1. Best piece of writing advice you've ever been given?
Sit down on your ass and just write until your fingers hurt. Then write some more.
(You are no author as long as the words are still in your head, as you can do nothing with them there).
2. The first and last books you fell in love with?
Tom's Midnight Garden, a love story between a young boy and girl from a different time. Boggled my young mind, and opened up doors into the imaginative world that is literature. At age eight and a half, I was all for time travel.
Sit down on your ass and just write until your fingers hurt. Then write some more.
(You are no author as long as the words are still in your head, as you can do nothing with them there).
2. The first and last books you fell in love with?
The last one that made me fall in love was Con Riley's Seattle Stories novels, After Ben/Saving Sean/Aiden's Luck. I really can't choose one of them. It was one, long, three-book love-fest.
3. What are you listening to right now?
Linkin Park, always. Some Otherwize. At times a little Fall Out Boy. It's a writing playlist, the drums and guitars send my mind in all directions. Fabulous creativity ensues.
4. If you could be a superhero, what would your super power be?
The MagicWordGeek, in a leotarded letterman-jacket, of course (Yes, I just made her up). My superpower is to magically know every word of the next blockbuster novel. And then I would write it first, in double speed. I'm mightily impatient, and always in need of instant gratification.
5. Suppose you could travel to any place in time and history. When and where are you going?
To the Italian 1500s, to Florence to pick up Leonardo and bring him here to go flying in an ultra light plane, then with a delta wing, then jump out of a plane with a parachute. Just because he'd be so, so happy. Then we'd go to Hollywood and tell that silly director that Leonardo likes boys.
Here's what @AnnaLund2011 had to say:
Thank you all for writing for me.
We are all doomed. Because, even with a super-sweet family picture, we fall into the gloom and mayhem and war of angst. It’s really funny that we can’t seem to shake the angst. It’s funny, until you start reading the stories seriously.
Then it breaks your heart.
And the most heartbreaking part is, I really wanted us to write uplifting, happy stories this week. I chose this picture for that very reason. (Now that the challenge is over and the winner has been chosen, I have put my own story at the end of all your stories, in case you want to see my image with my words. Because that is my hand, with my niece’s hand, in the image).
And after all this, what do I do? I go and dub the winner. The one where there is death and sorrow and heartbreak and harsh lessons and… and… and…
The story that starts “The smooth gloss of health is gone from his hide” broke me. It has to be the winner. So there you are, You win, heartbreak. Thank you for making me cry. Again.
Here are my thoughts on the winner:
@Femme_mal
So, my heart is already in my throat at your fist line, “The smooth gloss of health is gone from his hide“ and I know where this is going. I have done this. My horse had his head in my lap when he passed, by my hand. The pain will never leave me, but the look in his eyes was one of comfort, of Thank you, and of Good-bye. And you floor me with your “… the duty before her.” Yes. Exactly. Thank you. You win. All hands down.
The smooth gloss of health is gone from his hide.
“Feel here?”
My hand mirrors hers.
We palpate a distention, warm beneath our hands.
“We have to put him down.”
The life-bearer talks of death as if it were an obligation.
My tears slip, unbidden and unwanted, like the mass before us.
I am a child again, resisting the first day of school. I do not want this lesson, this task.
“I know you want him forever, but it can’t be.”
I want to throw myself down on the straw, screaming.
“Our responsibility is to add quality, not suffering, to others’ lives.”
My feet scuff the chaff, raising dust. He snorts weakly. I regret my angry footwork.
“This will hurt. Not him. He’ll simply go to sleep. But you are going to hurt. I can’t make that go away.”
My chest already clenches with pain.
“This is the toughest thing I will ever have to teach you. A good mother must bring death. You must be brave enough to end the suffering, even when it hurts you deeply to do so.”
Her face mirrors mine.
Her tears slip, unbidden and unwanted, like the duty before her.
“Feel here?”
My hand mirrors hers.
We palpate a distention, warm beneath our hands.
“We have to put him down.”
The life-bearer talks of death as if it were an obligation.
My tears slip, unbidden and unwanted, like the mass before us.
I am a child again, resisting the first day of school. I do not want this lesson, this task.
“I know you want him forever, but it can’t be.”
I want to throw myself down on the straw, screaming.
“Our responsibility is to add quality, not suffering, to others’ lives.”
My feet scuff the chaff, raising dust. He snorts weakly. I regret my angry footwork.
“This will hurt. Not him. He’ll simply go to sleep. But you are going to hurt. I can’t make that go away.”
My chest already clenches with pain.
“This is the toughest thing I will ever have to teach you. A good mother must bring death. You must be brave enough to end the suffering, even when it hurts you deeply to do so.”
Her face mirrors mine.
Her tears slip, unbidden and unwanted, like the duty before her.
...
But as I am a woman of many, many words, I want to leave a little something for everyone who took the challenge of my image. So here are some thoughts on all your entries:
@BedeliaJane ” The woman sitting in the grass looked like Luna with the volume turned up” and “Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are real.” This story had me roaring with laughter. The few lines captured so perfectly the crazy-ass chick that is Luna, and the control freak/always right little girl that is Hermione. Beautiful to do the time travel thing, with burned rubber to boot. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
PinkCookie ”The ball is tiny, BB sized, but it is so, so heavy;” and ”Ah… now I can breathe.” This story spoke directly to my heart, the hurt, pain, and heaviness. We have all been there. The black hole that keeps getting smaller, but higher in density, imploding. The writing is brilliant, the way the words flow, mindless, skipping, falling, it is beautiful. And it felt true. Lived. Thank you for the flash of light at the end.
