HALLOWEEN 2016

It's time for a Halloween Writing Prompt

As per my usual, this is an image selected to give the most tantalizing inspiration.

This image is inspiring to me and I hope it is for you as well.  Here is what I wrote.
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She hung on his every word.  Watching him in the candle light as he recounted the tale of the ghostly form that haunted the old house they lived in.  Never once was she afraid as he spoke, until the end of the story when there was a sudden thump from overhead.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“That? Oh, never mind about that.”  Her father said calmly. 

Meanwhile, she started to shiver a bit and wrapped her arms around her body.  

"Now, you're not scared are you?  There's nothing to fear.  It's just a story and I doubt if it's even true." He said trying to calm her.  But, she was not calm.  Something inside her now knew the truth.  

Leaving her in the shadowy room, her father walked to the kitchen.  Alone now, her imagination took a hold of her.  She began to believe in the story her father told. 

In bed that evening, she lay in the dark, listening to the quiet.  Every noise, no matter how low, no matter how insignificant, fed her imagination. Pictures of unknown evil invaded her mind, voices rang in her head, smells and sounds now confronted her reality.  

A voice spoke.  Was it real? Was it in her mind?  She couldn't tell.  

"Come to me child." The voice called.  It sounded distant and weak.

"Come and find me."  It said, stronger now.

As though in a trance, she rose from her bed and dressed.  Outside, the night air was warm and humid against her bare skin.  The full moon lit up the landscape and glowed in the few leaves still clinging to bare branches. 

She walked.  Barely aware of her surroundings, she walked.  With no understanding of what she was doing, she walked.  Her eyes were open, but saw nothing. 

"I'm here!" The voice cried.

"You have found me!"

She stopped.  She stopped and stood.  She stood  waiting, waiting for someone, something.  There in the moonlight, staring straight ahead, without moving, she stood.

Her only sensation was the cold she felt as the shiver went up and down her spine and the night drew close around her. 

In the morning, her father called her down for breakfast.  He received no answer.  She would never answer him again.

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Despite being pretty busy with non-writing things right now, I do still find enjoyment in writing practice.  Lately, I've been writing stories about my childhood.  These little snippets of stories are fun to put together and are good practice for writing stories about other members of my family.  

Perhaps I'll share some of these with you in the near future. 

So what would you write if inspired by the above image?  I'd love to share your writing.  Please leave a comment.

Happy Halloween!

First Day of Fall Birthday Writing Prompt

So, the convergence of things today makes it extra special for me.  It's the uncommon occasion when my birthday is on the First Day of Fall.  I woke to a wonderful breakfast with my daughter and we watched a special episode of a favorite show together before I left for work.  Then I decided to write something and found this writing prompt picture online.  Below is my short piece inspired by these two young fishermen.

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“Aww do I have to get up?!” moaned Dave as he hunkered further under his covers.  Only the glow of the digital clock illuminated the room. 

“Yes!” Jason implored as he shook Dave’s shoulder.  “It’s Mom’s birthday and we’re making dinner, remember?!”  Jason stood back as Dave finally peeked out from the covers voluntarily.

“This is the best time to fish. If we wait, they’ll all have swum away.  Now get up!”  Turning on his heel, Jason left the room.

Dave swung his feet over the side of his bed and reached for his pants.  Pulling them on he stood up and fastened them.  Wrestling a shirt over his head, he finished dressing by the backdoor where Jason stood waiting, tapping his foot. 

Down at the river, the sun was barely a glow on the horizon when they threw in their lines.  Now they wait.  And wait they did.  It seemed like forever ‘til one of them got a bite. 

“It’s as if they know how important this is and they’re not going to bite!” Dave exclaimed painfully.  “Why does this always happen?!”

“Just relax.  They’ll bite.”  Jason said calmly as he moved his line a bit.

And who got the first bite as the sun was now fully over the horizon? Dave.  He felt a great yank that jerked him forward.  “Wow, this is a big one!”

Jason dropped his line and reached out to grab Dave’s.  They both tugged and Dave started to reel in the big fish.  They both gasped as the fish jumped fully out of the water.  The sun glistened on its scales as it arched and dove back in, wriggling and pulling.

Excited, Jason grabbed their net and took a step into the cold water.  Dave pulled a few more times and cranked the reel. 

With one fell swoop, Jason caught the fish in the net, “Woohoo!” he hollered!

“We did it! No, you did it!  This’ll feed half the town!”  Jason yelled.

Dave stood there, awestruck.  He’d never caught anything that size before.  All he could do was stand and stare, savoring the moment.  Jason pulled out his camera and took a picture of Dave.  Then he tossed the camera at Dave.

