Category Archives: Writing

I used to make a joke that my parents gave so much creativity to my older sister, who turned out to become a writer, that I got just a enough to allow me to be a translator and write well, but without actually creating the stories.
In this blog I’m trying to change this and make my creativity grow.

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest

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Today, Carrot Ranch website is starting a Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest.

For more details you can check their website at:

https://carrotranch.com/

They’ll be having 8 contest, every Tuesday and Thursday, starting today and going until the end of the month.

I heard about it a couple weeks back and was planning to post my entries here, but because it’s a competition they advise not to publish until judging is finished.

So no post today with my entry for the first one. I’ll instead post in on the day the winner is announced. And for today’s contest that will be on November 7th. So stay tuned!

In case someone else there is interested in participating, here are the rules for the first one:

https://carrotranch.com/2017/10/05/flash-fiction-rodeo-contest-1/

Good writing to us all!

;o)

 

 

Beware of the Chicken

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They were playing hide and seek.

There was one spooky house no one ever dared to go.

He wasn’t afraid. The only thing was a sign about attacking chicken.

Pfff… Chicken? Seriously?

He got in and a gigantic shadow formed around him. Shaped like chicken. He was the size of a worm…

This post was written in response to the Writespiration #134 52 Weeks in 52 Words Week 40, hosted by Sacha Back.

Fiction: On display

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They were visiting the Wild Western museum. During their visit, the guests could dress up.

He decided to prank her. All dressed up, he hid in one of the displays.
Stubbornly, he would only show himself after being found.

A few hours later, the lights went off and the museum’s doors closed…

 

This post was written in response to the Writespiration #134 52 Weeks in 52 Words Week 39, hosted by Sacha Back.

Fiction: Poetry struggle

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I was fighting with the rules I need to follow to write a verse.

Does it need to rhyme? Does it not? How many syllables?

Oh, so hard!

Then I came up with this…

I was tired, so I crossed the river to the west,

and finally sat down to get some rest.

This post was written in response to the Weekly Writing Prompt #107, with the words:

| VERSE | RULE | FIGHT | RIVER | REST |

 

Fiction: Busy Bee

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Thursday morning. Wake up.

Migraine.

Get up. Wake up the kids. Have breakfast. Get kids ready to school. Walk them to school.

Work from home. Automation won’t work, do it manually.

Stop to go to the doctor.

Come back to a meeting. Work non-stop until 3:25.

Bring suitcase down for hubby.

Pick up kids at 3:30.

Have lunch!

Drive kids to sports practice.

Stop at dry cleaner.

Back home, iron hubby’s shirts.

Shower.

Fix dinner. Do the dishes.

Help hubby pack for his trip.

Read a bit. Go to bed.

And that migraine is still there until end of day Friday….

This post was written in response to the September 7th: Flash Fiction Challenge, hosted by Carrot Ranch

Fiction: If I came with a warning label

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If I came with a warning label, people may not like me much.
My secrets and sins would be disclosed. And that’s not good.

If a warning label would be attached to every person, then everyone would know about their secrets and sins. And get mad, and get hurt, and get away.

No, I don’t want a warning label on me. And I don’t want to read warning labels on others.

They’re to do more damage than good to friendships or any other kind of relationship.

So I keep my secrets to myself.
I go about life being true to myself, being honest when I fell like, and sometimes false, pretending to be someone else.
And I’m ok with this. And people are ok with this too, because that’s what they do.

And we get along….

This post was written in response to the Mini Writing Prompt Challenge: If I Came with a Warning Label. . . #bravewarninglabelchallenge

Fiction: Project Management

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They were working on a new project.

Her job was to create the schedule and plan for it.

She was struggling with the project management tools, and that was impacting the start date. The team got anxious, afraid her struggles would delay the project so much that the deadline wouldn’t be met.

When she finally figured the tools out and went over to share the plan with the team, she was surprised to see the project was finished already… Before even beginning!

She threw the plans away and celebrated their on-time delivery.

