Tag Archives: writting challenge

When I Grow Up

Posted on by

“When I grow up I want to be an astronaut!
I want to go up in the sky, travel the universe and make friends from out of this world.
They’ll be fun, with their green skin, long antennae and several eyes.
Or else, or else…
Their loooooooong skinny body and big head with 2 black eyes.
Or else, or else…
Their slimy grayish and gross slug-like shape
Or else, or else…”

“How about with their proportional body, brown eyes and blond curly hair?”

“Yes! That one too!
Wait!… That sounds like my friend Kevin.
Oh…… Is he an alien too????”

 

This post was written for the Flash Fiction Rodeo Contest #1.

The rules for contest #1 was that we tried to go back in time to when we were 6 years old and remember what we wanted to be when we grew up. The size of the text should be of 100 words only.

To be honest, when I was little, I actually wanted to be a dressmaker, then later I switched to either tennis of volleyball player.

So no, I never really wanted to be an astronaut, but I had friends who did, so I used their ambition rather than mine, since it seemed cooler… ;o)

The results for the contest were published yesterday, and the winner was Hugh Roberts, with and awesome entry of a boy who wants to be Santa. See here the winner’s announcement post with his entry and some other picks.

Congrats Hugh! And well done everyone!

The Artist

Posted on by

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.

 

 

 

Library

Posted on by

He lives in the streets. No mom. No dad. Steals food to survive, but doesn’t like it. The other boys are bad. He doesn’t want to be bad.

He learns how to read from a homeless sir he befriended.

He would read anything and everything. His dream is to attend school.

He asks the mailman to give him some leftover pamphlets to read, and receives even more.

The mailman talks to the people in the neighborhood who start to donate books to the boy.

He’s still homeless, but now the pushes a cart around with his own personal library.

reading

This post was written in response to the March 2: 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 Library.

My story was inspired by (although not true to) the story of the Utah boy, who received thousands of books after the mailman in his apartment complex decided to post an ask in facebook for people to send books to the boy, who wanted to read but had no books at home.

Picture was taken from pixabay.com.

 

Six Word Story Challenge – Suspicion

Posted on by

Arrived ring-less, after not answering phone.

ringless

This post was written in response to the Sometimes Stellar Storyteller Six Word Story Challenge, with prompt word SUSPICION.

This is based on a real story, where the suspicion did not confirm and the subject was not guilt. That was actually me.

I lost weight and my wedding ring became too lose.
On a Winter day, while unpacking groceries from the reusable bag, the ring felt into the bag and I didn’t even notice.
A few days later (not sure how many, as I don’t remember when I lost it) I finally realize I don’t have my ring, and decide to go search for it on the trail I had walked on that day, assuming I lost it during the walk early on that same day.
But it was dark already, so I used my phone as a flashlight until it ran out of batteries and lost track of the time.
I got late at home.
My husband had tried to call me to no avail (no batteries on phone!).
My finger had no ring…….
Ouch!
The look on my husband’s face was not the one I remember most fondly.
I searched everywhere like crazy for the next week.
Then one day, using the reusable bag again, I found it laying there at the bottom.
Not guilty!

 

Isolated

Posted on by

They lived in an isolated island. The rest of the world was very close, though, separated from their island by a narrow canal. In years past, some tried crossing the canal to the other side, but were swallowed alive by the sea creatures that populate the passage.

But it hasn’t been like this forever. Legend says that in years long gone the water was safe and the tide was low enough that passage between the lands was possible every day. But for many generations none of them have ever seen anything like that.

They tried bridges and boats, but nothing would survive the water.

One day the tide goes low again and they can see the legendary walkaway linking both pieces of land. They cross together, into the city, all happiness.

But at the last minute, she decides that the island is her home and turns her back to her fellow islanders. She stands there, frozen, deciding if her decision was right. Only a few minutes away from becoming the only inhabitant of the island…

 

photo-20160215084213932

This post was written in response to the Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers, with a photo prompt by TJ Paris.

To check other stories inspired by the same prompt, click the blur frog below:

 

Six Word Story: Sin

Posted on by

We’re not sinners. The priest was!

fotor_WP_20160112_21_05_32_Rich_LI

This post was written in response to this week’s Sometimes Stellar Storyteller Six Word Story Challenge , with the prompt Sin.

