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Category: Writing Prompts
I found some topics on Pinterest grouped monthly. Thought I’d give it a whirl.
Well, that’s a loaded question. I suppose, to put it simply, just the rest of my life. 2019 was hard. It wasn’t awful, it was a sight better than 2018. I got to do quite a bit of traveling and spent some time in my favorite places. I always look forward to seeing new places; I have a vacation scheduled for Outer Banks. I’m also hoping to visit Graceland and see the ducks at the Peabody and stroll down Beale. We’ll see. I hope to eat some fine food and meet interesting, engaging people. I want to spend time in the company of those who make me laugh so hard my sides ache the next day. I want to reflect on how far I’ve come. I want work to be fulfilling, and I want to see conservation practices making a difference. I want the hellbenders to flourish. I desire love. I want to be happy. I need to feel content. I want the same thing everybody wants. I want to be appreciated and cherished. This one was short and sweet, like me…
Get comfy. I’m a travelin’ son of a gun. This could also be a compilation of all my sunburns. I think I get a sunburn everywhere I go. I have never understood people who take the same vacation year after year. There are 3,797,000 square miles in America. Better hurry. Of course when I started this, I was just remembering all the big, noteworthy trips. The more I wrote, the more I remembered. #1) Charleston, West Virginia. Saw the capital. Not sure why we were there. I remember the tolls. I went with my Grandmother, mom, and I think maybe Aunt Bren. #2) Nashville TN. Many times. Various reasons. Rode out there and back with Meg one evening to get a pair of blue jeans. Everybody said we were crazy. They weren’t wrong. Many, many trips for the Co-op for buying shows and conferences. Skeeter took me just to occupy my mind one May Day in 2001 🙂 40th birthday party for Lisa at the Opryland Hotel was a crap ton of fun. Last trip was the best one, though- brewery bounce with my bestie 🙂 #3) Akron, Ohio. Believe it or not, I have relatives in Yankeeland. Saw the Goodyear plant, where my great-grandfather once worked and his brother still did at the time (late 80’s). Jumped into the most perfectly made-up beautiful four poster bed of all time, embarrassing my mom & grandmother to no end. I’…
Like, restaurant? Or locale? Or city? I don’t know, and it seems unfair to only list one, so I’ll do three. Place to eat: Aubrey’s. Good food, drinks, and atmosphere. I always have a good time, no matter what time of day or who I’m with. I used to frequent the one off Papermill nearly every Tuesday afternoon, meeting a friend for $2 pints. Eventually, I transitioned to the one at Strawberry Plains due to traffic and I was kind of outgrowing the bar scene. Now I have one in my worktown! Lunch spot!! The food is excellent, with emphasis on local meats and produce. The ambiance is warm and it the restaurant is clean. The waiters are attentive and friendly, the TVs are always set on something of interest (as if I actually watch them), and the bartenders have never let me go dry. They will even mix you up something special if you don’t see anything to your fancy on the menu or you’re feeling adventurous. Locale: I really like the Apple Barn. Especially now that they have a brewery. I always feel right at home. It’s so homey & cozy, and I’ve bought several decorative items in the barn. The best thing about the restaurant, besides the creaking, gleaming, burnished yellow pine floors, is the apple fritters. Gah. I can taste them now and my mouth is watering. There aren’…
#1) A song you like with a color in the title: Blue on Black Kenny Wayne Shepherd #2) A song you like with a number in the title: 9 to 5, Dolly Parton (clackety clackety clack clack clack) #3) A song that reminds you of summertime: Cruel Summer, Bananarama #4) A song that reminds you of someone you would rather forget about: Cheatin’, Sara Evans 🙂 #5) A song that needs to be played LOUD: Kryptonite, Three Doors Down #6) A song that makes you want to dance: Candyman, Christina Aquilera #7) A song to drive to: Nightrain, GNR #8) A song about drugs or alcohol (Aren’t they all?): Semi Charmed Life, Third Eye Blind…which I didn’t KNOW was a song about drugs until about ten years after the fact….so naive #9) A song that makes you happy: My Church Maren Morris #10) A song that makes you sad: I Can Still Make Cheyenne by George Strait #11) A song that you never get tired of: Wagonwheel, Old Crow Medicine Show #12) A song from your preteen years: Enter Sandman, Metallica #13) One of your favorite 80’s songs: No question. Billie Jean, by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson #14) A song that you would love played at your wedding: Long Legged Guitar Pickin’ Man….what? Did you expect something romantic? You know me but not at all #15) A song that is a cover by another artist…
Nothing was going as planned. If you know me, you’re probably surprised to learn I even HAVE a plan. I admit, my plan normally never stretches further than what I will be consuming for my three meals that day. But I sometimes will plan vacations months in advance, especially if it’s a new destination. I don’t want to miss anything in the event I can never return, so I like to have all my high points mapped and time allocated to enjoy them. I have enough to plan for in the course of a month between board meetings and bills, I don’t like to have to commit to much in between. I plan to go to bed between 10-11. I plan to get up by 6:30. I plan to stay at work until 4. You know. Plans. Plus all the plans I have for cleaning, writing, reading, watching TV, exercising. When you think about it, you’ve got your whole life planned out in this manner. If you’re married, you plan to see it through, growing old on a porch swing, watching your grandchildren frolic in the evening twilight, catching lightning bugs. Oh wait. I mean tapping on their tablet in front of your 60″ HD Smart TV. My plans rarely work out. I tend to over schedule myself and then panic halfway through my day when I’ve only accomplished the one thing. Nothing…
