3rd Write Campaign Challenge

And here we are wrapping up the 3rd and final Campaign Challenge. Rachael Harrie is one amazing woman to do this. I want to thank her for her hard work and dedication. This undertaking sure has made it a challenge just for her. Please stop by her blog and thank her too. 


Here are the rules for the 3rd challenge:

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.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise." (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

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Source

A Proposal

“Couldn’t you have found another program?” Liz rested her chin on her knees as she drew them to her chest. With her finger, she swirled the black sand at her feet. 

Patterns of chaos mimicked the pinks and purples that bled from the sky into the water. The first sun was about to peek over the horizon. Liz watched as the water swelled across the distance, gaining momentum but not height, until it tingled their feet and fizzled away her marks. A small sigh escaped past her lips. 

A BUZOT! from behind made them both jump to their feet. A thin stream of white smoke filtered through the sand dune, exposing a control panel. Salt mixed with burnt sulfur danced at the back of Liz’s throat and almost made her gag. 

“Synbatec westopaneer tacise?” Matt shook his head. 

“What?” Liz cocked her head and scrunched her brow.

“Synbatec westopaneer tacise?” Matt’s face began to flush. He fidgeted with the silver plate embedded behind his right ear. As his finger slid over the plate, the hologram squelched and flickered. He clapped both hands around his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “Fheskkha!” 

Liz knew that pain all too well. Her universal translator was always on the fritz. 

“Here, let me.” Liz scooted closer and took her tiny sonic screwdriver out of her belt. It clicked on and a blue light coursed with the high pitch whirl. She touched it to the plate behind Matt’s ear. “Now, keep talking.” 

“Synbatec westopaneer tacise? “Synbatec westopaneer tacise?” 

Liz upped the pitch of the screwdriver as Matt continued. “Synbatec westopaneer tacise? Will you westopaneer tacise?”

“Almost got it.” Liz hit the screwdriver against the palm of her hand. 

“Will you westopaneer me?” 

Liz added a second frequency and the screwdriver sung.

“Will you marry me?”

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300 words, excluding the title. I think I've covered all 5 senses. Did you know they were on a beach? It was morning? Could you tell Liz was bored? At first at least? And did you notice the stench behind them? And how about that ending? Was it a surprise?

Hope you like this. If you do, please vote for #62. And if you want to read the other entries, don't forget to visit Rachael's blog post. I'm sure there will be plenty more before the challenge closes. 

First Writer's Campaign Challenge - Explained!

First of all, if you haven't already, I would recommend you read my challenge entry before you continue as it will probably make more sense :D

Thank you all for playing!

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The first idea that came to mind when I read "door" was to have it a gateway between life and death.

The "choice" came to me from an episode of "Being Human" when the ghost was presented her door to the other side. She didn't know what was on the other side. She didn't even know if she chose to stay would she be presented the door at another time.

Definitely, people have problems with change. They find comfort in the familiar and are terrified of the unknown. I had to incorporate that in there because no one knows what happens after we die.

I also wanted to incorporate winter/cold and spring/warm. Winter/cold usually means death, dying, and aging. Spring/warm is rebirth, life, and youth. Cold is not something people find comfort in, but warmth is. One side of the door was "winter cold"--his life he forced to give up, if he chose to stay, he'd be a ghost forever more, walking the plane of nothingness, clinging to the life he could no longer have. The other side of the door "warmed to the soul"--this was my idea of heaven. I imagined heaven like the movie "What Dreams May Come" and tried to express how vibrant the colors were swirling and juxtaposing one another but finding balance.

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I really enjoyed each interpretation. It intrigues me to see how people think. And everyone does not see things the same way. That's why I love to discuss stories in this manner.

Each one of you brought a smile to my face. I loved how it brought peace to you. How you saw Narnia in there. I love the portal to another world or dimension or school or a tropical paradise! How awesome!

This just shows me everyone's mindset, everyone's philosophy! Love it. Thanks for playing with me!

Second Crusader Challenge

The Challenge:

Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, “The goldfish bowl teetered” These four words will be included in the word count. 

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional, and not part of the judging criteria), see if you can write the story in your own genre (eg if you’re a horror writer, write a horror story; a romance writer, a romance story, etc).  (want to read more? visit Rachael Harrie's Blog)


My Entry:

The goldfish bowl teetered
          tumbled and toppled
Oh dear! Oh my!
  bumbled and boppled


What to do? What to do?
  flailing and flapping
grasp this! grasp that! 
          whirling and wobbling


I only made matters worse 
  smacking and smashing 
off the table top
  battered and bashing


The goldfish paniced inside
  splishing and splashing
This way and that! 
  darting and dashing

I watched it dance, spellbound 
  coiling and circling
Round and round it went 
  Whirling and waltzing


Hypnotizing 
          mesmerizing
                    fascinating
  captivating
                    Watching it 
  careen and plunge
Thwack!

