March 9th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Greetings Earthlings. (Dang, where’s that from? It just popped into my head, so I used it.) Did you remember to move your clocks ahead or are you rushing around like a crazy person because you just realized you’re an hour behind schedule? I fixed my bedroom clock, so the time was right there, but I haven’t gotten around to fixing all of the others in the house yet.

I’m supposed to be picking up my mom in an hour and a half, she’s coming with me to bring Lys back to school, but I don’t think I’ll make it in time. Lys is still asleep, I haven’t packed yet, and I still need to shower. Guess I should give her a call.

I got a little sidetracked this morning. Several months ago I helped a friend with a children’s book she was writing, and she sent over the first look. Although it’s about 90% finished, there were still a few things which needed to be tweaked, so I sent over my suggestions; mostly just a few missing commas and some placement issues. I can’t seem to turn off my editor button. The book is about bullying, and Cherrye did a wonderful job. I am so excited for her! When the book is released, I’ll let all of you know about it.

Since I will be traveling today and tomorrow, I cannot guarantee there will be a writing challenge tomorrow. We are spending the night at a hotel in Vermont, so depending on if I wake up before my mom, will determine if I have time for a blog post or not. We won’t be in any big rush to get home tomorrow, and we don’t need to check out of the hotel until noon, but there’s one stop I want to make on our ride home.

My mom’s an amazing quilter, and every time I go back and forth to Lys’ college I pass by a quilt shop up there, and I want to stop in so my mom can have a look around. Maybe she’ll find some new or different material she can use. Shopping with my mom is an adventure, and I can guarantee this little pit stop will take at least an hour, but I think she’ll enjoy it. I’m not planning on saying anything before hand, just pulling into the parking lot. (Yeah, I know she just started following my blog, but I doubt she’ll be online this morning, so the “secret” should be safe.)

Okay, I guess I should get a move on or we won’t be leaving until noon. I hope y’all have an amazing day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Write a story containing the following three words: Cactus, Coyote & Porcupine

When I decided to write a series of books, one taking place in every state, I was being a little selfish. I had always wanted to visit each state, so, because I was writing, I could justify traveling to all the states I had never visited previously. You can’t truly write about something you’ve never experienced, right?

It was on one of these “research” trips, when I had a very unusual experience. I had rented a little bungalow in Arizona, several weeks submersed in my surroundings to get to know the area, the people and the cultures. I walked everywhere, took in the sights, chatted with anyone and everyone, and listened to stories and legends. I even managed to get quite a number of ideas down on paper for my next novel; something that usually doesn’t happen until I’m back home in my writing cave.

It was during one of those times while I was typing away at my computer one evening when I heard a scratching and whimpering coming from the bungalow’s back door. I flipped on the light, and there was this puppy looking at me through the glass sliding door. He looked so sad, and he was obviously injured. I opened the door slowly, not wanting to scare him away. Much to my surprise, he let me come right up to him.

The poor thing. He had all these needles and thorns sticking out of his leg. You could tell he was in a lot of pain. Carefully, I scooped him up, laid him in the car and drove a few miles to the animal hospital. As luck would have it, the local vet, Claire, was one of the folks I had chatted with, and we had hit it off.

Out of time, and I never even got to one of the words in the challenge. I was planning on telling Claire it looked like the puppy had somehow gotten stabbed with some cactus needles and needed help. Then Claire was going to tell me they weren’t cactus needles, they were porcupine quills, and my puppy wasn’t a dog, it was a coyote. Oh well, better luck next time.

Your Next Challenge is:

That was the weirdest dream ever!

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 23rd

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good Morning!

Lord it’s cold up here, but then again, I think it’s pretty cold at home right now as well. It’s crazy, yesterday we supposedly had a high of fifty-eight (I wasn’t home so I don’t know if we actually hit it), and tomorrow’s high is only supposed to be eighteen. Seriously, a forty degree swing in two days? UGH. I’m not a fan of the cold, if you haven’t guessed already.

