11 March 2016

Published March 9, 2016 by rochellewisoff

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 – © Emmy L Gant

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Polonius said that brevity is the soul of wit. I’m trying something new for me and it’s ever so brief. Life’s been a bit of a whirlwind lately and my brain is on overload. Much of my writing time and head-space have been given over to my next novel, As One Must, One Can. Thank you for understanding.

Shalom, Rochelle

Genre: Haiku

Word Count: 25

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TABULA RASA

sunlight after rain

casts light on sodden pavement

my dry bones languish

***

solomon said there’s

nothing new under the sun

as one must, one can’t

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Unfortunately there are copyright issues concerning a decent recording. Many thanks to my friend Regina O’Hare who videoed this from her phone. Sorry about the quality.

Character Study – Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor

Published March 6, 2016 by rochellewisoff

Original Artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Felds

“Now, where was I? Your education…Frederic Chopin.” Ulrich cleared his throat and poised his hands over the keys. “He was one of the world’s greatest composers. His life was short but his influence great. Nocturne in C-sharp Minor was my Valerica’s favorite. Her life was also short. She said this piece took her to far off places. Close your eyes and see where it takes you.”

From the first resounding chords a flood of emotion flowed through Havah like a river current. In a moment she was both callow child, alive with anticipation, and wizened matron, bone weary and full of years. Her mother’s voice lulled and comforted her with a song about raisins and almonds. She saw her father’s face, half illuminated by candle flame as he poured over volume after volume of Talmud. Arel approached from the shadows, tall and thin. His gray eyes devoured her. His tender lips kissed her.

~~From Please Say Kaddish for Me

Valerica Dietrich © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Original Artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Frederic Chopin’s Nocturne in C Sharp Minor soothed Havah’s jangled nerves. The ivory keys were smooth and comforting under her fingertips. Although she would never be a pianist of Ulrich’s caliber she played well enough to entertain an audience of one. Closing her eyes, she relished a soft breeze carrying the scents of daffodil and hyacinth through the open window.

Havah Cohen Gitterman

~~From From Silt and Ashes

Arel Gitterman – Original Artwork – © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Letting the strains of Chopin’s Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor waft over her, Shayndel sat in the rocking chair beside the piano with Tikvah asleep on her lap. While Shayndel did not know many musical pieces by name like her sister-in-law she could always recognize this one. When Havah was sad or in pain this would be the piece she chose to play.

~~From As One Must, One Can (2016)

Shayndel Abromovich-Original artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Published by Argus Publishing

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

While not a person or an animal, a piece of classical music becomes something of a friend and companion to Havah. Chopin’s Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor comforts her when reality becomes too much to handle.

I fell in love with this piece and Chopin’s music when I saw the movie The Pianist. It’s haunting, ethereal beauty transports this author to other places so it seemed only natural it would do the same for Havah.

Unlike the author, Havah has latent musical talent that Ulrich is only too happy to nurture. While he tries to steer her to something simpler for a beginner, she is determined to learn how to play the nocturne.

I hope you’ll take the time to not only read my excerpts but also to enjoy the music.

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Check out my author page on the Loiacono Website. For all of the character studies thus far, click on the link Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Art and Blogs or my website RochelleWordArt.

4 March 2016

Published March 2, 2016 by rochellewisoff

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 © Sean Fallon

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Many of you will remember this prompt. It’s one of my first as Friday Fictioneers Fairy Blog Mother. This week I feel the need to direct my writing energy to another project so I’m falling back on a re-run. It’s one of my favorite photos and stories from nearly four years ago. Looking back on the link from that prompt I see that quite a few of you wrote stories for it. Thank you for sticking with it. ❤ Feel free to take a break or write another story.

Genre: (hopefully not) Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 100

A WELL-ORDERED LIFE

Prototypical milquetoast, Benjamin Parker wore bow ties and kept to himself.

Three days of no-call, no-show to work passed before anyone missed him enough to call the police.

When we broke into his immaculate apartment we found his pajama-clad body in bed. There were no signs of foul play.

Jars filled with things like batteries, safety pins, wine corks and matchbooks lined cabinets and counter-tops.

“Quite the collector. Wonder if he jarred his tidy whities.” I flung open the closet door and choked. “What the—?”

In single file on the top shelf human heads floated in name-tagged gallon jars.

***

This coming Sunday, March 6, I’ll be interviewed on local TV at 7:50 AM CST. It will be streamed live here. Click the red new button and then “Live Streaming.”

And for your listening pleasure.

