Hardship

So, here you are. You have made it through tough challenges to get to this point. I know it's been hard. You have probably cried and if you haven't you probably will. That's fine. You expected this. It will be harder yet.

Five Act Structure

Write a very short story - not more than 200 words - about a trip to the doctor or dentist using the ABDCE structure. Identify the structural elements in your story.

A – Action, B – Background, D – Development, C – Climax, E – Ending

183 word count

His arm was broken; he was sure of it. (A) There had been times when he wondered if the abuse from his father’s fists might have broken something in his body, but this time was different. (B) For a while, he had thought that every father slapped, punched, and hurt children. (D) One Day, when he was six, he had gone to school feeling sick and dizzy. His teacher had sent him to the school nurse who asked him if he had hit his head recently. He told her how the night before his dad had picked him up by his arms and slammed his head against the wall and how he deserved it because he hadn’t washed the dishes like he was s’posed to.(C) The nurse cried, which confused him, and told him that dads shouldn’t do that to their children. She told him he would start to feel better in a couple of days, and he should go see a doctor. He hadn’t gone to see a doctor then, but he had a feeling he would need to this time. (E)

Writing assignment

Write a scene of 250-350 words featuring a character with one concrete want (a table, a moose, a toothbrush, anything physical is fine!) and one weakness. Set up the story where every other sentence is a rising action. Use one word from the following list of twelve words in each sentence that has a rising action. In other words: Write your first sentence introducing your character. Make the next sentence a rising action using one of the following twelve words. Write your third sentence, which may introduce the weakness, then write your fourth sentence with a rising action that includes one of the remaining eleven words you haven’t used. And so on.

• trick
• memory
• aboard
• tiger
• pretend
• carrot
• appliance
• cage
• rings
• crow
• filthy
• explode

Use at least 6 of the 12 words, but challenge yourself to use as many of the words as possible while still meeting the word count.

(344 word count, I implemented all words from the list except appliance.)

I think I'm learning the value of a good outline

I've been working on a couple of story line ideas and I have a decent notion of what I want to do with them, but I have been wondering how to organize better. It's one thing to write a little essay and just let the creative muse take me along as I write, but it's another thing entirely (for me anyway) to attempt a much larger effort knowing it will take a lot longer to fill out. I haven't taken creative writing (or so help me if I have it's been so long that I don't remember a lick) so I'm trying to piece this together as I go.

I'm not concerned about all this taking time. Time to work on these projects is that one thing I have an abundance of (yes yes I know how fortunate I am, thanks). What does concern me is efficiency. If I were a super hero, my power would be organization and my kryptonite would be poor efficiency. Gah! I deplore the notion of wasting effort. So, anyway, I spend a little time each week (maybe a few hours) looking around at other blogs that write about writing and it's helped give me a little direction.

Today I'm thinking about outlines and how in some of my stuff a detailed outline is sort of naturally coming about yet in others the outline is superfluous. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much, but it distracts me.

Writing Prompt - What gives you a sense of security?

She always felt secure. Her entire life she had been loved and cared for by first her parents, then by her husband, and later her children. She was never without. She always had everything she ever needed or wanted, and she didn't give much thought to how fortunate she was to live such a charmed life. She was married to a wonderful and supportive husband, she had attended a prestigious university, she lived an exclusive island lifestyle, and she had children who loved and adored her. All of it was what she had been born expecting from life and her children now had the same expectation.

Writing prompt - finish this sentence: Life is short...

writing prompt - Have you ever written something that made you cry while writing it? What triggered that response?

I completed an Ironman triathlon once. In preparation for the race I decided to write myself a note of motivation. My reasoning was that in the middle of the marathon when I was given an opportunity to change my socks, eat some snacks, etc., I would read this note and it would, hopefully, help push me to keep going. This particular triathlon was long and I would be physically struggling by the mid point of the marathon. I knew I'd be in need of some mental stamina. So, I wrote myself a note.

Haiku

Slippers on her feet

Weariness knocks on a door

Coffee in her cup

writing prompt - Could you ever live at the beach, or do you feel it’s a place to visit? Why?

