

My grocery store coworker loved the element of surprise. More than once he snuck up on me while I decorated a cake.

“Boo!”

“Wait for it, Danny Boy. You’ll get yours.

One evening I squirted royal blue icing under his driver’s side door handle.

Revenge is sweet.

5 March 2021

Published March 3, 2021 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 © Roger Bultot

Genre: Histrionic Friction

Word Count: 100

UN-A-MUSED

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.

That’s it! I’ll write about swimming. “Sloshing, stroking, flipping. Blissfully skimming.”

Backspace.

How many odes have I written to my inner mermaid?

“Dear Muse, where are you?”

The words flash across the monitor.

“Moved. Left no forwarding address.”

Weekend Writing Prompt – Kitsch

Published February 27, 2021 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.

TREASURES

One Christmas I asked for a literary agent with a contract and a huge check. Of course, it was a silly request. Nonetheless, my son did his best to fulfill my wish. A blue-suited, yellow figurine clutching a large red checkmark holds a place of honor next to Mickey Mouse and plastic Disney fairies. Worthless kitsch, you say? These tchotchkes—like my mom’s half-century-old dashboard ornament—make me smile.

A friend has referred to these doo-dads that sit on the shelf above my computer screen as my altar. Not sure about that, but each of them holds a special memory for me. BTW, whimsical clay figures are a sideline for my middle son whose main profession is that of a TV writer. (Proud mom with kvelling rights).

26 February 2021

Published February 24, 2021 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.

CALLING MY CAMERA HAPPY FICTIONEERS!!!

PROMPT PHOTOS NEEDED! SOMETHING INTERESTING! SOMETHING INTRIGUING! MY ONLY REQUEST IS THAT YOU DON’T SEND PICTURES OF ANIMALS OR STATUES. ONTO THE PHOTO BELOW. THANK YOU, DALE!

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

CLICK THE FROG TO ADD YOUR STORY

Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

FIRE AND ICE

“Corrie, we don’t have time to cry.” Her father’s eyes blazed. “Give thanks for our lives and pray for those who did this.”

Flames engulfed the only home the fifteen-year-old had ever known. How could she pray for evil people who hated them for the color of their skin?

Hours before they had enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner accompanied by laughter and music.

Heart racing, she made a vow never to allow the ugliness to remain in the shadows.

Twenty-six years later, Coretta Scott King refused to bathe in her grief, saying, “Hate injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”

CLICK

1280px-Reagan_signs_Martin_Luther_King_bill

Martin_Luther,_Coretta_Scott_and_Yolanda_Denise_King,_1956

Weekend Writing Prompt – Call

Published February 21, 2021 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.

ISN’T IT IRONIC?

What were we laughing about with my in-laws’ when “they” came? My infant son’s antics perhaps?

Two faceless Air Force uniforms. “We’re sorry…”

A light snuffed out too soon.

One call turned the world upside down.

Would we ever laugh again?

I know it’s a sad one, but I have to go where the muse sends me. My husband’s brother, Jerry, died in a car accident when he was in the Air Force, stationed in Turkey in 1974. He was one of the funniest, sharpest people I have ever known. If this sounds familiar, I wrote about him for another weekend word prompt in 2019. Click here to read that one.

19 February 2021

Published February 17, 2021 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 © Ted Strutz

Click to join the ranks.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

NO MAIL, LOW MORALE

“I have a dream.” Dr. King’s words gave Millie hope for an end to her beloved country’s racial divide as she returned home from the march in Washington.

Before she could open her door, someone tapped her shoulder. She whipped around to be caught in the blue-eyed gaze of a Raleigh policeman.

“Mrs. Veasey, were you in the 6888 Postal Directory Battalion during WWII?”

“And proud of it.” She stiffened. “We were the first black, female division in the US Army.”

“I was PFC Nelson…Belgium. No mail for months, until—” He saluted. “Thank you for your service, Ma’am.”

***

CLICK for more info about Mrs. Veasey and the Six-Triple-Eight

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Weekend Writing Prompt – Possess

Published February 14, 2021 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.

It’s Valentine’s Day. ❤ 😉

Grand possessions and wealth are meaningless.

Without love

I am nothing.

12 February 2021

Published February 10, 2021 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.

Click the Frog to Add Your Link

Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 100

JUNE 12, 1943

“My little girl is a young woman.” Papa kissed Rutka’s cheek. “Happy fourteenth birthday!”

“I’ll never see my fifteenth.”

His reassuring smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Our God will protect you.”

“Will He? He allows innocent babies to have their heads smashed in while grandmothers are deported to the death camps.”

Rutka longed to go outside without a yellow star on her dress—to romp among fragrant flowers and trees.

“I’m young in age but old in experience,” she wrote in her diary. “The rope around us is getting tighter and tighter. Despite all these atrocities, I want to live…”

Weekend Writing Prompt – Gargantuan

Published February 6, 2021 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.

96 words might seem like a gargantuan task compared to some of Sammi’s recent word counts of fewer than 50. This one took me down Memory Lane once more. I think Sammi’s helping me write my memoires. 😉

Gargantuan described this 9 pound sweetheart. 😉

PREPARED

Carol Burnett compared giving birth to “taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head.”

My own assessment is that it’s like passing a gargantuan—

You get the idea.

Natural childbirth gained popularity in the 1970’s. My husband and I went to the classes. We learned the relaxation and breathing techniques to minimize—

Wait! We never referred to a contraction as a pain.

I took pride in watching my children make their appearances, fully awake and aware.

I’m still proud of this accomplishment. In retrospect I wish I could’ve been anesthetized through their teen years.

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple

Growing older is inevitable. Growing up is optional.

Weekend Word Prompt – Element

5 March 2021

Weekend Writing Prompt – Kitsch

26 February 2021

Weekend Writing Prompt – Call

19 February 2021

Weekend Writing Prompt – Possess

12 February 2021

Weekend Writing Prompt – Gargantuan

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