As the thermometer plummeted to new record lows and the chill of winter’s wind cut even deeper through the channel beneath Highway 89, Buzz feared his home and the bottle of antifreeze he keep tucked under his jacket wouldn’t be enough.
Miranda pleaded with Buzz to follow, but he was leery of the people in those shelters; they didn’t hold his best interest at heart and wanted him to conform to their idea of living.
Still, he knew it would kill Miranda if she returned to find him frozen so he followed her as requested.
He couldn’t pinpoint the origin of his fear and the desire to run back to the bridge but as he stood there something about the front entrance calmed him and he knew everything was going to be alright – at least for tonight.
Welcome to the inaugural Four Line Fiction, a pix-to-prose challenge. Each Thursday, at 9:00am Eastern Time (Canada/United States) I will post an image I have captured myself, featured from another blog or plucked from one of the Interweb’s many royalty-free image sites. You as the writer are to use that image as a point of inspiration to craft a masterpiece of fiction in four lines.
The image for February 2nd, 2023 is the word “Welcome” made of rainbow-coloured slats of plywood set against a multicoloured wall. Fitting for the first-ever Four Line Fiction challenge.
Be creative and have fun. I look forward to reading the tales you spin. Don’t forget to show your fellow bloggers some love -❤️- take some time to read, like, and comment on their masterpieces.
“Every Wednesday Mom insists I take her to the Sally Ann after morning Bingo,” I said with a deliberate eye roll.
“You say ‘Thrift Store’ with a pejorative connotation.”
“It’s all junk and every time we go, she stops at the tables filled with odds and ends left by the dead. How many quasi-fine China teapots and cups does an 82-year-old woman need.”
“Come on Sis, you know she collects that shit. Don’t you recall summer weekends being dragged from yard to yard? All those treasures she plucked from unsuspecting sellers put us through college.”
Lilith stood face to face with the beast. That for which she’d feigned apathy towards exposed. It’s reaction to the truth behind her façade was surprisingly wise and gentle. She did not need to ask for its help, it understood.
Welcome to Five Word Weekly. Each Monday, I will post five random words to Greg’s Blog at 5:00am Eastern Time (Canada/United States). Your task is to craft prose or poetry using any or all of the word prompts. How you participate is entirely up to you. Your work(s) can be a single piece, a series of stand-alone projects, or an epic serial. Let the words be the inspiration that takes you wherever your imagination leads.
Here are your prompt words for the week of January 30th, 2023:
Be creative and have fun. I look forward to reading what each of you conjures up. Don’t forget to show your fellow bloggers some love -❤️- take some time to read, like, and comment on their responses.
Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, or months where you just didn’t feel like doing anything? Crawling out of bed seemed like an insurmountable task. It’s like there is a weight on your shoulders pinning you in place. That is the only way I can describe this week. It’s not stress or anxiety or anything like that, just the winter blahs!
It certainly doesn’t help when the first thing you have to do each morning is dig out from under another eight to ten centimetres (three to four inches) of snow. The snowbanks on the driveway are almost too high to throw snow over. Keep in mind that there was no snow on the ground at the beginning of the week. Just the dreary brown, grey and beige of mid-winter. I am so over this winter thing and ready for spring to SPRING!
It hasn’t all been bad. Despite the winter blahs I have been able to keep up with my exercise routine and although the scale looks the same I do feel and see some effects of the effort taking effect. That has to be a good thing, right?
Of course, my sloth has meant a certain neglect for my blog as well. Reading and writing have taken a back seat to vegetating on the couch and binging TV that I probably wouldn’t watch otherwise. A problem compounded by the fact that I end up staying up until one, two, and three in the morning and then waking up at seven again to get the rugrat ready for school. Certainly a subtle form of self-destructive behaviour.
It may not be the most exciting week in review but here goes…
The Dream, a work of speculative fiction written by Paula at Light Motifs II that would make a great starting point for a longer story. I would like to see where the story takes Odwin.
The Funny Farm | Bitchin’ Chickens | I’ve been wanting my own chicken coop for some time but space and my wife have put a damper on any such ventures so I’ve come to follow this blog to get my chicken fix. If only it came with fresh eggs each morning!
Out of January and into the bleak mid-winter, let’s see if the groundhog brings us a February present. Here’s what to look at Greg’s Blog this coming week…
Look for another Five Word Weekly on Monday and the launch of Four Line Fiction on Thursday. #GB4LF is a weekly photo prompt challenge and I hope everyone finds time to participate. In addition look for T-Shirt Wisdom (now moved to Wednesday) and Part 11 of the Revenge Series.
Do you write directly on a device? Are you old school, do you write on paper first?
While the process is the same I don’t always use the same input method. That said, pen, paper and any notion of old-school writing being romantic is long a thing of the past. The only thing writing on paper ensures is dead trees. I know they were dead before I started but I tend to edit and re-edit while still writing and that means a lot of crumple, toss, re-write, rinse and repeat.
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Writing electronically is much more forgiving. For example, this thought sounds better in sentence six – go back and edit sentence two immediately before I forget. It is so much easier to edit electronically and paper is so much more majestic and relaxing in its natural state.
I still prefer the computer over my phone but have become more cognizant of the fact most readers are using their mobile devices so I find I’m checking formatting, image placement and aesthetics all the time.
I use several applications for writing drafts including Word, OneNote, Google Keep (especially for jotting down ideas), and the native WordPress editor. They all have advantages and disadvantages. For example, Word is excellent for writing challenges that have word counts attached. The count is always visible in the bottom right of the screen.
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More and more I find myself using Google’s voice capture technology to write first drafts. It is quicker and easier to get initial thoughts down on electronic paper than typing but does bring back some of the pitfalls of pen and paper if you want to edit. Plus I find myself sounding like Victor Borge’s phonetic punctuation skit.
Do you re-draft? If so, how many times?
It depends but I do tend to get into the weeds when I re-draft, agonizing over the small stuff and rewriting over and over. Thank God for the undo and/or redo buttons on most editors. Editing ends up eating up a lot of time and effort.
The one thing I do have to watch for is my habit of dropping the d and s from words that should be past tense or plural. I read and re-read to make sure I have them right. It used to be I’d have to wait until the next day to re-read the piece and catch them but I have gotten better over time. Plus MS Word and Grammarly are very good at catching those types of spelling and grammar problems.
What is your method? I would love to know.
From above it seems my method is all over the map. It’s not really though. The process generally follows the same patterns – inspiration, write, revise and re-write as necessary + a few more times for good measure, and finally publish – regardless of the methods used to record it.
As darkness fell away and the chamber’s light exposed her, it became evident this was no ordinary woman. Hair as red as fire framed her florid face. Green eyes revealing glimpses of anger and sadness as she peered back at the beast. She was adept at shielding those emotions, but It could reach into her soul.
She moved gracefully, despite an underlying fear. Where others burst forth stammering loquaciously, her approach was careful, reserved.
The beast would listen, but it wouldn’t matter. It was already bound to her.
Welcome to Five Word Weekly. Each Monday, I will post five random words to Greg’s Blog at 5:00am Eastern Time (Canada/United States). Your task is to craft prose or poetry using any or all of the word prompts. How you participate is entirely up to you. Your work(s) can be a single piece, a series of stand-alone projects, or an epic serial. Let the words be the inspiration that takes you wherever your imagination leads.
Here are your prompt words for the week of January 23rd, 2023:
Be creative and have fun. I look forward to reading what each of you conjures up. Don’t forget to show your fellow bloggers some love -❤️- take some time to read, like, and comment on their responses.
Greg's Blog 