1

When I think about the beach, I immediately picture the beaches of my youth. I grew up spending many days playing in the surf of the Gulf of Mexico on the north Florida coast. The sand is soft and white because of pure white quartz crystal washing down from the Appalachian Mountains and depositing in the Gulf. Having seen it my entire life, I know I take it for granted. The beauty of it is spectacular. In the spring, the water is still cool, and the seaweed is nonexistent so with the height of the sun and the clarity of the water, the water color is an incredible turquoise. that I have never seen anything like it anywhere else.

Writing prompts - Do you believe the truth always comes out? Has the truth ever set you free?

Writing prompts: 

Do you believe the truth always comes out? Has the truth ever set you free?

The trouble I see is that truth is true from multiple perspective. Facts are how events unfold or the literal interpretation of appearance. But truth – that is subjective. What is true is not something that is conveyed in many situations. Truth from a single perspective is mostly what shows up. So, no. I don’t believe the truth is always told and yet somehow my truth has freed me from past problems. Persuasion plays a huge role in what truth is told. Be persuasive is the lesson.

Soul Mates

Ebb and flow
Decisions of love
One wave
Brings a tide of emotion
A hindrance to
Progress of personal ambition
Another wave
Brings foam to smother the emotion
For being imbalanced
Love of self begins to grow
The tide recedes
Leaving loneliness
In the sand
Small holes of opportunity
Appear to either
Fill the void again or
Keep the feelings at bay
What will the tide bring next?

To Come And Go

It was bright. Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to the light and that was why it hurt to look around. After a moment, she moved forward. She could see a patch of green ahead and it seemed much more inviting than the dark where she had come from. It had been cold there and she felt that she would feel better where it was warm.

Sound On The Stairs

As he pulled into the driveway, Charlie breathed a sigh. He often gave this exhale of breath when he arrived home, but it wasn’t the arrival that relaxed him. No, there was a visceral relief he felt knowing  there would be no torment waiting for him inside the house. He pushed the button for the garage door and watched as the great white behemoth rolled upward.

She Was Jane

She was tenacious. From the beginning, I liked that about her. 

Sometimes I thought for sure she was never going to understand what I was saying, but she would persist until she figured it out. I was so grateful to her for that. She moved with purpose and it seemed like she was constantly on the lookout for her next great adventure. She had fun and she explored. 

I told her I admired her spirit. I told her how she inspired as well as frustrated me. I encouraged her to pursue her dreams, but she didn't need much encouragement. When she would talk about the right time, I would tell her there will never be a right time. You have to make now the time. To her credit, she made now happen a lot.

She set goals and worked hard to achieve them. Sometimes she believed she was ready when I didn't think she was. She made things happen. It could be those things would have happened without her. It could be those things wouldn't have happened at all. What made them hers was her. She filled little space, but made her presence felt. I think she constantly struggled with reconciling her diminutive size with recognition and opportunity. She knew that if she let them, people would overlook her contribution without a second glance and she was invested in ensuring that didn't happen.

She was stubborn. It annoyed me more than once, this part of her character. She could be like a tiny mule standing it's ground. I recognized myself in her (the mule, that is).

She would say the word "help" with an emphasis on the p and sort of pop the sound as she said it. I don't know if she ever noticed that about herself. I don't know if she realized she would regularly clear her throat with a quiet little mewling sound as though a small kitten had just requested attention. She would always sit so very straight in her chair and she loved it when her hair hung long down her back. She regularly complained about it, but she loved her hair. It was lovely. She loved to hum along to her favorite songs. When she was driving, she would sing. She wanted to see Sheryl Crow in concert.

She grieved for lost loved ones. She mourned friends she had known who died. She could be extremely compassionate.

She hurt a lot. She was one of the sickest people I have known. I think she was sick every 6 weeks or so. She would motor through, but sometimes she'd be down and out for a week or more. She didn't let illness slow her down. I remember one night when she had been violently ill, she was determined to go on a date with someone who was interesting to her. She went and shortly after dinner, she heaved the whole meal back up again. At the time I was amazed and thought she shouldn't have gone out, but now I'm glad she went. If she had known it was so close, the end, I know she would have made every single leap she considered. I think anyone would.

I can brush my teeth and kiss my family goodnight, but she will never do that again.

A Day of Activity

care for pets

drive to location

conversations with family

drive to location

care for pets

care for children

care for self?