Inventory of prompts I write to

Posted on June 2, 2018 by Michael

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Below in response to Kate’s request is a list of the prompts I frequent.

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie

The links are to the most recent prompts: The times are Australian time when I receive them.

Sunday: Sunday Writing Prompt

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/sunday-writing-prompt-select-a-heading/

This prompt can range from the type shown or it can be based on an image, or a statement, it varies from week to week. There no word limits and you can use any form you like, poetry or prose.

 

Monday: Wordle

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/wordle-198-wordle-mlmm-amwriting/

This is a great challenge as there are twelve words or phrases and you are invited to compose a story or poem using ten of the words. There are no word limits.

 

Tuesday: Photo Challenge

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/photo-challenge-216/

Each Tuesday a new image is presented for you to write a story or poem to. No word limit.

Wednesday: Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille

For all haiku lovers this challenge has a variety of challenges within the haiku format.

 

Thursday: Tale Weaver

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/tale-weaver-173-may-31st-days-of-old/

This challenge can be a straightforward writing challenge, like tell a story, or some weeks there is a nonsense word or phrase put up for you to interpret in any way you feel is correct. Also once a month there is a fairy tale prompt.

Friday: Music challenge or First Line Friday

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/music-challenge-29-the-nights-by-avicci-musicchallenge-amwriting-mlmm/

or on alternate weeks

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/first-line-friday-may-25th-2018/

Music challenge is write a story or poem based on the song that is presented.

First Line Friday is a continue the story exercise.

Saturday: Saturday Mix

https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/saturday-mix-opposing-forces-26-may-2018/

In this challenge there are a variety of challenges each week.

1 Using words opposite in meaning in a story

2 Using words that sound the same in story but are often different in meaning, eg, birth and berth

3 Writing a story and NOT using certain listed words.

 

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge.

https://carrotranch.com/2018/05/31/may-31-flash-fiction-challenge/

This arrives on Thursdays for me and it is always a fascinating challenge.

There is a 99 word limit, no more no less and I find it the 99 words a real challenge.

 

Thursday photo prompt:  #writephoto

Thursday photo prompt: Conflagration #writephoto

Each Thursday Sue Vincent posts a photo of her own and invites us to compose a story or poem from our reaction to it. They are great photos and generate a great variety of responses.

 

50 Word Thursday

https://debbiewhittam.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/50-word-thursday-3/

This is a new challenge that Deb Whittam has begun and as it states write 50 word stories. A challenge in itself.

 

Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner

https://flashfictionforthepracticalpractitioner.wordpress.com/

This is a challenge which comes out on Wednesdays. It is a photo based challenge. Stories are asked to be limited to 200 words.

 

In Other Words

https://patriciasplace.me/2018/05/30/in-other-words-noisy/

In this challenge you are asked to use five sentences/lines to write a story using the word Patricia has chosen that week.

 

100 Word Wednesday

https://bikurgurl.com/2018/05/30/100-word-wednesday-week-73/

This is another flash fiction challenge which is photo based.

 

Twittering Tales

https://katmyrman.com/2018/05/29/twittering-tales-86-29-may-2018/

In this task you have 280 characters to write your story. There is an online character counter you can use, the link to it is on Kat’s blog.

 

Weekend Writing Prompt

https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/weekend-writing-prompt-56-erosion/

This challenge has changed into a series of interesting challenges and each week Sammi sets different word limit to the task.

 

Reena’s Exploration Challenge

https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/reenas-exploration-challenge-week-39/

This is an excellent challenge in that it is very challenging. Each weekend Reena presents us with a challenge that usually has me sitting and thinking as to how best to answer it. Some people write poetic responses, some in prose form.

No word limits.

 

Time to Write

https://rachelpoli.com/2018/06/01/time-to-write-sentence-starter-35-creative-writing-prompt/

This prompt has different tasks each week. Sometimes its to start a story with a given sentence, sometimes using a word she nominates, this past month being mystery month all the prompts have been shaped in that way.

 

Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers 

https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/2018/05/07/fffaw-challenge-166th/

This is a weekly challenge based on a submitted photograph. Currently it is on a two week holiday.

JOELLE’S TALES: FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH #TMAT120 #WRITING

https://rantingalong.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/joelles-tales-first-thursday-of-the-month-tmat120-writing-prompt-for-may-2018/

This task comes out at the start of each month, it’s a fun challenge as Joelle likes to ask personal questions. 120 words is the limit.

 

Linda Gill – The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS

https://lindaghill.com/2018/06/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-2-18/

Each week Linda gives us one or two words to write to in a Stream of Conscious form.

 

D’verse – Poetry Blog

https://dversepoets.com/2018/05/31/openlinknight-221/

D’verse Poetry Blog offers a range of poetry prompts each week as well as an open link night where you can post any poetic endeavour. They have also published a few poetry anthologies from participants contributions.

 

 

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May 31: Flash Fiction Challenge – Woman Warrior

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Michael

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May 31, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about warrior women. It can be myth or everyday mothers and wives. Go where the prompt leads.