“Hey, get a picture of this.” 

The camera almost fell, but Dave caught it on the way down.  Shaking off his reverie, Dave aimed the lens at Jason and snapped a couple, then put the camera in his pocket.

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I hope you like this little ditty.  I've never fished before and that's kind of why I selected this picture as a prompt.  If you're inspired and write something out, please share it.  

Happy Fall!  Here's another lovely picture for your enjoyment or to use as another prompt.

Writing Again

I've been terribly lax in my writing of late and I apologize for that, mostly to myself.  My writing is largely for myself and I share in the hopes that it will inspire or bring some small measure of enjoyment to others.

In order to spark some degree of creation from my sore and overused brain, I looked up some new writing prompt ideas on the internet.  I found that the blog Creative-Writing-Now.com has some terrific ideas and ways of thinking about a piece which inspired me.

One of the many ideas I gleaned from my rummaging on this blog included different forms for a poem, such as instructions, a recipe and a letter.  The most intriguing of these for me was a recipe.  My brain immediately began scanning for non-food things in my life that could be the subject of a recipe.  My psyche landed on my grandmothers hands.  

This was a natural choice since my grandmother was, and still is, a big influence on me.  Although she passed away about 15 year ago, I still remember many little things about her that made me feel good and loved.  Her hands always fascinated me.  They were never still, always creating something wonderful or doing something helpful.

Here is my recipe for Bang's Hands (the story of her name shall be for another post)
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Bang’s Hands 

By Kimberly L. McClune 

September 12, 2016 

Ingredients:                                             

Heap of Kindness                  

Accumulation of Gentleness              

Plenty of Industry                   

Hours of Play 

Oodles of Comfort 

Abundance of Calm 

Measure of Healing 

Bundle of Love 

  

Directions: 

Blend the kindness and gentleness until warm. 

Stir in the industry until well learned. 

Skim play off the top for hours of fun. 

Mix in comfort to bring a smile 

Fold in the calm until steady. 

Knead in the healing and 

Garnish with Love.
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While this image is generic, it reminds me of my grandmothers hands, riddled with arthritis, as she reached out for mine.  She often took my arm while we walked and I can still feel her grip and smell her perfume.  Writing this small piece churns up an ocean of memories and images that I will gladly rifle through in an odd moment.  

What recipe could you write as a poem?  Or perhaps, you prefer to write a letter or instructions.  I strongly suggest going to Creative Writing Now and looking under IDEAS for a plethora of poem and story prompts.

I'm hoping that this recent jaunt into creativity will spur me on to more and more poems and even a story or two.  Keep writing and leave a comment, I'd like to hear from you.

Back in the Swing in Spring

It's been a terribly long time since I've had the inclination or inspiration or time to put pen to page or fingers to the keyboard for the creation of a new poem, story or other creative writing endeavor.  

Recently, I was inspired by my westward morning drive from Arvada to Louisville.  The Spring in Colorado, along the Front Range, can create a beautiful tableau for one's viewing pleasure.  A particular morning a few weeks ago was spectacular, simple and inspiration for me.

Below is my final poem that will, hopefully, provide an insight into my experience that day.

Daily Masterpiece

By Kimberly L. McClune

May 26, 2016

Springs morning, a blank canvas on the western horizon,

Emerges from the night

Revealing Nature’s daily masterpiece.

Crystal clear blue water color tints the sky

Virtually transparent,

Polished and perfect, like a sapphire.

Clean white paper, cut

As if by a child with scissors

Pasted with sticky fingers,

Creates a rim of bleached peaks.

Dirt, leaves, rocks and sticks

Mixed in a puddle

Tossed by the handful,

Make layers of mottled, hills against the paper.

This, Nature’s daily masterpiece,

Frameless and unaffected by man,

The freedom of creation.

Writing this poem reminded of how much I like a good writing prompt to inspire me to write, even if what I write turns out to be junk.  After all, don't we learn more from making mistakes?

So here's a good prompt to put a spring in your pen:

This image gives me the creeps a bit and also pulls a few good story ideas out of my lazy brain.  For instance, is this the Invisible Man's girlfriend or sister? Take a gander at this and see what ideas you come up with.  Perhaps try setting a timer and seeing what you can come up with in 15 minutes. Or share this with a friend and challenge each other to come up with a 200 word story about this image.  Another good idea is to see how many genres of writing you can use to create different written pieces about this image, a poem, a short story, a caption, a slogan for an advertisement, or even the outline for a novel.

So, keep writing.  Maybe write something from this picture prompt and make a comment to let me know what you came up with.

Have a great day!