I didn’t have the greatest weather driving up here. The further north I drove, the rained harder, and the temperature kept dropping. I was really worried I would be driving in snow by the time I got to Vermont, but other than a little bit of sleet mixed in with the rain for a few miles, I was okay.  Today they are predicting snow showers, but hopefully we’ll be able to get out ahead of them.

After my daughter’s last class, she came back to her room with one of her friends and they asked me if I could bring her friend Sammi to the bus. Sammi had called the cab company, and they told her the first available cab wasn’t until six and her bus was leaving at four-thirty. So we pile Sammi and her luggage into the car, and off we go on the two mile trip to where the bus was picking her up. Half an hour later…. I don’t know if any of you have ever tried driving around Burlington, but let me tell you, it crazy on a good day. If you try doing it on say, a day when both Champlain and UVM’s students are going home for a holiday, then throw in the just about rush hour time, it’s dang near impossible.

So we got Sammi to the bus in the nick of time, but then I was not going to attempt getting back to the school through the chaos, so I suggest to my daughter an early dinner. We took one detour to poke around in a store we had never heard of, and sorry, I can’t remember the name right now to tell you. It turned out to be a smaller version of a Michael’s or AC Moore (craft store). I picked up a few Christmas ornaments, and my daughter got stuff to make gifts for her sister and two of her cousins.

Then we went to UNO for dinner. We weren’t actual early-birders, but we did get there early, and I’m so glad we did. When we left the restaurant forty-five minutes later, the line to get in was out the door. We came back to the dorm. Rhea, my daughter’s roommate, and her parents also came back early. We had a nice visit. They left, the girls went to hang out in the common room and I went to sleep on the bean bag couch. It was a very quiet and uneventful evening, which was perfectly fine with me.

Now I’m downstairs in the common room waiting for my daughter to wake up so we can leave. If she’s not up in the next half hour, I may very well give her a little nudge. We need to make one pit stop on our way home. One of my daughter’s housemates forgot her wallet at school, and since Route 87, the road we travel on, is literally two miles from their house, they are meeting us along the route to retrieve their wallet.

This means two of my daughter’s housemates – both named Samantha ironically – live along our route home. I have a van. That van has plenty of room to take three girls and their luggage. It makes absolutely no sense for them to either have their parents drive all the way up to the college or pay for bus fare to get their girls home, and I said as much. If they wanted to chip in the $7 for their round trip ferry ticket, then great, but it would be silly for me not to pick up and drop off these girls along the way. There’s a Panera Bread close to both of their homes that can serve as our meeting point. It makes sense no?

This, to me, is logical. What doesn’t make sense to me is how this whole social media Hydra works. Take yesterday’s blog post. It was just my normal, run of the mill, post. I didn’t think there was anything overly special about it, yet the post was retweeted several times and I got eight new followers on Twitter. Mind you, Facebook tells me only thirty-seven people saw my post. Posts I really think would interest you, like the CMA one, don’t seem to reach a lot of people. Yet silly posts, like the little blurb I gave you about dancing in the rain this summer, reached five hundred people. I’m so confused!

Oh beans! I just saw a snowflake. It’s going to take me a few minutes to get this posted on all three sites, so I’d better boogie.

I hope you have a wonderfully warm day, and happy writing!

September 27th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 
 

I have several errands to run today, but I am not going to be specific in the off chance my daughter reads my blog today, because one of the stops is a little surprise I need to bring up to college this weekend. I will say, one of the errands may or may not prove to be a fool’s quest. No, I am not in search of a left-handed wind shifter. However, I will be looking for a power strip with a long cord. My FIL insists they do not exist, my husband says they do, and I’m pretty sure I have seen them. If I could find one with an eight foot cord, I’d be happy. They confiscated my daughter’s brand new extension cord last week, stating it was a fire hazard, so now I need to find something compliant and long enough to reach from the wall plug to where everything is set up. I don’t want her to have to reconfigure the room.

 

I still have to pack up my husband’s and my clothes, and get everything situated in the car. We will be leaving at 3:00 am, which means several things. 1) I will be in no mood to be packing and/or arranging things at that hour, so everything needs to be done before I go to bed. 2) I will be going to bed ridiculously early so I can be rested to drive the six hour up to VT. 3) There probably will not be time for a blog tomorrow. On that note, I can pretty much guarantee I will be up before everyone else on Sunday, so I will post a blog entry that morning, but I think we’ll hold off until Monday for the next writing challenge.