She’s old now. Her life draws to an end, but the warrior lives within her. Once a victim of rape and incest, she dedicated her life as an advocate for others.

Hours as a parent rescuing a wayward daughter, suffering estrangement but death reunited mother and daughter. She never gave up, she was a rock her child could always lean on, never dreaming she might one day bury her.

True warriors are a source of inspiration to so many, her voice in a wilderness of indifference.

She sits and holds the image of a beautiful child she couldn’t save.

 

Written for: https://carrotranch.com/2018/05/31/may-31-flash-fiction-challenge/

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Thursday photo prompt: Conflagration #writephoto

Posted on June 1, 2018 by Michael

conflagration

The tree dwellers were the first to notice.

They could smell it’s coming on the breeze.

The whisper went about, ‘Con, con, con’!

The word was passed on; flight became the order of the day.

The evacuation began. The tiny creatures that inhabited the depths of the trees hearing the call to flee knew they had to move. Past experience told them this was not something to ignore. Do so at your own demise.

The exodus was under way as the tree dwellers, the ones with wings, watched to the west, as the glow grew ever closer.

They swung from tree to tree urging haste, no time for dilly-dallying, it was now or never for some.

Possum mother and her young clinging to her back scurried down their tree and scampered across the ground only to be picked up by an eagle who at first saw dinner but then saw rescue as paramount. He flew the possum family to a safe place and looked back at the nearing glow.

The tree dwellers could by now hear the trees explode as the fire drew near, the heat and smoke now so intense they flew to safety sure they had moved everyone on.

The conflagration moved inexorably on, stripping and levelling everything in its path.

The next day a skeleton of what was once their home remained, smouldering in places but cooling and as time passed the first signs of regrowth felt strong enough to emerge.

 

Written for: https://scvincent.com/2018/05/31/thursday-photo-prompt-conflagration-writephoto/

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Tale Weaver – #173 – May 31st – Days Of Old – Mrs Dustler

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Michael

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Mrs Dustler was old. She lived two doors from me, and everything about her was old.

Her house was old, the external walls often appeared to be pleading for repair, a coat of paint, and the gutters were rusted and when it rained the house had more waterfalls than it should have. Her yard was overgrown, the gardens had grown beyond her care, and all that remained of her front path was a tiny meandering track between the invading shrubs.

Her once grey hair was now white, her skin wrinkled and her rotund and stooped shape waddled when forced to move. For a small woman, she had beautifully long thin fingers, her nails always manicured as if it was through them she clung to vestiges of youth. My mother told me Mrs Dustler had been a milliner as a young woman, which explained Mrs Dustler’s penchant for wearing elaborate hats when she ventured out.

She did so on Tuesday’s when she did her shopping. She’d shuffle off down the street, her hat often of a pink hue with wide brim held in place by giant hatpins and dragging her shopping cart behind her.

Time never seemed an issue to her as she could have caught the bus, and there was community transport, but she preferred to walk. There were places along the way she wanted to stop and look at, the residences of past friends, houses she had once frequented and now occupied by strangers.

All she required each week she could buy at the Goodways store owned by the same family for several generations and who knew Mrs Dustler as a good and loyal customer. Firstly she’d stop into the bank and draw out her shopping money, she had no need of plastic money, and ATM’s in her opinion were complicating what was a simple business.

The Goodways people always packed her shopping cart, made sure it was secure before watching her wriggle her way out the door and disappear towards home.

Her journey home was always slower with a loaded cart. But that meant she had longer to look around, take in the changes she observed in the neighbourhood, and pass the time with anyone she saw in their front garden.

Once home she’d pack everything away, she had invested in a small refrigerator her concession to progress but only after the iceman announced he was delivering any longer. She didn’t believe in microwaves and still ran a fuel stove, chopping and splitting her own firewood.

As a small boy, I visited her a lot. We’d sit in her garden on a bench seat watching the day go by. She always had a piece of straight wire nearby; it was to kill any snake that dared come into her garden. I never saw one, but she’d assure me they were there and she was ready for them.

She had scrapbooks of the floods that had devastated our town in the 1950s, with photographs of the water up behind our houses and stories of the dreaded snakes hiding under the floorboards.

If I asked her for anything, I had to spell the word, like if I wanted a sandwich, I had to spell bread. Mrs Dustler taught me a lot of spelling along with a heap of other stuff.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/tale-weaver-173-may-31st-days-of-old/

 

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50 Word Thursday #3 – The Cat.

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Michael

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“You had to take your shoes off when you went in and you weren’t allowed to jump on the furniture or tease the cat.”

The cat was on the roof, behind the bougainvillea. Despite all the coaxing, it made it clear it wouldn’t take its shoes off and considered the house cat a huge sissy and needed a reality check.

So the standoff continued with the house cat happily purring on the chaise lounge.