@sparrownotes24 “My instinct whispered its concerns, but my mind scoffed. It put up a good argument.” Oh, this hurt so bad. Instincts are so very seldom wrong, and we should listen more to them than to our evolved minds. It’s incredible to think that the picture prompt led you all the way to these murky waters. I wanted to be in your brain to watch the process as you wrote this. Truly inspired.
@twilightmomofto That last line was a sucker-punch to my belly. And that’s exactly what a flash-drabble should do, paint a beautiful picture and then shake you up with a bang at the end. “My father's left hand, next to mine, lies quietly on the horse's side,” strong feels here. Thank you for this.
@authorsamcauley This broke my heart in fifteen ways, and left me with a hollow feeling of an eerie room full of missed opportunities—probably my worst nightmare, to arrive at life’s end and regret things. These ladies have sons who should have been lovers. These ladies should maybe have been lovers themselves? But society dictates so many of our silly rules. When all we should ever think about is the fact that Love is love, and you’re lucky to find it even Once. Thank you for the anger, the hurt and the need to Fix It.
@sri_ffn The power of Wild Woman runs strong in this piece. Here is clearly a writer who has encountered one. Beautiful. Because Wild Woman is strength and hope in person. And these short words describe her to a T. Well done. It calmed my soul. As she did yours, I believe? This spoke to me: “… the glint of the gold band on her finger has reached her eyes, like she knows something I don’t.” Yes. She does.
Sherbert20111 Oh Old man Marsh and Young Marsh! I love it! “Nicknames breed nicknames and I love him still.” Oh, the accent is killing me, it is a thing of pure beauty. And then, at the end, it all crashes down around my ears. Great writing. I hope they sort it out. (Yes, I seem to care how the story ends for two people I’ve know for some 16 lines of text. Kudos, writer. That is really something).
@CrackedFic ”Best mom ever, right?” Yeah, I’d say. This cracked me up so much, and "So I'm not doing the cow-tipping,” had me roaring with laughter. Which kind of stuck in my throat when I realized what was happening and what they were doing. That was intense. And absolutely top marks for the dialogue! It was like watching a teenaged girl and her mom doing their thing, back and forth. Brilliant. “Sigh.” Sadness and vibrant life, until the bitter end. Trucking on.
@Alesoflyy “I blew my chance.“ Oh, to have a second chance. This story intrigued me, because I can’t quite figure out if the narrator is a man or a woman. And I love that it feels ambiguous. I hope it is a man. That last line feels like it might be. It’s okay if it isn’t. It is beautiful, intense. Yes, they will love her always, together. I really hope so.
@hummingbirdFF Oh, this floored me. So happy, all the little pictures of the girl growing up and BAM. Oh, heartbreak. Children should not go before their parents.
@boomboom_jones This one intrigued me no end, I kept reading it again and again, to try to understand. It feels like there is a ghost, or is it a split personality? Or does the mother have Alzheimer’s? It is beautiful, and shows how much we need love and validation; it crosses all borders and drives us to that fountain of strength that is someone Seeing us. Beautiful writing.
@shneezles “Those lines of laughter and age held stories, tales of stolen kisses, loving gazes and gentle caresses.” and ” We both placed our hand on Mabel’s rich coat, his three favourite girls missing the man whose love was endless.” Oh, this man. Was he ever loved! Beautiful. I love the writing style, it painted a fabulous picture of 30+ years of hard work and bliss.
@Aleeab4u “All around me, the horses nicker softly in agreement.” Indeed. Horses get it. And there’s something with a horse that speaks straight into the soul of a human. They are the very best company, especially when you need solace. Thank you for this story, it truly shines of love.
@Capricorn75 Oh, yes, best job ever. And you only get stepped on once. Maybe twice. Then your body learns to be quick, to move off. It’s like the individual cells in your foot flee the impending hoof, orders are by-passing your brain, running on override. You clearly had the finest jobs of all, one summer. That never leaves you. It is hard, harsh, awful, cruel, and the best job in the world. Well done, you really manage to transmit your feelings in this short story. I’m glad you had that experience.
@femme_mal So, my heart is already in my throat at your fist line, “The smooth gloss of health is gone from his hide“ and I know where this is going. I have done this. My horse had his head in my lap when he passed, by my hand. The pain will never leave me, but the look in his eyes was one of comfort, of Thank you, and of good-bye. And you floor me with your “… the duty before her.” Yes. Exactly. Thank you. You win. All hands down.
...
CONGRATULATIONS @femme_mal
Thank you to @AnnaLund2011 for judging and to everyone who participated.
See you all next week.
Thank you, Anna, for the prompt and judging this week. Obviously your photo selection spoke to me; I've had to put pets down and it hurts like hell, as you clearly know too well. But teaching my kids about death, the quality of mercy, and helping them face loss? Absolutely gutting.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all the rest of the participants. This crowd is tough, TOUGH! You're all great writers and I'm lucky to throw my contribution alongside yours here at Shell's place.
Thanks again, Shell. This is a great opportunity to exercise writing chops every week.