Writing a story in only 6 words sometimes is really hard. This week I wanted to tell a real story. The story of my own wedding.

I guess I managed to tell the essence of it, although it’s not at all clear what the story is about, other than that the sin was the priest’s, not ours.

We were planning our wedding and hired a priest to come to my mom’s place to celebrate the wedding.
We trusted him, in spite of some red flags that we could have identified during the process.
Then about a year later, it was in the news that he wasn’t a priest anymore, since 5+ years before, exonerated by the church due to child molestation history.
Then he left the city where it all happened, came to my city and played nice.
In spite of the story becoming public about 14 years ago, he’s still performing weddings and baptisms in the same city! Talk about impunity….

But anyways, after the story came out, family was insisting that we needed to re-marry, otherwise we would be living ‘in sin’. Our argument not to is the six word story above.

The sin is his, not ours…. (hey, 6 words again! ;o)

 

Six Word Story: Accomplishment

Posted on by

Thirteen miles, and no foot pain.

acomplishment

This post was written in response to the Sometimes Stellar Storyteller’s Six Word Story Challenge.

It is a true story, actually.

In 2013 I tried that same race and at halfway I was struggling to decide if I’d call my husband to pick me up because I could barely step with my left foot, or if I would persist and finish. I finished, but it took my forever to recover from injury.

Then on the following year I was feeling so well overall, after changing my diet, that I decided to sign up for the same race again to prove to the race and to myself that I could beat it injury-free. And so I did in 2014.
I planned to walk 6 miles/jog 7, ended up jogging 10 and walking only 3!!!!

The song on my phone on that day that best translated how I was feeling on that moment goes like:

“I’m on top of the world, hey. I’m on top of the world, hey!”

;o)

The lion and me

Posted on by

In this area of the land live a lion and me. I’m slightly smarter than him, he’s MUCH stronger than me.

It’s an open land and we get the visit from several other smaller or not very smart animals. We feed on them, sharing the load. They satisfy us so I don’t need to bother the lion, and he doesn’t need to bother me.

We leave in peace and respect each other on our strengths and weaknesses.

Occasionally one of our visitors gives us trouble and we wonder what if we don’t let them in anymore. But shall we close the borders, I’ll be his prey.

lionandme

 

This post was written in response to the 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups, with the prompt “… but shall we close the borders…“, and contains 106 words (100 not counting the prompt).
The picture was taken from pixabay.com, uploaded there by Sponchia.

Restriction

Posted on by

She was a single mother of 4. Girl#1 and Boy#1 were good, healthy kids. Girl#2 was not healthy. Boy#2 was not good.

He wasn’t bad either. But he had the bad habit of always getting in trouble.

At 17 he was dating a crazy girl. She was trouble! Of the bad kind. They had a love and hate relationship, with episodes of fighting then making up.

One night, after making up, a fight starts. She sends him away throwing her shoes on him.

9 months later, baby was born. But with a restriction order between them, grandma never got to play with grandson…

restriction

This post was written in response to Friday Fictioneers, with photo prompt by C. E. Ayr, and contains exactly 100 words.

It’s based on a true story.

To see other stories inspired by the same prompt, click the blue frog below.

Sun

Posted on by

The Summer was hot and dry.

The sun was implacable.

Not a little distraction would be gone without being noticed by it and light up into a fire.

The mountain tops were ablaze. Sometimes closing in to residential areas, forcing people to evacuate from their own houses.

As the flames leapt skyward, the quality of the air became very poor. Smog was everywhere. It was hard to breath. Cough and teary eyes became a very common thing.

But the sun would still not give us a break.

Everyday. Almost day and night (can 4 am to 10 pm be considered day and night?).

In all its magnificence!

sun

This post was written in response to the Literary Lion: Sun writing challenge, from about a month ago, but for some reason I never published it.

Then, seeing it today I decided to modify it a little bit as to make it also fit for this week’s 100WCGU., in regards to length and also to incorporate the phrase “as the flames leapt skyward”. 

The picture was taken during a road trip through Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana, in Summer, where and when wild fires were burning the mountains and generating a lot of smoke. This one was taken in Missoula, Montana, close to our campground.