 

Speaking of the blog, I put up a survey to see what types of writing challenge y’all prefer. All you have to do is click on a button. You don’t need to post any comments, so it should be painless even for all you shy writers. Please, I would really like some feedback so I know I am gearing this blog towards YOUR needs. Your choices are Photo Challenges (no explanation needed), Specific Scenario Challenges (I set up an entire scene for you), Broad Interpretive Challenges (I only give you a few words and they can take you in any direction you want), and finally 3 Word Challenges (where you have to incorporate all three word given in your reply). These are the four challenges I do the most, but occasionally I will throw in one like I did yesterday where you needed to start your challenge with a specific phrase. I do intend on borrowing Keith’s A-Z challenge and doing the classic “write your own obituary” at some point as well. As I have said several times already, I am open to writing challenges you suggest as well. So please, chime in, let your voice be heard!

 

OK, I’m off to take a shower and get going on my long list of chores. I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Start your story with “Sundays always meant…”

 

Sunday always meant waking up early for Sunday school and church. It meant either stopping at the bakery on Oak Tree Road or to La Bonbonniere on Lincoln Highway for cheese danishes for breakfast. Some Sundays meant lunch at one of the grandparent’s houses or occasionally to my great aunt’s.

 

Lunches there always meant roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Uncle John would bring the meat downstairs where, for some reason, he had a deli grade meat slicer. He would always sneak me the first slice and say, “Shh, don’t tell.” When we visited Aunt Julie (my grandfather’s sister) and Uncle John, it was always a “whole family” event. That meant my grandparents, my aunt, uncle and cousin, my mother and me would all go.

 

There was not a whole heck of a lot for my cousin and me to do when we were there. Chances were the TV was playing, but Uncle John usually has some sport or other on, and we really weren’t all that interested. So, we would either try entertaining ourselves outside, but since Aunt Julie and Uncle John had no children, there wasn’t a swing set or any toys to play with, so it was just as boring outside as it was inside.

The one thing that did keep us busy for a little while was they had carpeted stairs which lead from their living room up to their attic. My cousin and I would climb to the top of the stairs and then have races sliding down them on our butts.

 

Out of time…

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

September 26th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

 

I woke this morning to the first light of dawn peeking through my window. It took a moment for this fact to register in my sleep fogged brain, but when it did…AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! The alarm didn’t go off! I jump up and start running around like a chicken on fire, for now it is 6:47 (a full hour and forty-seven minutes beyond when I should have woken up), the exact time my daughter’s bus should be pulling up. I get my daughter up, call the school telling them she’ll be late, make her lunch, shove it into her back pack, then, low and behold, guess who comes down the hall ready to go… my daughter. She managed to get ready in less than fifteen minutes! We jump in the car and I get her to school…and, are you ready for this? Five minutes before the bell!

 

So now that I’m up and three quarters of the way to the grocery store, I decide to go shopping for the things I needed to bring up to my other daughter this weekend.  (She sent me a list.) I get all the food things on her list plus a few extras and I’m back home by 8:15, just in time to wake my hubby up for work. Not exactly how I wanted to start my day, but it has been surprisingly productive thus far.

 

Now all I need to do is make sure I locate the remaining things on my daughter’s list, get the car packed up (the groceries have already been stored in a bin and it is in the car), and then get our own stuff packed for our trip. I’m so excited. I haven’t seen my baby in over a month and I miss her!!

 

The school has a bunch of activities planned for the weekend, but the last thing I want to do is sit in lectures and presentations, so we are going to kidnap her and take her apple picking instead. We will all go to Saturday night’s dinner sponsored by the school, but other than that, I am going to be selfish. We will be getting there around ten on Saturday morning and then we’ll be leaving around three on Sunday, so that’s less than thirty hours. I want her all to ourselves for as many of those hours as possible.

