Third Campaign Challenge – Hannah’s Tomatoes

 Campaign, Writing  31 Responses »
Oct 182011
 

It’s time for R. Harrie’s third campaign challenge and here are the rules:

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

  • that it’s morning,
  • that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
  • that the MC (main character) is bored
  • that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
  • that something surprising happens.

My piece is just under 300 words. YES! Check it out:

Hannah’s Tomatoes

Hannah sits on a bench; knees bent, feet firm on the seat. Sweat drips down the small of her back as tiny wet beads form on her upper lip. She brushes them away and breathes in the sticky air. There is a smell; familiar, but pungent. A dead rat maybe? Ah, the joys of North Avenue Beach. She coughs and unscrews the cap from her bottle. The water rushes down her throat, a short relief from the heat. Sweat drips from her hands. She presses them against her head and slicks down the loose strands of hair. She picks at a piece of skin hanging from her fingernail as a slight breeze presses against her body. He is walking towards her, the blur of a boy folded into the distance of the hazy sun. The closer he gets, the harder her heart beats. When he is near, she stands up. He paces towards her disturbing the morning dust with each step.

They walk off the concrete walkway into the sandbank. Her toes sink in. The gritty grains brush against the pads of her feet. Dirty, orange-colored mountains form along the sides of her heels.

They set their towels down and run towards the edge of the pier. She crashes into the water. Bing. The clasp of her bikini top flies open for all the world to see. Her face reddens like a tomato. Now two tomatoes are hanging out. She pulls her top shut trying to push one side of the clasp into the other, but it’s pointless. The thing is busted. With a hand across her chest, she runs from the water, leaps down, snatches the towel from the sand, and wraps it around her body. She shouldn’t have done that cannonball after all.

Thanks for reading!

I am #46 on the linky list if you feel so inclined to vote for me. You can place your vote for any of the entries at Rachael Harrie’s Third Campaigner Challenge blog post.

 

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Second Campaigner Challenge

 Campaign, Connecting, Fun, Writing  41 Responses »
Sep 222011
 

It’s time for the second campaigner challenge via Rachael Harrie’s blog.

Here are the rules:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, but the blog post should include the word “imago” in the title and also include the following words: miasma, lacuna, oscitate, and synchronicity. For an added challenge (to be included in the word count) make reference to a mirror. For a greater challenge, make your post exactly 200 words.

Here is mine:

Her Imago

A gasp of air, a beating heart, and a flushed face; these are the signs of a broken girl.

She crashed onto the floor. There was a buzzing in her head followed by silence.

They met when she was a child. She’d known him her whole life. The lacuna between them was immense and uncomfortable. Most days she would dream about the father she wanted, but today all she could focus on was the floor needing a good scrub; a hands and knees job.

She tried to ignore the past, but the miasma was too much now. It was time to go.

There were rules she had in order to keep herself sane: a sharp focus on logarithms, the latest Hollywood gossip, and exercise. They always calmed her down.

Her bedroom was a prison. She looked in the mirror and oscitated. The phone rang. It was her mother asking her to move back in. The synchronicity of events amazed her.

Tomorrow she would leave. In a few years, she would be out of her house too and under her own rule.

She crawled into bed and fell asleep counting down the days towards freedom.

Thanks for reading!

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My Show Not Tell Crusader Challenge Entry

 Chicago, Crusade, Dreams, Fun, Writing  12 Responses »
Apr 182011
 

The last Crusader challenge has fallen upon us and here it is:

Show Not Tell Crusader Challenge: In 300 words or less, write a passage (it can be an excerpt from your WIP, flash fiction, a poem, or any other writing) that shows (rather than tells) the following:

  • you’re scared and hungry
  • it’s dusk
  • you think someone is following you
  • and just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: shimmer, saccadic, substance, and salt.

Here is my entry:

Her eyes grew wide, her face hot, her heart pounding. A growl roared from her stomach. Shut up, shut up. She darted forward and stepped ever so carefully on the cracked floor. Reaching an icy brick wall, she placed her cheek next to it letting the cold sink in before licking. She cringed at the saltiness and wiped the disgusting taste from her tongue.