She couldn’t have asked for a better team!

Image Credit: Bikurgurl

 

This post was written in response to 100 Word Wednesday: Week 10, and inspired by the online courses I’ve been doing on project management… ;o)
Although I’m sure I’ll be a much better manager than the lady on my story.

Fiction: Honeymoon

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They met very young and were best friends forever.
Then each went on with their separate lives.

But all the time, they still had each other at the depths of their minds.

One day, they meet again.
They look at each other and see time flying backwards all the way to their childhood together.
“Hey, It’s been so long without seeing you”.
“Yes, I missed so much.”

They hold hands for the first time in ages, and from that time on, they never went apart again.
As if they were in a constant honeymoon.
Their time had finally come!

This post was written in response to March 9th: Flash Fiction Challenge, hosted by Carrot Ranch.

The story was actually taken, and adapted to fit the size constraints, from another piece I wrote a couple years ago for a Literary Lion challenge about Time. If you’re curious, here’s the full story I wrote at that time. Hope you enjoy!

 

Fiction: The Big Birthday

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When he was little, he decided he would live 100 years.
He had a happy, healthy, fulfilling life.
The day before his 100th birthday he lay in bed peacefully thinking: “One more day and I’ll be able to rest.”
The next day, after blowing up the candles, he closed his eyes and died.

 

 

This post was written in response to Writespiration #106 52 Weeks in 52 Words Week 10, with the theme: The Big Birthday.

Fiction: The distance between

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They are newly wed and snuggle every night to sleep.

Time goes by and they realize it’s more comfortable not to snuggle.

The distance between them in bed grows in the same proportion as the problems of the daily life increase.

Soon, the bed will become too small for both of them.

distancebetween

 

This post was written in response to the Writespiration #103 52 Weeks in 52 Days Week 7  hosted by Sacha Black, for which we’re supposed to write a piece with 52 words, that includes the theme: The distance between…

The pictures were borrowed from https://sawbuz.wordpress.com/tag/relationship-sleeping/ and mat be subject to copyright by their owners.

Fiction: Stilettos

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We were doing a paint project outside when daddy came to pick the kids up for the weekend.
He looked uptight, she was all dressy.
I was covered in paint, tangled hair.
She had a frown and seemed uncomfortable on her stilettos early in the morning.
I had a big smiling face.

 

This post was written in response to Sacha Black’s challenge Writespiration: 52 weeks in 52 words.

This is the first time I try to participate and this week’s theme is:

That moment you see your ex with their hot new bit and you look like a turd.

 

Brother’s love?

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They were brothers, and as brothers they kind of love each other.

But they also had their differences, and sometimes those differences would be so big that the love seemed more like hatred for those who would see them arguing.

One day they had a disagreement. One of the big ones. It was so, so, so big that they actually engaged on a fight. A physical one.

I can’t remember the reason for such a fight, but I do remember it was an ugly one.

Uyir was a bit drunken. Maybe coming from one of his crazy parties. Groi was chilling out at home, as he always did.

Then something stirred up such a wild rage in Uyir, that he went after Groi. Groi tried reasoning, but it was no use. He didn’t want to fight so he said something neutral and turned his back.

That’s when it happened.

Uyir, pulled his little brother’s shoulder so the boy would turn, then hit him right on his face.

At that very moment, his hand turned to stone, and broke in half.

Groi had a broken teeth but was still in human format and, once again, turned his back and went away…

sundayphotofiction-nov6th

This post was written in response to the Sunday Photo Fiction – November 6th 2016.

To see more entries, click the blue frog icon below.

 

Fiction: Flying monkeys

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The monkeys jumped from branch to branch among the forest trees. Nice, but it wasn’t like flying.

Sometimes they would climb all the way to the top of the tallest trees to look at the sky and dream of flying high.

Every time the lucky eagles would  come by, they would ask them to tell the stories they saw from up above.