 

 

 

10 cents

Posted on by

She lived a life that some would describe as being on edge. For being adventurous, but also for getting into financial trouble after her adventures…

One day, she could not believe her eyes, when she saw a sign announcing a 5 acre lot on sale for 10 cents. 10 cents?????

She didn’t think twice and bought the property.

Her days of renting would soon be over. All she needed was to build a simple house where she could live. And then, try to make some money out of the land somehow.

Simple and easy.

But the land she bought was home to a big community of wild unfriendly buffalos.

Every time she started something, the buffalos would destroy everything.

She tried several times, and got it all destroyed several times.

She could not kill them all (that’s what she felt like doing) because in that land, buffalos were protected by federal law.

It ended up being the worse invested 10 cents in her entire life.

buffalo2

 

This post was written in response to the Mondays Finish the Story challenge, with the prompt of the photo below and starting with She lived a life that some would describe as being on edge.

buffalo

To see other stories inspired by the same prompt, click the blue frog below.

3-in-one: Take these flowers away. And the balloon, too!

Posted on by

This week, I’m busy planning a RV trip, so I’m trying to combine 3 challenges in only one story.

The biggest challenge to make all 3 of them work together, is that each one has a different size constraint.

So, I wrote it in a way, that I split the story in 3, using dashes and stars to mark each part.
If you’re willing to read only the 100-175 words for the FFfAW, you can stop at the first mark and be good.

If you want the 400 words of the literary lion, you can go on until the second mark.

And if you are ok in reading a 1000 word story, you read until the end.

But in each mark, the story would sort of end in a way that made sense. So you won’t feel the story is incomplete if you don’t go on reading.

Here it goes then…

Ouch, I feel so sore today. Can’t remember why. Last thing I remember I was driving last night. Hey why didn’t my eye open? Hello? No sound? Why can’t I say anything?

“Good morning, Mr. Baller. Hope you’re well today. Look of what arrived to you this morning. A balloon and some flowers. I’ll leave them by your bed here. Now let’s check your vitals.”

Balloon? Flowers? Vitals? Am I in a hospital?

Why are people sending me balloons or flowers? I’m not a newborn baby for balloons, wonder if it says “It’s a boy!”. And boy, those flowers do smell like death. Hey, miss, do you mind taking them away?

“Very well. Your vitals are as good as can be considering the circumstances. You’re just not ready to wake up, huh? That’s ok, take your time. You’re not our only comatose patient. We’ll take good care of you. And get well soon, just like your balloon says. I’ll be back in a couple hours. See you later.”

——–***——–

Comatose? But I AM awake. And I don’t like the smell of the flowers. Oh my gosh! Why can’t I communicate with the nice lady. Is she a nurse? Yeah…probably.

Ok, so try to remember Peter. What happened last night? We were in a party, then we got into the car, it was me, Stacy and Sophie. Then…. Oh no! Car accident? What happened to Stacy and Sophie? Oh God! Please make them be alive and well! Please, please, please.

Oh man. I do indeed hate those flowers. Why do people send flowers to comatose folks? To make it faster for them to die with the funeral smell? To save money and buy flowers only once? Arghhh. The smell…..

“Hey Mr. Baller, that’s me again, your nurse Lilly. Anything new? Hum… guess not. Well, just checking on you. Bye-bye”

Lily? Hey Lilly? Please don’t go yet! Not before taking those flowers….. awn… she’s gone.

She thinks I’m asleep. Well, guess that’s probably the best thing to do. I’ll take a nap.

Yawnnn… awake again. And the flowers are still here, based on the smell. Note to self: do not ever send flowers to people in hospitals. Especially if they can’t ask the Lilly nurse to take them away!

I hate flowers!

——–***——–

“Hello again, Mr. Baller. By the way, can I call you Peter? Well, this is my last visit on this shift, so I brought you Chad, who will be the one taking care of you for the next day, ok? But I’ll be back on my next shift. Unless of course you wake up and leave before it happens. That’d be great, huh?”

“Hey man. What’s up, bro? Oh boy, you’re a bruised person alright. But I’ll tend to your bruises, ok? And will make them go away in no time. Just stay strong and sleep tight. Well, I don’t think I have to ask you to sleep right? haha. Nevermind my nonsense.”

