Nice Set-up

I like what you've written, Bob; it's a good beginning that makes me anxious to know what comes next. I can see the churchyard and his hand on the wheel very clearly.

Yesterday was consumed with non-writing responsibilities but I have hopes for today. Here's last night's prompt writing:

You expect they'll make noise. There's a very distinctive sound on the Blue Planet videos when they're around but it took personal experience to show me how silent it is. Silent might not be the right word; it's never really silent underwater. For one thing there's your own Darth Vader breathing that you hope continues to accompany your every underwater move. And the identical whoosh-click of your buddy. I know, it seems like a childish word for a person into whose hands you place your life, but that's what your dive partner is called, your buddy. Shrimp make a sound like popping corn, you hear the water on the shore messing around the broken coral, and the roar of passing boats. Parrotfish crunch bites from coral heads. But big schools of little silver fish don't make a swishing sound when they change direction underwater. They don't--and eels don't hiss either. (No voice box.) TV lies.

Hmm, maybe if I post my prompt writing every day it'll goad me into doing it every day. What do you think? Shame as motivator? I think it might work.

--Barbara

All Things New...

Barbara, glad the talk last night got you thinking about Mom's Cafe. Scary fun... And your prompt scribble. "His dreadlocks dangle out and wave in the onshore wind..." Beautiful image, Barbara. Very assured and evocative.

So anyway, this is the beginning of the story I mentioned last night:

It was a country church, plain and self-absorbed, sitting off the country road. Stone monuments dotted the mowed lot next to it. The morning was, so far, cool and overcast, with a fine, irregular rain coming down. Thomas pulled off the road's patchwork asphalt and into the parking lot. A lot of cars, he thought, for a quarter to eight.
He parked his Cadillac, switched off the laboring motor, and sat for a moment in the penetrating silence. He ran his hand over the arc of the steering wheel, then got out and walked across the the pebbly, uneven lot toward the church. On his right, a slow moving couple made their own approach. Thomas nodded and said, "Good morning" in what he hoped was an optimistic tone. The old couple returned his greeting, pleasant, though tentative. Who is this stranger in our midst?

Bob

As Promised...

Here is my prompt writing that Don was so adamant I had gone the wrong way on. "I'd have gone a totally different direction," he said to one and all, but he was strangely deaf when I retorted, "Then you write it."

"Red trails drawn over yellow ocher tell the story of what early men saw in the crystal clear sea where they fished." In the baking hot midday on a desert island I stand, arms akimbo, listening to the tour guide dressed in khaki shorts, a Red Stripe t-shirt, mismatched flip flops, and a rasta hat. His dreadlocks dangle out and wave in the onshore winds that carry salty spray over us, bringing cool relief that people pay dearly for in the parched parts of the US. I have been on this tour before, I've heard the story of the Arawaks being overrun by the Caribs, a bloodthirsty tribe, of early Europeans coming ashore to harvest salt, and of the bad old slavery days. My attention wanders from the speech to the speaker. His eyes are red-rimmed and watery, sure evidence to this child of the seventies of a more than passing familiarity with ganja. I've seen those eyes in my mirror. Though it's been decades, I still recognize them.

That's it. I thought I had shown it to you at writer's but maybe not. Hope you enjoy my little prompt scribble

Bob, your observation that I might have been writing a series of Better Than Mom's Cafe novels has reignited something in my brain and heart. I plan to spend the day putting all those ideas I was sprouting last night down on paper to see if I really have enough for a few books. Yikes, scary! But a fun kind of scary.

WIPs

I got all excited by a bias knit scarf pattern I saw on Mason-Dixon Knitting's blog so I cast that on and knit like the wind to get to the first color change area. It's hard to see in the picture but it starts with cranberry, then goes to what Wool Ease calls natural heather which is kind of grayed out cream, then I'll add on black. I like it, now that a commenter on MDK noted that the stitches of first row after the angle were reversed, and it's not going off like some sort of chevron.

The other picture is the Bits and Bobs KAL capelet I've been working on for about 4 weeks. I'm busy crocheting dishcloths and knitting the scarf, plus I'm not sure I'll ever wear the capelet, but I can't seem to frog it and move on. You can't see but there's a single cross cable at either end of the off-white. I'm foolishly impressed with myself.

Felting Results

I spent all of Sunday going up and down the stairs checking the felting progress and resetting the washer for another cycle. It took forever! And the 2 colors of yarn didn't felt at the same rate or to the same degree. It was a really good idea to put the parts in a zippered pillow case--the washer's parts would have been totally choked with balls of fuzz without it. I'm not sure I'm happy with how it turned out, but the pieces really need a shave.

Time Flies

We must be having fun, then. Or something. I remember August being one crazy blur.

Yesterday, I picked up a book by Bret Lott. It's subtitled: 'a practical writer's memoir'. Excellent writing advice. Can't wait to share it Thursday. See you then.

Bob

Happy dreary Monday!

I managed to get in a little writing this weekend in between mowing and laundry. I wrote a lot faster when I remembered that it's my turn to submit a story on Thursday. Here's a little teaser:

Everyone’s nerves were shredded by the time Christmas Eve arrived (not dawned, there was no winter dawn at the North Pole). The elves squabbled as they loaded the sleigh and Arnold grumbled about the cold as he gave the reindeer their final brushing before tacking them up for their global flight.

See you Thursday! (Do you realize that today's October 1st? October!?! What happened to the rest of the year?)