 

Written for: https://debbiewhittam.wordpress.com/2018/05/31/50-word-thursday-3/

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FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER- 2018 WEEK #22

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Michael

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Image: MorgueFile April b5afa0fad12c0fc6b1d0bf8cc983d6e4

Our tour guide Roger had arranged a walking tour of the town of Morgue. Parts of the township dated back into medieval times and on occasion my aged companion Joyce made comment of the fact.

The cobblestone paths and roadways irritated her, as they were not conducive to her walking. Joyce was a flat road sort of girl, negotiating the undulations of the cobblestone pathways was not her idea of a walking tour.

But she pushed on. In one of the old streets, we passed the Morgue House of Leather and waited as an old man left smelling of leather and tanning agents.

Roger, always a font of information, informed us that in medieval times the best way to treat an animal’s hide was to soak it in urine and people known as fullers would walk up and down on it for several hours.

Joyce remarked she once dated a fellow called Fuller, and there had been a smell about him.

I was keen to see their wares, and so I went in and came out thirty minutes later my wallet somewhat lighter, but with a very attractive leather coat, Joyce thought made me look years younger.

 

 

Written for: https://flashfictionforthepracticalpractitioner.wordpress.com/2018/05/30/flash-fiction-for-the-purposeful-practitioner-2018-week-22/

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In Other Words, noisy…

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Michael

in-other-words1

Noisy.

I live on a busy road and where noisy is constant.

At 2am it’s quiet as if every vehicle is locked away and sound asleep.

I don’t hear the traffic so much, but my friend who wants to visit says it would bother her.

It’s a fact of life around here, traffic makes noise.

I tell my friend, I would be with her and hopefully take away the noisy.

 

Written for: https://patriciasplace.me/2018/05/30/in-other-words-noisy/

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Envy: Ernest Winston-Jones Part 4

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Michael

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Image: Envy © by Iza-nagi

Ernest breathed a sigh of relief that afternoon as he sat in his car at the end of a day that had been far harder than he imagined.

He hurriedly removed his badge and stuck it in his top pocket. Being ‘Ernie’ was going to take some time and several times during the day he realised people were addressing him and he’d failed to respond.

Initially, he thought: How hard is it to sell paint?

What he hadn’t reckoned on was dealing with people.

In his past business, he had dealt with people who had money and most had some intelligence. At the paint counter, he was confronted with people who couldn’t choose which shade of white they wanted, had no idea of applying paint, didn’t know the difference between sheen and flat paint and were more than happy for him to make their decisions.

As it was, he still didn’t know the location of other areas of the store and often had to consult his shop guide to point customers in the right direction, though one man had returned to tell him his directions sucked.

On top of all that, he had been on his feet all day, and his lunch break was only thirty minutes. Sitting in the car was a relief, his feet hurt, his back ached, and he was feeling very hungry.

Now there was going home to a wife who held him in contempt. Vera had stopped cooking him dinner, preferring to make her own and leave him to his own devices. His limited knowledge of the kitchen had led him to finding every takeaway shop within the suburb.

His mind drifted to his workdays when his secretary, Madison had been a warm and vibrant companion at the end of a long day.

They sort of fell into each other. At least so Ernest thought.

Madison was affectionate, enjoyed spending time with him. She flattered his ego in ways Vera had once but no longer. While he had needs, it appeared to him Vera didn’t.

They hadn’t had sex in years and apart from snuggling up to him on a cold winters morning, Vera had been content to leave their affection to those few moments.

Madison satisfied his physical needs.

In the office, she flirted with him during the day, accepted his gifts and never backed away from his offers of going away with him on ‘business’ trips.

That was until he ran into trouble. Once it became clear he was not going to provide for her in the financial ways he had she was gone. Left him a curt note of resignation, disappeared and completely cut him out of her life.

He sat and reflected on all that had been. In his mind, the voice of his mother echoed the old phrase: “There’s no fool like an old fool.”

He had made his bed, and now he had to lie in it.

If you wish to read the earlier parts of this story, look on my blog page, there is a page heading ENVY and all the previous parts can be found there.

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100 Word Wednesday: Week 73 – Fishing.

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Michael

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Dad loved to go fishing. On holiday he’d row an old wooden boat out to a fishing hole he thought would bring him a big catch.

He’d sling an old hessian bag over the side to keep the fish alive until cleaning time.

We caught heaps that day and dad dropped each one into the bag.

When we finished he drew in the bag and discovered a hole in it and only two fish still there. His disappointment was obvious. But he laughed it off saying the fish he caught swam out of the bag and back onto his hook.

 

Written for: https://bikurgurl.com/2018/05/30/100-word-wednesday-week-73/

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Twittering Tales #86 – 29 May 2018

Posted on May 29, 2018 by Michael

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Photo by Alistair MacRobert via Unsplash.com.

The view from the window was his break from the screaming words stuck in his head and craving to be on the page.
There were words he skipped over, some crawled away from his soul still clinging to him.
Refusing the let go he knew sitting with them was better than fighting them off.

(280 characters)

Written for: https://katmyrman.com/2018/05/29/twittering-tales-86-29-may-2018/

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