One day, the eagles decided to surprise the monkeys. Each one of them took a monkey  on their claws and took them away for a ride.

The monkeys were in ecstasy! They were flying monkeys at last!

flyingmonkey

This post was written in response to the November 2: Flash Fiction Challenge, hosted by Carrot Ranch.

Fiction: Butterfly heaven – compacted version

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She was born in a flower pot at the city. Too much noise, too few flowers.

So, off she flew, away from the city.

But all she found was a desert.

Big red rocks, dangerous looking lizards, spiders, scorpions, snakes…. Not much water… Only a few low woody bushes….

She felt hungry, thirsty and afraid, and started to regret leaving the comfortable city.

Then, she sees a flowering succulent bush. She goes for it and finds the most delicious, thirst-quenching and satisfying meal.

She also finds cover, amongst leaves as pale as her wings.

Her own private Butterfly Heaven!

This post was originally written with 143 words, for a Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers almost a year ago, and inspired by a picture of a pale winged butterfly on a succulent bush, by TJ Paris.

butterfly

Then earlier this week, as I saw the Flash Fiction Challenge of the Carrot Ranch, with a prompt of a desert surprise, I couldn’t help remembering my little butterfly.

So instead of creating a new story, I took the extra challende proposed by Charli to try and reduce the size of my original story to 99 words, so it would fit the Flash Fiction Challenge requirements.

So this now it the results of this reducing effort.

 

 

Fiction: Six on the Sixth – April 2016

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Plan

His plan was infallible this time.

Peddle

We weren’t sure, but he insisted.

Pills

Sleeping pills would put them down.

Hang

Hanging would kill them for good.

Giant

But the giants were too big.

Inch

An inch short from finally succeeding.

execution-29644_1280

This post was written in response to Six on the Sixth – April 2016, hosted by Adam Ickes.

The image is from pixabay and was edited to be an inch short from succeding with the plan… ;o)

Fiction: The Big Wave

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The sun was shining bright and I watched as the water retracted more than usual at the beach.

Then a wave of cool and raging water came down over the village, taking with it everything and everyone it found on its way.

Several deaths. Millions in damage. All in a fraction of a second.

Nothing could have prevented it.

wave-34602_640

 

This post was written in response to the Writing Prompt #28.  The prompt words for this week are:

WAVE | COOL| PREVENT | BRIGHT | WATCH |

The picture is from pixabay.com

Fiction: The spark is gone

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I’m spying on my husband. I don’t feel proud of it, but it may be worth trying.

He says the spark is gone.

I don’t understand. Not too long ago the intensity of our love was so big and felt like an earthquake every time we were close to each other.

Then it’s gone? All of a sudden, like this?

I think this is some kind of plot. I’m not sure what for, but it just can’t be true.

The spark cannot be gone. It’s not gone for me! 

I love him….

steel-wool-764271_640

Last week I wrote my entry for the Writing Prompt #27 while watching my daughter’s jump rope tournament, and saved it on OneNote to publish here later. But with the busyness os the weekend I ended up completely forgetting to do so, until today, 2 days after the ‘deadline’.

Oooopsy!

But since I did write,  I decided to post it anyways. Here it is then.  The prompt words for that week were:

WORTH | SPARK | PLOT | QUAKE | SPY |

The picture is from pixabay.com

The Artist

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When he was still on diapers, he drew his first squiggly line.
A wind blew and a piece of colored yarn flew squiggling past him.

As a toddler, he would draw clouds, and the wind would bring some clouds to an otherwise clear sky.

As a kid, he would draw cars, and his parents never understood how come he had so many toy cars.

Then, at age 13, he started to draw monsters.
Family and friends from school or the neighborhood were suddenly disappearing from earth.

Not him!
He was always spared, as he was the beasts creator…
Their father!

TheArtist

 

This post was written in response to the March 9: Flash Fiction Challenge, hosted by Carrot Ranch. The idea is to write a story with exactly 99 words, no more, no less, around the prompt word. This week the word is Monster.