 

It is spirit week at Champlain College, and below is my daughter’s dorm’s entry for the stoop decorating contest. The theme is "America the Beaverful" (they’re the Champlain Beavers). If you look at some of the other photos, many of the other Freshmen dorms only have a few kids participating in the contest. Then when you see the photos of the upper classmen’s entries, you realize what a big deal the event is; something Freshmen probably had not anticipated. Now I’m not saying my daughter had anything to do with this, but after four years of events similar to this at her high school, I think she may have had a part in rallying her dorm mates into action. Another photo showed several more kid participating, but it wasn’t a clear shot, so I chose this one instead. (My baby is right in front with the striped scarf.) They are singing the Star Spangled Banner for the judges.

 

I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

Just one bite…

       

That’s all it took. Just one bite. And now look at me. I’m a mess. But how could I resist? It looked so good. Sitting there looking so luscious and sweet, it was practically calling, “Eat me…eat me.”

I knew I shouldn’t have. I remember what happened the last time. I knew the results could only get worse, but I just had to have a taste, just one little bite. Now I look like a cartoon character! My mouth resembles a plunger. My skin has a brindle effect, and the effort it is taking not to scratch has me practically vibrating.

 

That’s it, I give up. It originally started as a vampire theme, but that didn’t work either, so I deleted it – all three sentences I managed to write. It was more on the lines of “Love at First Bite” as opposed to “Dracula” anyway. Dang, when I posted the challenge yesterday, I thought it would be a good one. Guess I just wasn’t feeling it today. It happens. Better luck tomorrow…

 

Your Next Challenge is (something a little different):

 

Start your story with “Sundays always meant…”

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

August 29th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

So the paperwork took longer than anticipated and then I’m taking care of my son’s cats (25 miles away) while he’s on vacation, and my daughter had friends come over so the house needed to be cleaned, and we had back to school shopping to do. In other words, I never got to the blog yesterday, so I am apologizing yet again.

I’ve chatted with my older daughter several times over the last few days; she doesn’t like the food, but loves her classes except for the computer one but that has to do with the subject, not the teacher. He’s ex-military intelligence and seems like a fascinating guy.

When they gave the speeches at the school, they asked the parents to do one thing – if the child calls home with a problem or an issue say, “Did you ask someone at the college?”. I have been trying really hard to do that, and my daughter has had to deal with several issues on her own already (a wrong book, medical insurance, getting a job on campus, questions on one of her loans). I know by her doing this without our help is helping her to become an independent adult, but it has been tough not taking care of things for her. She’s dealing with it fine, mom’s just having issues letting go.

On the other hand, my youngest daughter has really been surprising me. She is nearly finished with her summer reading, and I haven’t had to prompt her once to get to it. She cleaned up after her friends last night, and today she cleared and set the table for dinner, then when we were done she helped clean up – ALL WITHOUT BEING ASKED. Needless to say, I’m stunned, happy, but stunned. Guess my youngest chickie is growing up too.

Well, it’s getting late, and as you know by now, I’m an early morning person, so I turn into a pumpkin around nine at night. Consider this my disclaimer as to the quality of the response to the writing challenge. J

 

Your Last Challenge was:

You and a group of friends all have busy lives and you don’t get to spend any time together anymore, so you decide to make a weekend getaway. You book rooms in an old mansion which has been converted to a bed and breakfast. The place is beautiful and at first you are completely enamored with it, but then some strange things start to happen.

 

“Kara, where did you find this place?” Jennie asked.

 “Online. Why, don’t you like it?”

 “It’s beautiful and all, it’s just, I don’t know…” Jennie trailed off not knowing how to finish her sentence.

Rose chimed in, “I know what you mean. I can’t shake the feeling that someone’s watching me.”

“And what’s with the owners?” Stephanie asked. “Every time I turn around one of them is there, just staring at me. I’m not sure who’s creepier, the husband or the wife.”

 

Yeah, I should know better than to try and write when everyone in the house is awake. The TVs are going, the dog is barking, the phone is buzzing with text messages. I give up! We’ll chat again tomorrow… until then, have a great evening and happy writing!

