More Flowers on Friday
It’s dismal and misty outside, so to cheer things up here are some photos I took a couple of weeks ago in my Mum and Dad’s garden.
From Misery, Beauty
Here is my contribution to this week’s Friday Fictioneers, the weekly 100 word flash fiction challenge hosted by Rochelle at Addicted to Purple. This week’s photo comes to us courtesy of Santoshwriter.
To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Santoshwriter
She cried for the pain she felt, for the helplessness. She cried for her lost childhood, her forgotten innocence. Her mother knew, had to know, and she cried that the one person who should have protected her had failed, had ignored what was happening.
She hefted the package the stranger had handed her. Squat, black, ugly, magazine fully loaded. A means to an end. She headed home, noticing in passing her tears glistening on the leaves in the early morning sunlight, reflecting rainbows of colour.
How can my misery create such beauty? she wondered, tucking the pistol into her waistband.
Full Speed Ahead!
Here is my contribution to this week’s Mondays Finish the Story, hosted by Barbara Beacham. 100-150 words is the goal, and the supplied opening sentence is in bold in my story.
This week’s other stories can be found by clicking on the blue froggy. I couldn’t help thinking that the boat (if that’s what it is) in the picture looks like the slowest boat ever, so that’s the way I went in my rather nutty story this week. I had fun substituting the usual words associated with sleek and fast ocean-going vessels with the ones I used here :-).
Sorry about the ending, I’m already over the word count :-(.
Copyright B.W. Beacham
The crew of the Angel Flame received orders to head out.
“Pleasure yacht ‘Schnitzel’ adrift – all craft assist!”
Derkin put to sea, his son Timmy standing excitedly at the prow. The Flame’s powerful twin engines pushed the craft to an impressive 1.5 miles per hour. Timmy shouted with glee!
They cut through the waves like a spork through a brick, eating up the inches, thundering at nearly no speed whatsoever towards the stricken yacht. Another rescue craft drew level and then shot ahead, its lone occupant pulling hard on the oars.
“Faster, Dad!” yelled Timmy.
Derkin gritted his teeth and engaged the afterburner, increasing speed to 1.75 miles per hour. Suddenly a three inch wave hit them full on, swamping the boat.
“We’re taking on water, we’ll have to turn back!” he yelled. “I hope we make it!”
Timmy gasped.
Derkin turned the Flame and stared in horror. The dock was already over thirty feet distant! Throttles open to the limit, they reached safety twenty minutes later and were home in time for tea.
Bloggity Touring
Tastyniblets over at Tastyniblets was kind enough to nominate me to join in the Blog Tour. I feel a bit bad because I turned it down a while ago, but I’ll give it a go now. The reason I turned it down before is because I’m not really a “writer” in the same way many of my bloggity buddies are, who all seem to be working on manuscripts, or have already published something.
Don’t forget to check out Tastyniblets’ blog for great fiction and photographs :-).
The rules are:
- Post on a given Monday. That would be today.
- Give your nominees the rules. More on this in the next bullet point.
- Pass the tour on to up to four other bloggers. So this is where this gets dodgy. I hate passing things on to people, which is the other reason I declined this before. “Zero” is “up to four people”, right? I realise this is a bit of a cheat, so I’m not going to use the official badge for this challenge.
- Answer four questions about your creative process which lets other bloggers and visitors know what inspires you to do what you do. I can answer the last two!
Q.1. What are you working on at the moment?
Nuffin. Well, I’ll be editing my Mondays Finish the Story in a bit.
Q.2. How does your work differ from others in your genre?
I don’t think it does. I’m pretty sure most of what I write can be traced back to some author or other. I don’t have a genre, either. Supernatural, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, horror, comedy, dark comedy, whatever my mood is.
Q.3. Why do you write or create what you do?
Because it’s fun! I like making things up. I always loved writing stories at school, and with the advent of the interwebz they are no longer consigned to a notepad in my drawer.
Q.4. How does your writing/creative process work?
I use the “slapdash method”. I write stories for photo prompts, so when the prompt arrives in my inbox, I look at the photo and then wait for inspiration to strike. If it has struck by lunchtime I will write the story during my lunch break and email it to myself. Otherwise, I’ll write it when I get home while watching some soap opera or other.
Once an idea has struck, I sort of write it in my head while doing other things. Since I have the story ready when I start to type, a 100 word story generally takes around 10 minutes to write plus a few minutes to edit. I’ll do everything (once home from work) while watching TV apart from the final edit, which requires the Pause button. I’m currently watching “Chuck” on Netflix.
That’s it!
Cee’s Black and White Challenge – Liquids
Here are some pictures for Cee’s Black and White Challenge. This week’s subject is “liquids”. Any liquid is fair game!
Sharing My World 2015 Week 19
Here’s my contribution to Cee’s Share Your World for this week.
Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?
My house has a ground floor and an upstairs which is fine by me. I’m a little worried that one day I won’t be able to handle the stairs. Maybe at that point I’ll be able to get a little bungalow instead. Alternatively, my stairs are wide enough for a stair lift…
If you have a TV, would you prefer the TV in the living room or another room?