26 February 2016

Published February 24, 2016 by rochellewisoff

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 – © Al Forbes

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Due to schedule, travel and novel writing, my ‘story’ this week is a paragraph from the third novel (in progress) in my trilogy As One Must, One Can, which is due out this year. It’s not a complete story. Thank you for understanding.

Genre: Historical Fiction

(the year is 1907)

Word Count: 98

AS ONE MUST, ONE CAN – EXCERPT

In Kansas City motor cars were rapidly replacing the horse and buggy. Automobiles went faster and did not eat their weight in hay and oats. Even so, Nikolai preferred the clip-clop of horses’ hooves on pavement to the grinding noises and choking exhaust fumes of modern transportation. It did not matter for he could afford neither car nor carriage. If he could, walking, even in winter, would always be his preferred mode of travel for physical stamina. Tucking his head, he pulled his hat down and his coat collar up to shield his ears from the frigid wind.

Nikolai Derevenko – Original Artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Sunday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by David Clarke of Blog Talk Radio. The interview is an hour long so you might want to come back to it. 😉

To hear, click here.

An extra special ‘thank you’ to Amy Reese! Click the link to read her stunning review of Please Say Kaddish for Me.

19 February 2016

Published February 17, 2016 by rochellewisoff

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 – © Sandra Crook

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Genre: Hysterical Non-Fiction

Word Count: 100

THE DIMENSION OF IMAGINATION

The hourglass photo prompt taunts me. “You call yourself an author?”

Bits of flotsam swirl through my mind. Or is it jetsam? I get them confused.

There’s always my go-to theme. “I’ll take historical fiction for a hundred, Alex.”

Surfing the internet for ‘history of clocks,’ my findings are less exciting than watching oatmeal simmer.

Jim Croce saved time in a bottle and Steve Miller sang, “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future.”

Sand trickles through the witch’s hourglass.

“This, my little pretty, is how much time you have left and it isn’t long. Make every word count.”

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

HERE

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

Character Study – Mendel and David Cohen

Published February 8, 2016 by rochellewisoff

Original Artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Although Havah’s older brothers, Mendel and David Cohen, perished at the beginning of Please Say Kaddish for Me, they are ever alive in her heart. Two very different personalities, Havah adored them both. Her memories of them are a constant thread throughout Please Say Kaddish for Me, From Silt and Ashes, and the imminent third novel in the trilogy, As One Must One Can.

Her eldest brother, Mendel, eight years her senior, wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps as a rabbi.

***

By the tender age of twelve, Havah had developed the attributes of a young woman. Despite her disappointed protests, her father agreed with her teacher that her Heder education should come to an end. The boys would never learn Holy writ with such a comely distraction.

Her brother Mendel became her lamed, her teacher. While she missed her classmates’ challenges, she enjoyed mornings with Mendel and flourished under his tutelage. A strict teacher, he never allowed her any leeway because of her gender or kinship.

~~Taken from From Silt and Ashes

***

David, who was two years younger than Mendel, was a gifted artist. In Please Say Kaddish for Me, Havah tells Shayndel that he could paint a flower so real that you would swear you could smell its fragrance.

David was the mischievous brother who mercilessly teased his little sister. She regrets that shortly before his murder, they had quarreled.

***

With a suppressed sigh she covered the braided loaves with clean towels and set them on the back of the stove to rise. “The last time I baked Hollah, I couldn’t put raisins in it because my brother David ate all of them. I wish I hadn’t gotten so mad. I said horrid things.”

“Were they the last words you spoke to him?” Fruma Ya’el unfolded a linen tablecloth, snapping it so it billowed and dropped to cover the table.

“No.” Gathering the bowls and utensils, Havah hobbled to the sink. “I can still see him with Mama’s clean dish towel over his head, walking bent over. He sang all raspy like an old lady, too. ‘Little Bubbe Fuss Bucket. All astir over a raisin. A raisin. A shriveled little raisin. Oy, yoy, yoy.’”

She took a kettle of hot water from the stove and poured it over the dishes. “I could never stay mad at him. If only I’d known—”

Gittel grabbed a dish towel. “Would you have done anything differently?”

A soap bubble floated up from the water. Havah popped it with her finger. “No.”

~~Taken from Please Say Kaddish for Me

***

Each night of Hanukkah, Havah and her brothers took turns lighting the candles. Papa led the recitation of the blessings. To this day, when she heard distant thunder Havah swore it was Papa’s resonant voice chanting prayers in heaven.