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

I had the hardest time learning how to…

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

August 24th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Well I survived…barely. Yesterday was difficult to say the least. It took us about three hours from unloading the car to having her whole room organized, so I guess it wasn’t too bad. Then we had lunch, listened to the welcome speech from the college president, said goodbye to my daughter, then listened to a few more speeches, and it was all over.

I will be breaking the rules this morning. I am going to see my daughter one last time to pick up some of the empty bins she has so they are not taking up space, but it is only going to be a five minute visit. (I couldn’t take the bins yesterday because after we unloaded, our car had to go to off-site parking, and I wasn’t about to carry bins on the shuttle bus back to the car.) The ride back to the hotel afterwards may just be harder for me than yesterday was.

The three musketeers were reunited again, and they all seemed happy, so that does give me some comfort, but not much. It is going to be so weird leaving for home without my daughter with us.

 

 

 

We won’t be going straight home today. We will be taking a detour to Lanconia, New Hampshire to see friends of ours. Years ago we used to go to Wildwood for vacation and we stayed at the same hotel every year. Because of that we became friends with the owners, Anthony & Tillie, as well as some of the guests, Red & Rose; so much so, we started coordinating our vacations so we would all be at the hotel at the same time. Well, the Marianne Motel closed down a few years ago, so none of us have seen each other in a while.

When my daughter and I made our first trip to VT, we met Red and Rose for lunch on our way home, but it has been years since my husband and youngest daughter have seen them. With them only being two hours away from the college, how could we not swing by for a visit? At least I have something to look forward to today or I may have been a total wreck driving home.

I guess I should be going. I need to leave in a few minutes to meet my daughter. So, until tomorrow… hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Write a story containing: Hot Fudge, Mustard and a Bottle of Wine.

 

“These two, three and four week business trips are going to be the death of me”, Carrie grumbled as she dropped her luggage in the front hall of her apartment and tossed her keys and her mail on the table. She shimmied out of her coat and hung it on the hook, “Food, shower, then bed, in that order.” She eyed her discarded bags and the stack of mail. “Ugh. Alright, put the luggage in the room, go through the mail for anything important, food, shower then bed. I’ll unpack tomorrow.”

Carrie hauled her bags into her bedroom and deposited them in the corner, retrieved her mail, then sorted it over the kitchen garbage decreasing the pile by eighty percent. Satisfied with the more manageable stack sitting on the counter, she turned to the refrigerator to tackle the third thing on her “To Do” list, food. She opened the door to find nothing more than a container of hot fudge, a jar of mustard and a bottle of wine. “Well what did you expect stupid, you’ve been gone for three weeks?” Deciding eating was overrated, she headed for the shower.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

There’s a nip in the air…

 

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

August 20th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Fifty hours. Plastic tubs are being organized. Pillows, sheets, comforter, blankets and clothes have been vacuum sealed, condensed and packed. Three tubs and two vacuum pouches remain to be filled, and then we’re finished. If I don’t fill them and don’t pack them, does that mean we won’t be finished and she can’t leave??

I’ll say it, “This sucks!” Sorry for my French, but it does. I am so happy and excited for my daughter, off to her first choice of colleges about to make a decade of dreams into a reality, yet all I want to do is cry. My brain knows she will be fine, this is where she needs to be, what she needs to do, but my heart is going to miss my baby.

The longest she has ever been away from home was a week, and that was with either family or the church. Thank God her roommate Rhea is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met, so I can take comfort in knowing they will have each other to lean on if times get tough. The two of them met at accepted student’s day and bonded instantly. They are like two peas in a pod. In less than twenty-four hours, they were finishing each other’s sentences. It’s quite comical. At the event, they also met a boy who matched both of them perfectly. (My daughter says Alex is her, just in male form.) They are going to be the three musketeers. The three of them have been chatting non-stop since they met in April and are chomping at the bit to see each other again.

Call me old fashioned, but I think it’s good knowing there will be a guy there to watch out for the girls. The town of Burlington is walking distance from the college, so I know they will be walking to town a lot, and I’m much more comfortable if there’s a guy accompanying them on those outings, especially if they walk home after dark.

