Now that the photo caption contest is closed, I can announce the winners. Barbara and Terri were only one measly vote apart, so I declare them co-winners! *Please send me your addresses so I can get your prizes in the mail.* And Congratulations!
I thought it'd be fun today to try a short writing exercise, something we once did a lot of in my writing group. There are only two "rules": 1.) you can't cop out or give some lame excuse for not participating. Yeah, yeah, my laundry's stacked up to the ceiling too, and I've got Thanksgiving cooking and stuff to do. But we can all take five minutes to slow down and play. 2.) You can't self-edit or listen to that slimy little gargoyle of an editor residing next to your brain's right hemisphere while you are writing!
You may just be surprised at the writing fodder you come away with and/or the cool nuggets you'll get for some future project. And best of all, it's free! Don't be shy -- after you're done and have a chance to clean up your work, post your results in a comment so we can all share in the fun.
Pick at least three words from the list below and start writing. It's perfectly fine to use a different form of the word. If you haven't done so in a long time, try longhand. And if the spirit leads, keep writing after the five minutes are up. ANY kind of writing is fine: poetic, prose, articles, rambling, a letter, whatever.
Ready? Set? Go! 
blue postcard pelican longing
rain calendar campus lips aspirin
coffee cup tulip rust slipper surgery
moron cap envious symphony candy
Posts
20 comments:
Did I read that right!! I win too!!! Whoo hoo!! Thank you so much! I was moaning last night to my husband that I lost by one point!! Thanks!
Yup, it was too close to call, Terri. :)
Okay, just so you'll see how easy it is, here's my five minutes' worth:
Grey-clouded sky cries
for cleansing rain,
Puffy hung-over lips pout
for aspirin, coffee cup.
Your Cinderella awaits
the silken silver slipper.
*Okay, need more java! :)
"I should put on my moron cap!" Betty thought in disgust. A feeling of guilt flushed across her face. She had forgotten to buy tickets to the symphony and Dan would be home at any moment.
She was so envious of her sister, whose husband always took care of things like this, himself.
Betty picked up a piece of chocolate candy she just finished making and munched while she thought of a solution.
**Angie- I've sent you an email with my address. Hope you get it.
Thanks a million. The contest was fun!!!!
Good one, Barbara! Got your addy. Thanks. :)
Turd. Whatdaya mean no excuses!?
;) Okay, I'll have to work on it later. Little 'un won't quit pestering me, and now's not the time to crank it out. Be back later...
Janna, ya made me gargle my coffee! L>O>L
I'll be coming back to play later. :-) And to copy your cake recipe below.
Wow, that sounds delicious!
Hope you have a nice holiday!
Thanks, Jessica, and come on back when ya can! Same to you on the holiday fun.
I pulled the tattered postcard from my mailbox. I noticed right off its corner was dog-eared, the bottom edge frayed to the softest of paper. A dark spot, half-covering the handwritten message, caught my eye. A drop of coffee, maybe? But when, involuntary, I lifted the card to my nose, I smelled a trace of rain. Musty, once-wet rain. What a backstory this postcard must have, I thought, as my fingers traced the blotchy patch. I suspected in that moment I’d have given almost anything to know its journey.
Okay, Angie. You asked for it!
************
The aspirin slides along my throat with help from the coffee before the cup slips out of my trembling hand. I stare at the porcelain shards littering the floor, only one piece large enough to show blue tulips once decorating its sides. I am such a moron for letting this happen.
I can imagine the snickers from my old classmates on campus. No. They probably do not remember my existence. Not even one postcard sits on the white tray as the nurse carries in the mail for the other patients whose slippers make whisking sounds at every shuffling step.
My tongue runs over dry lips and the bumpy ridge along skin. The surgery had gone well according to the doctors. There will be little scarring along my mouth. My hand reaches out toward the calendar. A black marker scribbles out another day. I had one more to go before my release from this hospital room.