One year, her brother David, then twelve, ate so many macaroons he spent half the night in the outhouse. The next morning, fourteen-year-old Mendel, always the teacher, seized the opportunity to expound on the evils of gluttony. David’s green-tinged cheeks flushed while six-year-old Havah giggled into her napkin.

~~Taken from As One Must One Can (2016)

Published by Argus Publishing

Represented by Loiacono Literary Agency

***

Amazon Amazon Spain Amazon Italy Amazon Germany Amazon UK Amazon France

Amazon AU Shelfari

The Sequel to

Amazon Angus & Robertson B&N BAM BookWorld FishPond Shelfari The Book Depository Waterstones GoodReads iDreamBooks HPB Hudson Book Sellers IndieBound Powell’s Books

Amazon AU Amazon UK Amazon Germany Amazon Italy Amazon France Amazon Spain

Check out my author page on the Loiacono Website. For all of the character studies thus far, click on the link Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Art and Blogs or my website RochelleWordArt.

5 February 2016

Published February 3, 2016 by rochellewisoff

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS NEWS FLASH!!!

OUR OWN SANDRA CROOK HAS TAKEN FIRST PLACE IN FLASH 500

Read her AWARD WINNING STORY

HERE

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Please be considerate to the reader and keep your word count down.

The next photo is the prompt. It’s proper etiquette to give credit to the contributor. Remember, all photos are copyrighted. Use other than for Friday Fictioneers requires express permission and, in some cases, remuneration.

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Genre: Realistic Fiction

Word Count: 100

COLLATERAL ORANGE DAMAGE

“Farewell, Rob.” I laid my battered dog tags on his grave.

Prostate cancer took him. Doctors say I’m next.

Please try to understand. We were soldiers following orders.

“A little defoliating agent to clear the jungle and expose the enemy.” Our commanding officers assured us. “Nothing that will harm a human.”

I had to go back and see for myself.

Last night I visited a children’s hospital in Ho Chi Minh City where the fruits of our labors languish with twisted or missing limbs and eyes that bulge from enlarged skulls.

We have exposed the enemy, and he is us.

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WARNING! This is disturbing, watch at your own risk.

A Eulogy for Hope: The Silent Murder of Gallery 37

Published January 28, 2016 by rochellewisoff

SHINYHELMET PREVAILETH

156839_479163562635_3310009_n The author, center, at her first teen gallery opening at the Gallery 37 Center for the Arts. circa 2005

The first time academic pressure made me feel suicidal was in sixth grade. So when I say I won’t allow Gallery 37 to quietly die, it’s because Gallery 37 saved my life.

Yesterday I received a flurry of messages from my own beloved instructors and artist friends who are currently teaching in the Advanced Arts Education Program (AAEP) at Gallery 37, a FREE arts college preparatory program through CPS.

Yesterday morning, a close friend high in AAEP administration told me that all AAEP programming will be ending in June. I looked at my phone and felt a wound open and yawn in my chest. I tried my best to not burst into tears on my way to work. “Tell folks so they know about this, okay,” she asked.

So of course, I…

View original post 2,307 more words

29 January 2016

Published January 27, 2016 by rochellewisoff

Please include the PHOTO PROMPT with your story. All photos are copyrighted and may not be used outside of Friday Fictioneers without express permission and possible remuneration to the owner. Please be courteous and give credit where credit is due.

The challenge is 100 WORDS OR LESS. It’s a worthwhile challenge that teaches us as writers how to conserve and use the strongest words to tell our stories. With the number of submissions every week, this is not only a great challenge but also a consideration to other readers.

The following photo is the PHOTO PROMPT. Study it. Think about it. What kind of story does it tell you? Think outside the box.

Thank you and Shalom,

Your Fairy Blog Mother, Rochelle

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Genre: Historical Fiction

Word Count: 99

SHOAH

“Where’s Nadine?” I stamped my foot with childish impatience.

“The Juif doesn’t live here anymore.” The man hissed through pinched lips.

“Because of the Bosche?”

“No more questions.” The door slammed and he shouted from the other side. “Go away!”

________

Seventy years later sunlight flickers on ocean waves at Saint-Marc. I walk along the deserted beach where Nadine and I gathered seashells and dreams.

“Martine, swim with me.”

Shielding my eyes, I search the rippling waters. Nadine beckons. I’m warmed by her smile…and the twelve-year-old girl who choked her last in Auschwitz’s Zyklon-B showers lives forever in my heart.

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**Note: Today as I post my story it is 27 January. The United Nations designated January 27—the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. A time to remember and say “Never again!”

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To learn more about Nadine click here.