Writing Prompts – My Corner

Rhythm, (An Acrostic) #SixSentenceStoryThursdayLinkUp #Poetry #Inspiration

Rhythm is what keeps music alive.
Harmony and melody are also important. But
You need some sort of rhythm.
Tap your knees, and clap your hands.
Have fun listening to and making music.
You can create any kind of rhythm.
Music counts.

Thanks to Girlie on the Edge for inspiring the above poem with her six-sentence prompt for this week, in which the given word is “rhythm.” You can click here to participate in this week’s hop and read other bloggers’ six-sentence creations.

New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me

Independently published with the help of DLD Books.

Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.

After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.

Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.

Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?

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It’s Six Sentence Story Thursday Link Up! #WordPressWednesday

Have you ever wondered exactly where I get inspiration for the six-sentence stories I present each week? The link I include in my posts takes you directly to where you can enter the hop, but do you know anything about Girlie on the Edge, the blogger who facilitates this hop? Well, now you have a chance to not only learn more about her but also to think about creating your own six-sentence story, poem, or essay. The prompt word this week is “handle.” So, after reading the hop rules, open your word processer, and start writing. Stay tuned for my contribution, which will go live tomorrow.

GirlieOnTheEdge's Blog

Welcome to GirlieOnTheEdge and another edition of Six Sentence Stories!
Another edition of a blog hop that has survived. Survived the insistent demands of daily life and its responsibilities; the megaphones of media, demanding we pay attention. We are special. We, who gather at the “Edge each week, possess words to transport us above and beyond our immediate reality, beyond the ever present present. We can go anywhere we want. Because we’re writers. Imagination is our currency. Six Sentence Stories offers the challenge to write and link a story comprised of 6, and only 6, sentences. Any genre. Flash fiction, science fiction, humor, memoir-ette or mystery, the next scene in an upcoming book or current serial story or perhaps a spot of poetry.
Write the words. Share the words. It’s what we do.

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current…

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First Line Fiction (12) #WordPressWednesday

Fellow blogger Beetley Pete has been participating in a daily fiction challenge where he’s given a first line and must complete the story from there. Today’s contribution reminds me of a time when I flew from Wyoming to Florida to visit my brother and couldn’t make it to Billings, Montana, to catch my flight. Enjoy!

beetleypete

The first line of this fictional short story was sent to me by one of my longest and very best blogging friends, Cindy Bruchman. A published author and blogger, Cindy lives in Arizona, USA, where she works as a teacher. https://cindybruchman.com/

“On a bitterly cold January morning, after saving for two years, he had enough money to buy a plane ticket to Arizona to visit his friend Cindy.”

Travelling in an English winter was never going to be easy, and the day didn’t start out well. Pete had to get to Heathrow Airport, just west of London, and that was one hundred and thirty miles from his home in Beetley.

And there was something else. That old Jimmy Webb song sung by Glen Campbell was playing on repeat in his head.

“By the time I get to Phoenix…”

As well as a flight of over fourteen hours to anticipate, there…

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The Quarter’s Decreasing Value #It’sSix-SentenceStoryThursdayLinkUp

For years, my father owned a coin-operated machine business. In the 1970’s, during my tween and teen years, I loved hanging out in the shop, where a quarter allowed me to hear three songs on a jukebox or play one game on a pinball machine. In the summer of 1984, when my family drove to California to attend my uncle’s wedding, we stopped in Nevada, where the slot machine cost a quarter per game. I used to be able to buy a can of pop for two quarters. Before I had my own washer and dryer, I spent six to eight quarters for laundry each week. Now, the quarter doesn’t go far anymore.

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How about you? What did you spend quarters on in your lifetime? Please feel free to share your memories in the comment field.

Thanks to Girlie on the Edge for inspiring the above vignette with her six-sentence prompt for this week. If you’d like to participate, click here.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.

New! The Red Dress

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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To Write or Not to Write #Wednesday Words

I enjoy writing. I love putting my ideas in a blank Word document, then organizing them into something creative. I doubt the books I write will make the bestseller list, but that doesn’t matter. I write partly for me and mostly for others. If I can reach at least one person, I’m happy. I can tell by the likes and comments I receive on my blog and Facebook page that I’m definitely reaching more than one person, and that’s great!

Besides, if I were a bestselling author like Eve, my main character in The Red Dress, and I had a husband and children, I would find it hard to balance work and family. As you’ll note from the following excerpts, Eve definitely has this problem.

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“Mom, where’s my Sugar Shack shirt?”

On a Saturday afternoon in June, Eve Sawyer turned from her computer with a sigh and faced her seventeen–year–old daughter, Julie, who was standing in her home office doorway, fresh from the shower, clad only in a long t–shirt.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with the proofs for Always that I haven’t gotten around to putting away the laundry. It’s still in the dryer.”

Julie rolled her eyes. “God, I hate having a bestselling author for a mom.”

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Half an hour later, Eve had finished reading and responding to email. She took Ginger for a long walk, stopping at a corner market on the way home. For the first time in two weeks, she planned to surprise her family with a home–cooked meal. Since she’d been busy with the proofs of her latest book, they’d eaten nothing but leftovers and take–out, so she knew her husband and children would be thrilled.

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So, who’s Ginger? Does Eve ever figure out how to balance her family and her writing? Read The Red Dress, and you’ll find out.

How about you? Would you write if you knew you couldn’t sell any books? Thanks to blogger Stevie Turner for inspiring this post. If you’d like to answer this question in her blog hop, click here. Otherwise, you can leave your answer in the comment field below.

By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy, and may you always have positive experiences.

New! The Red Dress

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My Books

My Amazon Author Page

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