I chuckle at my sour mood. I had few reasons to gripe about not having any visitors. The police had come by, many times, to fill out their paperwork for the accident. An accident? Well, this is what they believed and I had no reason to argue with them. I had no reason to tell them the truth about that dark night full of candy and rain and angry pelicans. My longing to be with my sweet Mabel and her dismissal of that love as she ran into the arms of snide Alexander.
ALEXANDER! I curse this name. I curse the man who owns the symphony hall where my sweet Mabel sings. This man wearing his rust-colored cap backwards as he follows my Mabel about while blowing sweet nothings into her ear.
Envious? No. I am not this. I realize his game. His trickery . . .
Janna, I hope you continue with this thread. Good stuff!
MLH, your coffee pot must hold much better, stronger stuff than mine! Kudos. :)
“Ar-are you okay?” he asked as I stumbled backward, barely balancing the tall vase of tulips with one hand and the little coffee colored table that teetered beneath my hips with the other.
No, I wasn’t okay! “I-I think so. Are you sure? I mean, it could’ve been anyone—anyone with blue shirt on.” Great, now what am I going to do? I’d only been seeing Josh about a week. There was potential there. Real potential. Until this. Frustrated with my heart that seemed to beat at warp speed, I cautiously set the table back on its legs. Josh was there to help me before I had a chance to protest.
“Yeah,” he chuckled down at me, his hands gently prying the vase from my death grip. “What am I going to have to do?” his eyes sparkled into mine, “Use surgery to remove this from you?” Josh gave a small tug and I allowed the etched glass to slip through my wooden fingers into his waiting hands. “Something is wrong. Look at you! It’s like you’ve completely rusted over.”
Rusted over? Spare me! I rolled my eyes and willed myself not to glare. “You’re really charming, you know that?”
Josh had the indecency to chuckle again. “You know, if you’d stop pretending like everything is right all the time and allow people into that pretty lil cap of yours, you might find that you have more friends than you think you do.”
Me friends? I snorted. “Look who’s talking. You never share anything with anyone.” As soon as I said it, I wished my lips had never uttered the statement. I watched as Josh’s eyes grew tight with emotion. “I’m sorry. That was unfair of me,” I gasped.
“Yes, it was.” He glanced down at the tulips in his hands. “Very unfair.” When he brought his gaze back up it was to focus on the exotic travel calendar behind my head. I knew the silly cartoon pelicans above the word July, mocked him, just as much as I had.
“Josh look, I’m--“
“No, you look.” Turning slightly his eyes seared into mine for a brief moment. “I know it was you in that shirt the other day—I know it.”
oh yeah, and congrats to the winners! LOL! I tried to play that one and failed miserably!
Um, I don't have time -- HAW! *runs away quickly before Angie bonks her upside her pea-head"
But! I have a goooood excuse - I had to write another segment of my novel to blog, so I was "creative" on the spot today!
:-)
I'm also baking a pumpkin pie and just took my pecan pie out the oven....and my cornbread is done...mmmmmmm
boop oop a doop!
http://kathrynmagendie.spaces.live.com/
giddy...all I can say is, "Giddy up!" Wowser.
LOL, Kathryn, you know me well.
And I was enthralled by your post today! Y'all...Kat's writing a story/novel right to her blog uncensored. It's fascinating to read it as it unfolds from the brain of its master. :)
Hey, I thought writing longhand was the way to do it. That way other people can shoot it full of holes before I waste computer time to do it over again and again. I could take this project to places we do not need to go into right now. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.
Oren
The clouds appear blue as I lay on my back in the grass and watch the spring rain tumble like clear marbles from the sky, splashing on my face like a hand-slap where I lick the drops from my lips, tasting the sweet promise of things yet to come.
Oren, give it a shot. Ya might be surprised. Happy Thanksgiving to your whole clan.
Lovin' your take on the exercise, Embee. What an unusual image -- raindrops as marbles. I like!
Post a Comment