A boom shook the place; the vibrations ran through her body like a subwoofer. Did somebody push over a dumpster? She spun around, her foot caught. She pulled on her ankle. Rubber soles slapped the floor. She yanked it out and ran.

“Who’s there?” she screeched.

The hairs on her forearms stood up as the edge of the doorway made its way under her fingertips. She reached down. A cold, metal knob saluted her. She twisted. The door flew open. Darkness dripped from the hallway. She sprinted down the corridor; her hands shaking, her eyes saccadic. She grabbed her chest and felt around the pockets of her pants. Her inhaler was gone. There was a wheeze, a misstep, a fall. Get up dammit!

A light shimmered in the shadows. She used her last bit of energy to pounce like a panther and push.

It was dusk, but the streetlamps illuminated the downtown sky. A congested sidewalk filled with laughing tourists passed. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she rushed across the street, bumping into people along the way.

“Watch where you’re going moron.”

A smile crawled on her face. She was alive and still in Chicago. She took a deep breath. It smelled like rain on top of hot concrete.

It was the substance crazy dreams were made of.

***

The end for now.  To learn more about the Crusade, please visit: Rach Writes.

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First Crusader Challenge

 Crusade  24 Responses »
Feb 212011
 

The first challenge was posted on Rachael Harrie’s Blog. Here’s what it entailed:

The Challenge
In 300 words or less, tell us:

· one secret
· one lie
· one interesting quirk
· one annoying habit
· one of your best character traits, and
· one of your favourite things in the whole world.

The post can be in any format, including poetry (for those poets among us), but must include the random words, “bloviate,” “fuliguline,” “rabbit,” and “blade” (tee hee).

Finish your post with something along the lines of, “I may have revealed something about me that isn’t strictly true, can you guess what it is?” (this last bit isn’t included in the word count). And don’t forget to tell us the answer in your next post!

So here is mine:

Some days I feel like a fuliguline, swimming around the sea of life, darting from one edge to the next, unable to stop and enjoy the sunset. There are so many things to read and write and so many projects to take on, but not enough time to do it. I wish there were more like forty hours in a day. Those extra hours could make a huge difference. Though I wonder, where does the time go?

A few minutes here and there adds up quickly. Fortunately, I have great organizational skills and a knack for multi-tasking. I’m not trying to bloviate, but I am quite good. You will never find multiple piles of paper or magazine stacks in my abode. I can’t work if my house is a mess, so I am crazy about organization. It’s that whole clear house, clear mind thing.

Some days, I take a seat at my desk and ponder about life. If I’m lucky, my muse will come out to play. Speaking of muses, I think mine is a stylish rabbit that wears a tuxedo because he doesn’t believe in saving his good clothes for special occasions. He drinks out of a flute and collects peculiar accessories like vintage letter blade openers and old typewriters. He also has a collection of monocles for editing purposes. I’m not sure where I’d be without him.

Now some facts about me, I love candy. It is one of my most favorite things in the world. I also love talking, but often times I ramble. As you might expect, this can be rather annoying. But I’m working on just simmering down and listening. As with most things, it’s a work in progress.

And by the way, I may have revealed something about myself that isn’t true; can you guess what it is?

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Writers Link Together on Rach Writes

 Connecting, Crusade, Motivation, Writing, Writing Tools  25 Responses »
Feb 122011
 

Check out and join the: Second Writers’ Platform-Building Crusade.

Here is more about Rachael Harrie’s Crusade:

“There are so many of us out there. Aspiring authors, bloggers (whether established or beginning), industry peeps, even published authors, all of whom want to build their online platforms. We write insightful posts and articles, actively blog within the blogosphere, take part in challenges, competitions, and contests galore.

We have the passion and the drive to make it, but…we could all do with a bit of support.

So I started thinking. What if we link all these people together? What if we create a way to meet people in a similar position, people who genuinely want to help build our online platform while at the same time building theirs? People who want to pay it forward in the spirit of writerly writerness and blogging beautificity (and see it come back to them in turn).

And so my Writers’ Platform-Building Crusade was born.”

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