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Weekly Contest #181
Ain’t No Mountain HIgh Enough… There once was a girl called Lydia. She was pretty and sweet, but not the prettiest and sweetest. She was smart and clever, but not the smartest or most clever. She never won awards for her work in class. She was fit and active, and loved being outside, but she never excelled and got blue ribbons at contests…she preferred to just challenge herself. In fact, Lydia was quite content in her own little world; it was a beautiful place. She dreamed of mountains, and seas, and blue skies and birds that she chatted...
Weekly Contest #178
Mr Grumpy “Oh, it must be THAT time of year again!! Gus said, then flicked his tail twice in the direction of his humans moving about large boxes from the loft. These boxes always smelled funny…of mice he wasn’t able to chase, and moisture he didn’t run in. The boxes come down, and the humans start moving around brightly coloured ornaments…or that’s what the call them. Shiny things Gus used to like to play with when her was younger. The balls he was so found of batting around, until one broke and hurt his paw. The yards of tinsel he like...
Weekly Contest #121
Start your story with someone saying “Thanks a lot” (sarcastically or sincerely). “Thanks a lot but no thanks to harangue, meringue and pass the marmalade” I said to myself as a child whilst my mom was stressing out cooking Thanksgiving dinner...although I would coin the latter part of that phrase years later. What I meant was the family headache that is Thanksgiving...I hated it! I didn’t care for the food, or at least the bland way my mother prepared it, nor the relatives, or the shear stress you could cut with an electric carving knif...
Weekly Contest #106
Write a story about a character who’s secretly nobility. Anna always knew she was different. She was raised in the 1970’s, but more more like the 1870’s, on how to be a Lady. Embroider samples, be musical, be graceful, hold your tea daintily, speak softly, walk with books on your head...ah yes, all important things for a girl to learn during the burgeoning feminist era that was the backdrop of her otherwise upper middle class upbringing in America. Anna dreamed of castles, and made her mother pull the car over for anything she perceive...
Weekly Contest #96
Write about someone welcoming a stranger into their home. The hearth was polished and a warm, friendly glow came from the ambers below. The guest house, joined with the family dwellings at the farm, had been aired and scrubbed in anticipation of the new family moving in to help around the farm. The experienced farm hand was in his 50’s, and always wore a flat cap and characteristic tweeds, as were popular in the rural Yorkshire area, like right out of a movie.He was a stranger and only known by the CV he sent, so they knew nothing ...
Weekly Contest #95
Start your story with someone being presented with a dilemma. On that first Tuesday in March, all Lisa could do is lay in bed and sob. She had two terrible blows in 24 hours; the first was her partner was pulling away, yet again, and the other was her visa, that she had sacrificed everything to be with him, was rejected. The former, she could have the patience to deal with, but this time they had never been happier, and to pull away now just gutted her. The latter, she only had days to respond and react to the rejection letter on her vis...
Weekly Contest #93
Write your story about two characters tidying up after a party. You never knew what to expect during one of these parties, but you knew Buffet Laura would be there, and to expect the unexpected. This was a small town full of eccentrics, and Buffet Laura was sure to be anywhere that free food was available, and stick her hands in everything. Although wiser from the past few events she had thrown, Pat had several of her colleagues watch BL and give her the food rather than let her serve it, yet she still managed to get into the recycling...
Weekly Contest #91
Library, week 22 Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse. It was the book that would change her life; something she didn’t even know existed, yet it was a Holy Grail that would change the course of everything. Beth had always been a bit of an Anglophile; watched the Royal Weddings like others viewed the Super Bowl, dressed like Princess Diana in the 80’s when her peers tried to copy Madonna, and preferred tea from a proper cup and saucer since she had her own tea ...
Weekly Contest #86
Start your story with one character pointing out the first sign of spring to another. “Look at those amazing cherry blossoms!” Rachel remarked to her daughter, Emily. It was only early February in Seattle, so it was quite a surprise to find them and a bit of sun on this auspicious moving day. This day was special to both of them; Emily was starting college, and she was the only one of her three children that Rachel was able to enjoy this milestone with. Custody battles, parental interference [aka kidnapping] and moves back and forth acro...
Weekly Contest #73
Write about a drummer going to a holiday party for musicians. Lee wasn’t your typical drummer. A talented singer and dancer, her abilities were more suited for Broadway in musical theatre than heavy metal. So, she became more of a Karen Carpenter type drummer rather than Neil Peart; slim, graceful, with a velvety rich voice. The fact that she played drums at all was a bit of a lark. She had met Lyle in college, who was much older and a rock musician; she sang and needed to pick up an instrument, and her dancers training made her have n...
Weekly Contest #72
Write a romance where your character falls in love with the last person they expected to. Theirs was a most unusual romance and two people that no one would have put together in the first place. Lydia was a ‘good girl’; well brought up, educated, never in trouble, went to church every Sunday with her kids and always tried to do the right thing. Eugene was a ‘bad boy’; was in trouble even in school, started using drugs and alcohol young, had many children by many different mothers at a tender age, and although he tried to be good always...
Weekly Contest #71
Write about someone trying to recreate a grandparent’s signature baked good from memory. Now, I’ve never been much of a baker. I’m great at reverse engineering fancy food I try at a fine restaurant, or throwing together this and that and creating haute cuisine. But baking requires following directions, something my Leo personality doesn’t like to do. My fire sign always thinks we know better! But as a child, there are pictures of me standing on a chair, helping my mom bake. The way my mother showed love was through cooking, and my gran...
Weekly Contest #70
Write about someone who’s so obsessed with a goal that it leads to the destruction of their closest relationship. I was trying to go to sleep, but something kept nagging me about this pandemic and how it was Enough. This is my experience, but feel free to share yours. For me, it is no matter how carefully I budget my food, right down to the last carrot and rice packet, after not working for so long...I am never full enough. And no matter how carefully I budget my medications, and Lord knows I can't afford to get drunk enough...I can ne...
Weekly Contest #69
Write about a family’s first holiday after a parent has gotten remarried, and now there are new faces at the table and new traditions to be honored. Carrie was a worker bee that would have rather been Queen Bee. She worked hard all her adult life, working several jobs at one time to raise her three terrific kids. She was raised to be much more; her parents gave her the best of everything, but she married and had kids young and divorced it seemed even younger. Glad for her ability to teach ballet and sell the odd painting, Carrie had to tak...
Weekly Contest #68
Start your story with the line, “It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same,” and end it with, “[…] and that was all that mattered.” It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Being a small-town American girl was something Lillian wanted to forget. In looking around the room of this 25 year reunion, she was clearly the only one that felt that way; same couples, same hairstyles, same lives and the new breath of desperation in the air was ...
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