Who am I Revealed

This was my first ever blog challenge so I wasn't sure what to expect. I loved everyone's different takes on the challenge and felt so inadequate with mine. But thank you all for stopping by, reading, and guessing! It was soooo much fun! And every guess put a smile on my face! And I am sure you are wondering what exactly is that little fib??


Ask me a question, and I tell you no lie. I never had a problem as a child, but quickly I learned as a teenager how I hated the lies told to me. The Golden Rule seems to have been drilled into my head forever. So, I struggled with this challenge, to come up with a "lie".


I will tell you all the truths in my previous post. 

I really do have a fairy tale marriage. I did met my husband (at the age of 20) and five days later, he asked me to marry him. A month later we were married. Twenty-one years later and we are still going strong.  We are currently on our 22nd year of marriage. Although, we do have 2 anniversaries. We were married in the eyes of the law on December 22, 1989. He deployed on a military exercise to Korea a few weeks later while I planned our wedding. We were married in the eyes of the Lord on May 12, 1990. He was only supposed to be gone for 3 months, plenty of time to come back and chill before the big day. Things happen and you get used to it with the military. He came back with 6 days to spare. And what's a fairy tale without a "wicked witch"? We do have one, she's called "Chronic Pain" and we thank the Army for that. (Thank you all who say I look too young! My body feels like it's 80. But my mind is that of a 16 year old! My age is comfortably in the middle somewhere! LOL)


I really wear my heart on my sleeve. My feelings have been trampled because of it since the day I was born. I used to weep openly, now I bottle it in. I have so much love to share, and it seems so many people want to take advantage of this, that my feelings STILL get hurt. I continue on in my quest to share my love. But the lack of true, close friends is evident. There are so many who have touched my heart and I hold dear...I just chose not to express it for fear of losing their friendship on a multitude of levels. 


I do really have a bad habit when I sit idle. I grab my hair by the ends and look for those nasty split ends. They do so bother me, and fascinate me at the same time. It's like a hunt for the elusive 4 leaf clover (for which I have found many!) to find that one that has 10 split ends on it. 

However, after several horrifying experiences at the salon and  hating the short haircuts that I had to get....I only get my hair cut, even just a trim, maybe once every 5 years...if not more! (my secret AND my annoying habit rolled into one...at least to my husband who was the only one know knows!)


And last, but not least, I really am an introvert! Coupled with living in Florida and the HEAT of the stiflingsummers I really don't enjoy going outside! (my fib was saying that was my favorite thing to do) Although, now that our pool is being built, we may just be outside everyday. :) 

I do enjoy nature, though! Always have. And, yes, we've had an alligator not 100 yards from my house in the retention pond. Or what about the one down the street from where I work....just moseying along.... (he's peeking out on the sidewalk there in the picture above). We also have our friendly armadillo digging up our yard. NOT! And I LOVE dragonflies! So, watching nature is always fun to do! And oh! The things you see! I've once seen deer the size of dogs, and rabbits the same size! Amazing! An owl swooped down in my front yard to grab a snake once..or was it a glass lizard...too hard to tell. And then there was the dancing bald eagle on the flight line on base! Nature is wondrous!

(Isn't this the most awesome picture of a dragonfly?)

And yes, I DID look up what a fuliguline was...but I am still so confused on it's proper definition and usage! It wasn't in any dictionary I had come across and I had seen so many people use it so vastly different from one another.  I don't think the question was a "fib"! :P


Now that I've exposed myself, I hope you will continue to read me. Although I am still learning this blog business and I may not know what to blog about, I do so much appreciate your following! 

Who am I?

This is my attempt at Rachael Harrie's 1st Crusader Challenge.

Asking a writer to come up with a bio in less than three hundred words is definitely a challenge! But I do love to write. Writing about me is NOT one of my favorite things to do, either. I do not bloviate. But I will attempt to give you one secret and one lie, while I describe an interesting quirk, my best character trait, and a favorite thing to do.

I have a fairy tale marriage. I met my husband and five days later, he asked me to marry him. A month later we were married. Twenty-one years later and we are still going strong.

I think my best character trait is also my worst. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and because I care so deeply about my friends and family, I rarely let people in.

I have a nervous tendency to play with the ends of my hair, checking for split ends. I so hate split ends, and the longer my hair get’s the more I play with it. I should go to the salon and have it touched by the blade every now and again. But, I just can’t bring myself to even a trim.

One of my favorite things to do is go outside and watch nature at its best. We watch the bees, the birds, the dragonflies, the rabbits, the armadillos and even the alligators. Someone told me I should add fuliguline watching to my outdoor activities since I like watching nature all the time. What is a fuliguline anyway?

I may have revealed something about me that isn’t strictly true. Can you guess what it is?