Chad? Well, he sounds more like a basketball player than like a nurse. Bye-bye, Lilly. I’ll make sure to come and visit you if I wake up before your next shift. But hey, why don’t you or your friend Chad take those fl…

“Look at that, man! You got flowers and a balloon. ‘Get well soon.’ That’s what the balloon says. Yeah, I hope you will. I really do, man. Don’t like seeing people like that. But those flowers… Ew! Smell like a cemetery, man. Do they want to bury you already? You want me to take it away?”

Yes, please, please, please!!!

“I don’t know, man. Say the person who sent will come visit you. I’ll leave them for now. Until they’re wilted at least.”

“Talking about visits, I’ll bring you a surprise very soon. Yeah! Guess you’ll like it! See you in a bit, man!”

Surprise? What could that be? Maybe an air freshener to get rid of that smell? Guess I like this Chad too. 

“Hello, hello! I told you I’d bring a surprise…”

“Dad? Oh my gosh, dad! Please, dad, don’t go. You’ll wake up, right? You sure will? Dad? Pleeeaseeee. But hey, you know what? Mom is fine. Yeah, she had to have a surgery, but she’s doing well. And she is AWAKE! So please, wake up too…. please…. for me, for her…?”

Oh sweetie, my cute sweetie pie. So glad you and your mom are ok. What surgery did she had to do? Is she really fine? And I AM awake, it’s just those eyes of mine that won’t open. And that mouth that won’t speak. And my muscles won’t move? Oh boy, I’m in trouble. I really am. 

But I do want to wake up. For them!

“Well, well. Guess time’s up for you, little missy. You get to go back to your own bed, ok? Some recovery to do there as well. Hey man, I’ll see that Mrs. Baller come see you too when she’s awake, ok? Wow, girl, you have lazy sleepy parents, don’t you? haha. Sorry. Nevermind my nonsense…”

“Hello Mr. Baller, Lilly again. Did Chad take good care of you? I hope he did. He’s a nice person. I heard he brought you your daughter for a visit? Well… I guess I’ll be able to do the same. I’ll go check and will be back in a minute”

Lilly is back. I like it. And I’d love to see Sophie again. And Stacy. I’d give anything to see Stacy again, hear her voice…

“Knock knock! Mr. Baller, we have some visitors…”

“Dad!”

“Peter?”

“Stacy? Is that Stacy’s voice? Are both of my girls here? I gotta wake up! I just GOT to!”

“Oh Peter. How are you my love? Still sleeping? Eyes closed? Oh sweetheart, I’d give my world to see your pretty blue eyes open and well again. Please?…”

At that moment, a tear came out of the corner of his eyes and they opened for the first time in a full week!

3in1

Blue sea

Posted on by

The last thing I remember was asking the waiter to bring my burger with no cheese and no bun, but wrapped in lettuce instead.

Then suddenly I was flying over a crystalline blue sea. Or maybe it was a lake, as it was very round. The color was the prettiest blue/turquoise color I have ever seen. Right at the middle of all that blueness, there was a black circle, like an island. No. Not an island, as it was deep rather than going up the surface. More like a black hole.

The hole started to drag myself into it and I felt like falling. Free fall into the depths of it, surrounded by the sea of blue. But I didn’t feel afraid. I actually felt great. As good as I have ever been in my life.

A sense of tranquility and calmness struck me and I felt just happy. Extremely happy!

Then I hear my name being called. At first very faintly, then a bit louder.

“Stacy?”

The call was louder and clearer now and I feel myself flying back up very fast, getting farther and farther away from the back hole, from the crystalline blue, which turns out is surrounded by a white smooth surface…

Then I finally come back to reality and I see some worry on his eyes.

“Are you ok? You looked like you were lost for a while.”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just got a bit distracted. Sorry. But what were you saying?”

And to myself: “Lost alright. On the depths of you pretty blue eyes…”

eyes

 

This post was written in response to the Literary Lion: Eye writting challenge.
The pretty eyes pictured above are from my neighbor, image cropped and edited to make the color pop up more and also to protect his identity.