Tuesday, September 30

Writing



I was walking on the street today, and I began telling myself a story. Totally made up story I invented right then and there.
And suddenly it hit me....
... it wasn't the fact that I was crazy and inventing a really weird story and saying it out loud while I walked.

It hit me that I haven't written for a long time. Serious writing that is. I am not referring to schoolwork, which I have written plenty of, but of stories. I used to write stories, haikus, excerpts. I once intended to jump in the NaNoWriMo, which of course was a tooooooooooootal failure. For those of you who don't know NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and you are supposed to write a 50,000 word novel in just a month, which is just plain crazy but nonetheless fun.

So, I'm off to write the crazy story I have been pondering for hours, and I challenge you... to write a short story too, post it to your blog, and post it here afterwards...

I am thinking a secret prize for the best story....


Deadline: October 15
UPDATE: I had written Deadline: october 1 as a typo!!! You have two weeks...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool idea, but I do not think I can meet tomorrow's deadline!

Mary Helen said...

I wrote one!! Mind you , it's not necessarily going to be any good, but I picked a random subject from "The Pocket Muse" and ran with it.

Albert & The Single Shoe

Albert was late for work. His worn out '89 Colt just didn't have the gumption to start this morning, and since his wife had already left the house that left only one option for transportation. Albert would have to hoof it. As he huffed and puffed down the main road in the damp chill of an October morning, Albert was reminded of his childhood walks to the bus stop. His feet were as heavy as lead, his lungs burned with cold and anxiety. Albert was trying to stop remembering all this when he spotted the shoe.

Albert paused beside the shoe and silently considered it. It was an odd color, somewhere between blue and green, but with a dusty antiqued tone and what he suspected to be faux weathering on the creases and wooden heel. It looked relatively clean for an abandoned shoe, so Albert picked it up. Now that he was free to ponder on the go, Albert began imagining what scenario could possibly prompt a woman to toss what appeared to be a brand new shoe out the window of a moving car. It must have been tossed, right? If it had simply popped off then she would have surely gone back for it.

Perhaps an argument was to blame. Maybe the lady's husband hated the shoes and had demanded that she do away with them? Of course, that still doesn't account for the shoe being without its mate. Why throw one shoe out? What can you do with one shoe? Albert nearly swallowed his tongue when foul play occurred to him. What horrible series of events could this pump relate to? Albert imagined a one shoe'd woman hobbling down the road in the dead of night, attempting to flee some hideous aggressor. The shoe began to give Albert shivers as he began scouting the landscape for further clues. A cigarette lighter, an empty change purse, and several junk food wrappers only confirmed his foul suspicions. Albert swallowed hard and took a look over the guard rail and into the woods below the small highway. As Albert scanned the dimly lit forest tears came to his eyes. Overcome with emotion, he decided to jog the rest of the way to work so that he could report this despicable crime to the authorities as soon as possible.

No sooner had Albert run out of breath when he spotted something familiar up the road. It was the other shoe. Immediately, Albert felt a wave of relief as the mystery that clouded his single shoe dissipated. His imagination and adrenaline slowed and Albert actually found himself feeling quite silly. He picked up the second shoe, popped open his briefcase and stowed them inside. After all, why should a brand new pair of shoes go to waste?

Erika said...

Cute story, Mary Helen and what a great idea, Panoptica!

Live, Love, Laugh, Write! said...

Bookmarked this to come back an enter :)

agoodwitchtoo said...

So, my story can be found on my blog :)

http://thecoppercauldron.blogspot.com/2008/10/bit-of-silliness-really.html

Carapace said...

Ok, I said a story, didn't I? And I meant it. But...is the deadline midnight tonight or midnight tomorrow? Hep! I am confused.

panoptica said...

midnight tomorrow!!

Anonymous said...

I'll try to write something today and will come back here and post a link once I do.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I managed to write something. Here's my blog:

http://barkerbellherbsandheirlooms.blogspot.com/

Junque Rethunque said...

oh bummer! I missed it! Sounds like a great challenge for me anyway...

Anonymous said...

I made a slight mistake with my blog link. It should be:

http://barkerbellherbsandheirlooms.blogspot.com/2008/10/writing-challenge.html

Thanks! So, when are you sharing your story with us?

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