Unsocial Climbing – a story in 100 words

You and I, my friends, we stand side-by-side. Others, envious of our beautiful bond, seek to divide us. Look, they shriek, that gulf between my wealth and your poverty!

Don’t let them worry you. Turns out we’re on the same ladder, different rungs is all. Up here it’s raining golden eggs, believe me! Stick around and pick my brain on how to climb good. Things they don’t tell you.

Like some folk couldn’t climb unless they give ’em minority rights. You elbowed out while these raid the nest. Silent majority won’t squeak, they reckon.

They reckoned without me. Your voice.

 

 

Image: Math Tutoring & Learning Centers | Mathnasium

Stimulus: majority, raid and brain from https://randomwordgenerator.com/

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Another story in 100 words: Regeneration

For her fifth birthday she got a corner of the garden, a little bed of her very own. She emptied a seed-packet on the glistening earth and rushed out next morning, expecting to see a crop of beautiful flowers.

Hopes dashed, she’d just discovered nature’s way – left to time, all things come to fruition.

Now older, seasoned, she wonders at toddler-tantrums from so-called grown-ups still screaming for the-moon-on-a-stick – her tomorrow, theirs today?

Impatient again, she watches seeds of protest shoot across her shining screen and rushes out to a blossoming of banners and bright futures planted afresh in youthful minds.

 

 

Image: The Guardian

Stimulus: crop, left and bed from https://randomwordgenerator.com/

Couch!

A story in 100 words including plant, consultation and pardon which were taken from https://randomwordgenerator.com/

 

Seat?

No.

As you wish. What’s the problem?

Don’t you know?

Not until you’ve told me.

I’ve paid a small fortune for this. You’re supposed to tell me what’s wrong.

You have trouble confiding in people.

Now you’re trying to plant ideas.

You mistrust others.

Trust is earned. So far you’ve done nothing to justify that exorbitant consultation fee.

Fully refundable in hopeless cases.

Washing your hands of me already, eh?

No, of course not, but I need you to work with me.

And in recompense for my active participation, you would give me a sizeable discount on your services …

Pardon?

 

 

Image: Art.com

Trial of the Trail

Here’s a 100 word story which I decided had to include the first 3 words that came up on https://randomwordgenerator.com/ – the words were bet, deputy and lose.

 

We creep in fear and single-file through thick jungle with no choice but trust our navigation to chosen leaders. Night falls and the rearmost urge us onward; we barely notice it’s boggier underfoot. Those furthest forward slow fastest and soon we’re a milling mob.

Uphill, tangled undergrowth; downhill, sunlight through trees. Lead us, we cry, trampling over abandoned machetes.

Each of us, whether demoted or promoted deputy, shares this democracy of incompetence – a bet on survival, ours to lose.

Nightbirds shriek and we stampede towards retreating day. Suddenly chest-deep in quicksand, we hear the crack of metal on wood.

 

 

 

Image: Discover Magazine Blogs

Blogging the Future

S hots in the dark can be dangerous.
U ploading crap is a crime.
S pinning a parable’s tedious.
T elling old tales just wastes time.
A s for what actually works in the long run,
I t waits outside any virtual plan –
N othing’s beyond a rhyme.

 

 

Image: carrie creates.

Water Cycle

Remember this friendly voice?

Sometimes you sit down to blog but your words and photos get stuck – prompts give them a push

That’s right, the late lamented WordPress Daily Prompt – gentle nudge of encouragement or brutal kick up the backside, depending on how far down the road of utter uselessness we were.

At the moment I’m an unlucky thirteen days up a clueless cul-de-sac and shaking my silent satnav in blind fury … although just now I remembered a useful link and, er, hit it.

Wanna know the useful link? Anyone who’s never short of subjects to write about can look away now. For the rest, here is a pretty handy webpage:

https://randomwordgenerator.com/

I got river, which I’ve made into an acrostic poem.

r olling ever down to wider seas
i carry weight of memory with ease
v olumes still unwritten seek their end in
e stuaries where water stories blend in
r ain clouds moving back to feed our source

Well, it’s a start … here’s hoping it’s set the ball rolling again!

 

10 Stages of Writing

That time again.

I glance up at the top right-hand corner of my screen. There, waiting patiently to be pressed, is the button marked Publish…

I say patiently, but that button is very purple. Puce, even, the shade a teacher’s face might turn as you wheel out excuses – each one less credible than the last – as to why you didn’t do your homework.

I won’t bore you with feeble alibis. Instead, below is something I read the other day that offers a little consolation. It helps, after all, to realise that nobody finds it easy. And to produce anything worthwhile, it seems, always takes the writer on ‘an emotional rollercoaster’.

 

 

Stage 1: Excitement

“You must not come lightly to the blank page.” ― Stephen King

Stage 2: Uncertainty

“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.” ― Jodi Picoult

Stage 3: Persistence

“You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” ― Octavia E. Butler

Stage 4:  Distraction (AKA: Procrastination)

“If I waited till I felt like writing, I’d never write at all.” ―Anne Tyler

Stage 5: Doubt

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ― Sylvia Plath

Stage 6: Shame

“The first draft of anything is shit.” ―Ernest Hemingway

Stage 7: Fear

“If I wanted perfection, I wouldn’t write a word.” ―Margaret Atwood

Stage 8: Courage

“Creativity takes courage. ” ― Henri Matisse

Stage 9: Relief (AKA: Euphoria)

“Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.” ― Nicholas Sparks

Stage 10: Pride

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” ―Frank Herbert