{WP#482. A scientist created a new animal today} Breaking: Houston, TX. Associated Press Herschel Barnes, PhD, of Bayloyre Genetics, has successfully created a new creature, a hybrid formed from a nine banded armadillo (Latin: Dasypus novemcinctus) and a black tailed jackrabbit (Latin: Lepus californicus). This is not a prank, coming from the age old play of the “jackalope”. It is unknown at this time how successful captive breeding will be, as armadillos can weigh upwards of 100 pounds, while jackrabbits are a modest seven. Dr. Barnes is reported to say, “I was just messing around, seeing what I could create. When the sperm and egg fused, it was a Friday afternoon and I didn’t go home until Monday.” They’re calling it “Armarabbit”. The creature can leap a measured 17 feet flat footed, and gains an additional twelve feet if given a running start. It rivals the Kangaroo Rat for distance in relation to body size. It features long, sinewy hind legs with two inch toenails. The front feet are largely useless, and almost completely covered with scales. The reduced ears give it more of a dinosaur appearance with tufts of hair on the underside and scales topside. We were unable to secure a picture, as the world-renowned scientist is keeping things under wraps until more is researched. It is an omnivore, preferring plants over grubworms and roadkill (this reporter does, too!). By and large nocturnal, the corporation has…
Wallyworld was closed when Chevy Chase finally managed to arrive, and so was the closest bar-be-cue joint by the time I got there. I breathed in slowly through my nose, like I was taught to do in yoga. It wasn’t the end of the world, this was a first world problem, but just what I wouldn’t do for some pulled pork and slaw. My one and only coworker had grated on my nerves all day, badmouthing our President and leaders, poking his nose in ALL of my business, pretending he knew me better than I knew myself. It’s a dang wonder I hadn’t thrown my stapler at him. On top of that, I had an appointment with my accountant after the grueling day at work. I despise doing adult things like that. If I never have to see another lawyer, doctor, or banker, that would be just fine by me. As a matter of fact, I decided on the spot, if I ever hit the lottery, they’d be the first people I’d do away with. As quick as I could get me a financial adviser nailed down (Monte B, I’m looking at you), the next person I’d hire would be someone to manage my other business. I would never have to schedule another appointment or ask questions about my money. I could literally just drift along on the high seas from the…
{#907 You are the main attraction at an old timey carnival side show} I was born a siren eighty miles off the coast of the Emerald Isle. The waters were cold, but my beauty was a flame that kept me warm. I swam wherever I wanted, only mindful of the big wooden ships steaming out for America every day. I batted my tail up sometimes, quick as a hiccup, making the sailors wonder if they saw anything at all. Maybe it was just the glimmer of the sun on the water. Maybe they missed their girl already. I dreamed of having sparkling jewelry made of diamonds and sapphires, not these devoid of color pearls. I wanted legs to dance on. I wanted a life on land. There was one way to obtain it. I could trade my fin forever by luring a man to his death. Girls did it all the time, we were known to be mesmerizing. And we would possess the same beauty on land as we did in the sea, just without our giant, beautiful tail to propel us along. We would be known as vixens. It would be easy enough: wait for a foggy night with a still sea, begin my enchantment by singing my siren song, beckon them closer, closer, until his eyes go gooey with lust, and then catapult out of the water like I was going in for just a kiss but really going for his heart. Or his legs, be that as…
{#378 They say revenge is a dish best served cold. You’ve waited ten years for this moment} The following is a work of fiction. I’ve always said fiction has a good dose of fact, mixed with some fantasy. I’ll let you determine what’s what. Enjoy! I come from a long line of rage. My lawyers tried to get me off on a insanity plea, but I told them like I told everybody else in that courtroom I wasn’t crazy and I damn sure wasn’t sorry. I don’t think that helped my case. But I’ve been taught my whole life there’s nothing wrong with the truth. I’ve also been told on numerous occasions to keep my mouth shut. I’d had all I could take. The literal love of my life expected sympathy for his foolish decisions to take a lover that has bankrupted him. That’s after what I got. I didn’t feel any sympathy, I felt a maniacal fury towards him and the last ten years of my life. I’d warned him over and over again to just shut up. My head pounded, my teeth chattered, my hands clenched. When he reached for me, I scuttled backward like a crawdad. Crawdads aren’t scared, you know. It’s just self preservation. They will fight. They will pinch you seventeen ways to…
This is an old story, one I have held off on publishing. I had originally called it “But”, however when I came to this writing prompt, it was a perfect fit. He never laid a hand on me. It’s been ten years, but the memory of him still breaks me out in a sweat. When he meets people and finds out they know me, I’m brushed off with a, “Oh, we went out a few times.” I lived with him for two years. We traveled the continent together. We talked nearly every day for over six years. I loved him, because he made me. Because I didn’t know any better. I thought the constant struggle for air was a form of love. This story is nearly impossible to write. I’ve had him out of my head for quite awhile, until a month or so ago, when in walked the director for the Women’s Center in Jefferson County. I try to make conversation while plugging in information on the QuickBooks invoice because it makes people feel more comfortable and it makes time go faster. There ain’t nothin’ quick about QuickBooks. She was so confident in her mannerisms, just the way she carried herself and the way she spoke. She was approachable but businesslike and I found myself confiding in her. “So what does your organization do? Provide shelter to women coming from domestic…