It’s in the living room. My old TV is currently in the bedroom but it’s not plugged in, it’s “in storage”, basically. My living room has all the equipment – the set-top box, surround sound system and so on. I’m not a “stay in bed and watch TV” sort of person.
Entertainment Corner
When you leave a room, do you turn the lights off behind you or keep the lights on throughout your house most of the time? Explain your answer.
I turn all the lights off. Sometimes when I enter a dark room briefly I don’t bother turning them on if I can see what I’m doing. People who switch lights on randomly and then leave them on wind me up (unless they have young/infirm people in the house and which case it can be safer to leave them on).
Not only is electricity expensive, but I can’t help thinking of all the world’s resources we’re using up. Almost all my light bulbs are “energy-saving”, mind (around 5 Watts), though that’s pretty common everywhere since you can’t buy the old-style 100-150-200W bulbs any more.
What’s your favourite room in your home?
My living room. As per its name, it’s where I do all my living. Reading, watching TV, blogging, eating…
Another New Start
It’s Friday Fictioneers time again, the only Friday fiction challenge on a Wednesday! Thanks as always to Rochelle for hosting and choosing the photo, which this week comes from Marie Gail Stratford.
Click on the blue froggy to see this week’s other contributions.
Copyright Marie Gail Stratford
Darius looked at the silo through the tint of his RadSuit’s visor. His grandfather had tilled the soil when they had housed grain. His father had worked on their conversion to missile launch bays. Sighing, he dragged his find – a compact atomic power unit – back towards the shuttle.
As he walked, he looked up at the moon. Home to the human race since the devastating “oil wars” of the late twenty-first Century, it was already 80% irradiated by the ongoing resources war between surviving factions. They’d need this power unit to aid the evacuation to Mars – yet another New Start.
MFTS – Rags to Riches
Here is my contribution for Barbara Beacham’s Mondays Finish the Story. We get a photo, an opening sentence and then we have 100-150 words to finish the story.
I had a story all written, about a woman who’s had a terrible life and decides to drown herself, then changes her mind, swims back towards shore and gets eaten by a shark (ha ha ha) but you’ll be pleased to hear I changed my mind and wrote this one instead.
For this week’s other contributions, click on the little blue froggy. In my story, the supplied opening sentence is in bold.
Copyright B.W. Beacham
Arriving at the beach, she reflected on her life. A tough childhood. Orphaned. In and out of trouble. Never fitting in, never belonging. She’d grown hard. Bitter. Always putting herself first. Because she had to. Because she needed to survive.
That was before David. Sweet David. Gentle David. David, who wouldn’t think twice before throwing himself under a bus to save a small furry animal in distress.
New husband David. Rich David. Gullible David. She couldn’t believe how easy it had been to talk him out of the pre-nup. “Davey, honey, love’s forever. We’re forever.”
She imagined tomorrow’s headlines. “Wealthy philanthropist David Gear dies in tragic boating accident while on honeymoon. New wife inconsolable.” She’d better work on inconsolable, she thought. The way he’d thrashed about as the sharks had ripped him apart made her smile. It had reminded her of the way he made love. Ineffectually.
She pinched herself to make her eyes water, then walked back to the hotel to face the Press.
Sharing My World 2015 Week 18
Here’s my post for Cee’s Share Your World for this week.
What type of pets do you have or want? Or do you not want pets?
I don’t have any pets at the moment. If I were to get a pet it would be a cat. Cats are pretty independent and since I’m out at work all day, it would have to be a pet which could look after itself.
Plus, everyone on the interwebz loves cats so I could set up a camera in the hopes I could get a funny video or a meme or two out of it :-).
What was or is your favourite cartoon?
When I was little I enjoyed “StarFleet”, though that might have been puppets rather than a cartoon. Also “Battle of the Planets”. G-Force Fiery Phoenix go! Yay.
When I was a bit older, “Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds”.
Now that I’m all growed up, pretty much the only cartoon I watch (and coincidentally am currently binge-watching on Netflix) is “Archer”. Because it’s awesome.
Copyright FX Networks
I can highly recommend it. However, if you’re easily offended or indeed offended by anything at all, don’t watch it. You have been warned.
When you’re alone at home, do you wear shoes, socks, slippers, or go barefoot?
I wear socks at home. I have a pair of slippers but they’re pretty knackered so I don’t wear them much. If I’m going up into the loft I put on trainers so that I don’t slip on the ladder and end up lying in a crumpled heap until someone notices I didn’t turn up for work :-(.
Are you a traveller or a homebody?
The occasional trip is nice but for preference I like to stay at home.
Burnout
Here is my story for this week’s Friday Fictioneers, the 100 word photo prompt ably hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Madison Woods.
To view this week’s other contributions, click the blue froggy.
Copyright Madison Woods
Jedro hesitated, took a deep breath, and turned the tap. Behind him, the crowd strained to see.
Nothing.
Word spread, hope changed to resignation. Loved ones hugged. Children, confused, were gathered up by parents. The last remnants of humankind dispersed, wandering away to make their own plans for the End.
The water was gone. All of it. Jedro kicked angrily at the salt covering what had once been the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Antimatter energy, they’d said. Unlimited power. Totally safe! An accident, the Earth moves a fraction of a degree closer to the Sun… and the world slowly boils away.
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