Rhea moved in on Sunday already because she is a student ambassador and had to be there early. Last night she was talking to my daughter, and I felt so bad for the girl. She is the ONLY one in the dorm – a big old Victorian. I think she was a little scared, but she didn’t say it, just that she was bored. We will be picking her up on Thursday night and taking her out to dinner with us and maybe we’ll sneak a few of my daughter’s things in early so she can spend a little time with Rhea during the day on Thursday as well.

As usual, I have tons of stuff to do, so I should get going. Hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

 

Rowan climbed the last few feet up the hill, staggered through the door and to the alter, fell to his knees and sobbed, “How could you let this happen? Have I not devoted my life to serving you? Fighting for you? Yet you could not protect them. Why? They were innocent women and children, elderly who had also served you. What kind of test have you bestowed upon me? Why should I continue to fight if this is how I am repaid?”

Fueled by anger and betrayal, Rowan rose and exited the church to survey the remains of what was once his home. As he made his way into the village, he was met by several of his warrior brothers. All wore the same haunted expression he knew was mirrored on his own face. The destruction was complete. Neither building nor living creature remained; simply charred remnants.

Allister, Rowan’s brother by blood, laid a hand upon his shoulder, “Come brother, there is no longer anything here for us. We will find who did this, then vengeance will be ours.”

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Write a story containing: Hot Fudge, Mustard and a Bottle of Wine.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

August 16th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Sure enough, our last day of vacation looks like it is going to be a total wash-out. It’s grey, misty, windy and chilly. In general – YUCKY. What a downer. If you have a good last day for vacation, you leave with a good feeling. However, when you have a day like this, you remember things like your almost twelve hour drive to get here, the traffic, the water only really being nice one day, the problems with the house, etc.

The last time we came to the Outer Banks, I said I wouldn’t do it again. I should have stuck with what I said. I should have sucked it up, drove the extra two hours, and went to Myrtle Beach where we have always had fantastic vacations. It stings even more knowing this will probably be the last vacation we will be able to take for a few years because money is tight, so I really had my heart set on it being great.

The girls had said they wanted to go see the new Percy Jackson movie, so I guess, after we get the packing finished, they will get their chance. I may or may not go. When we got here, the house was really dirty and it set the tone for the week. I don’t want the next people’s vacation to start off on such a sour note, so I think I will take some extra care cleaning up the place, and the best time to do it would be when no one else was here.

After our long drive home tomorrow, we are going to have several jam-packed days ahead of us. Sunday the girls are going to Dorney Park with their aunt, and my husband and I are going to a brunch in celebration of what would have been my grandmother’s 100^th Birthday. Sunday night we are going to dinner at my sister-in-law’s. Monday we have the eye doctor’s and various other running around to get all the last minute things for my daughter. Tuesday we need to get her packed up and clean the house for the party. Wednesday’s the party and then we leave on Thursday for Vermont. I guess being so busy is a good thing. I don’t have time to dwell on my daughter leaving. Maybe that’s why my son gave us virtually no warning as to his move date, so I wouldn’t have days or weeks to get sad over him leaving.

Just a reminder, there will be no writing challenge Saturday since I will be driving home all day. So, you have until Sunday to work on today’s challenge.

Hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

 

As beautiful as it looks, it is really a sad sight. The hanging of the life preserver on the back of the “Thanks for visiting us. Come back soon.” sign on the day after Labor Day, is a custom in the town. A signal to all that the summer has come to an end. The lifeguards have gone home, it is time for us to go home too; back to school, back to work. Before long the days will become shorter and the air will become chillier. Soon we will be caught up in holiday preparations and, before we know it, another year will come to an end. Hot lazy days will merely be a faded memory. But, if by chance, during the cold dark months you happen to drive past, the life preserver on the back of the sign will still be there; a testament that the joy of summer will come again.

 

Really short today. I knew what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t flow. I guess my mood is matching the weather, and it’s hard to write when you’re feeling blah. I need to figure out a way to fix that, figure out a way to make rainy days ideal writing days. Think about it, it’s logical. Why should I stay cooped up inside writing on beautiful days? Whatever, I know it’s not going to happen. I’m wired weird. Logic plays absolutely no part in the equation of me.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You’re stuck in the house on a rainy day.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.