challenge

Perspective – Weekend Writing Prompt

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 4 Comments

Title:  Perspective

Source: Weekend Writing Prompt # 195 — Gargantuan

Objective: Write a poem or piece of prose in exactly 96 words

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“It’s too much.” My words floated between us and wrenched the remaining oxygen from my lungs. The acrid taste of anger lingered on my tongue, and I sunk deeper into grandpa’s wooden kitchen chair.

He patted my knee, crooked his finger, and I followed. He led me to a magical land where massive tree trunks, 100 feet in circumference, supported treetops that played among the clouds.

“Sequoiadendron giganteum,” he whispered. “They have lived here since prehistoric time, and these are three thousand years old.”

I contemplated everything the trees had seen, and my gargantuan problems disappeared.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

The Lay of the Land – Weekend Writing Prompt

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 2 Comments
Photo by Dieter de Vroomen on Unsplash

Title:  The Lay of the Land

Source:  Weekend Writing Prompt # 166 – Hinterland

Objective: Write a poem or piece of prose in exactly 87 words

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The story repeats in predictable fashion. A hopeful soul blazes through the pristine wilderness, searching for his breakthrough discovery. With luck, his reward is exotic birds, diverse species of rare orchids, and unique animals. Excited, he shares the wonder.

Tiny frontier towns sprout in the hinterland to provide the curious with accommodations while they conduct their research. A steady stream marks the beginning of an erosion that culminates in a deluge. In time, they conserve the endangered and priceless treasures in an isolated park of utopian hell.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

A Losing Battle – Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 16 Comments
watercolor pallett
PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Title: A Losing Battle

Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Word count: 100 words

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Be wary, my dear creative friend, when you say you wish to explore the seductive call of the arts. If your conviction is not solid, if your resolve is not resolute, if your ethics are not steadfast, clear, and true, then my advice to you is to run. Run, before it is too late.

Once you dip your brush, your pen, your sword, your soul is forever colored, consumed, altered.

Oblivion lurks at the bottom of a paint can, time becomes malleable, and insignificant thoughts recede.

Art has left me desperate and my car keys have been missing for weeks.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Undercurrents – Weekend Writing Prompt

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 9 Comments

Title:  Undercurrents
Source:  Weekend Writing Prompt # 167 – Nuance
Objective: Write a poem or piece of prose in exactly 52 words.

landscape photo of water wood fence

Photo by Tom van Hoogstraten on Unsplash

Our boat perched upon the quiet, mist-shrouded lake.

“Don’t expect to feel the colors, to see nuance,” the ancient fisherman’s surreal voice matched the monochrome scene.

“Sunrise fractures innocence. Only then will you appreciate the beauty we’ve lost.”

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Undercover in Broad Daylight- Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 19 Comments

Title: Attaining “High Flight” and “Slipping the Surly Bonds”
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

adobe house gate with a package sitting outside the gate

PHOTO PROMPT © Jean L. Hays

I identified the target. No one noticed the woman with a stroller. The device in my pocket would disrupt any surveillance cameras, but I still needed a diversion.

Stalling, I cooed to the baby. A panel van heading toward me promised the perfect cover for my heist. Timing was everything. I resumed my walk, activated the disruptor, and counted. The truck and my stroller converged at the package.

With payment confirmed, I dropped the package in the black sedan’s trunk. Safe from prying eyes, I removed my mask, hat, sunglasses, and wig. Since the virus, disguises were so much easier.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Lofty Undertaking – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 9 Comments

Title: Lofty Undertaking
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story about justice for all.
Word count:  99 words

orange canoe on lake surrounding with mountain at daytime Steep valley sides and moody clouds made this paddle an overwhelming experience. Gudvangen is one of the most beautiful places in Norway!

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

Skyscrapers defined the canyon walls of Anders’ world. Imposing shadows modulated light and dark and framed his existence. He marched predictable paths that left him stuck in mechanized monotony.

Searching for more, his friends convinced him to kayak a Norwegian fjord. Landmasses dwarfed anything he had ever seen. The guides told stories of massive sperm whales, sixty feet long and weighing eighty tons, that ate giant squid who swam four thousand feet below his kayak’s thin fiberglass shell.

Anders imagined he was the whale, diving deep, he hunted dark waters. He breached the surface, reborn, and ready to soar.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Attaining “High Flight” and “Slipping the Surly Bonds”- Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 25 Comments

Title: Attaining “High Flight” and “Slipping the Surly Bonds”
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

looking up into a hot air balloon with blue sky

PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio

“You’re full of hot air.”

“Who do you think you are?”

“You can’t.”

“You’ll never—”

Eyes closed, I clap my hands over my ears, hum to drown the sound of their echoing fear, and search for the quiet cry.

Creativity, inner voice, muse, true self, she answers to many names.

Squashed, derided as child’s play, and nothing more than popsicle sticks, school glue, and glitter, she retreated.

I had rejected false experts, and I resolved to change. I hitched my life to Creativity with a capital “C,” vowed to prove the naysayers wrong, and I floated towards the stars.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Take It All Back – Flash Fiction Challenge

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 12 Comments

Title: Take It All Back
Source:  Flash Fiction Challenge
Prompt: Write a story about justice for all.
Word count:  99 words

man sketching portrait of woman

Photo by Samuel Castro on Unsplash

It should have been a simple assignment. A modest portrait of his patron’s daughter. While he didn’t like children as his subject, the commission promised to launch his budding career.

Except, when she showed for her appointment, she wasn’t a child. She was no blushing bride-to-be, but a temptress with a siren’s song. Engaged, another man’s prize, she exchanged the poor artist’s heart with her own. Forbidden love blossomed.

There was only one solution.

“I cannot do her justice,” he declared, “For all our sakes, take these godforsaken sketches, and I will try to forget I ever met her.”

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

Silver Linings – Weekend Writing Prompt

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 11 Comments

Title:  Silver Linings
Source:  Weekend Writing Prompt # 159 – Intrepid
Objective: Write a poem or piece of prose in exactly 52 words.

Airstream Travel Trailer on a Mountainside with Big Sky

Photo by Airstream Inc. on Unsplash

A derelict Airstream sat on the family’s vacation property. Tyler’s grandmother peeled apart pages of a fragile photo album, each image prompting stories of grand adventures shared with friends and loved ones.

Inspired, the intrepid Tyler devised a plan. Grandmother’s memory guided the trailer’s restoration and the promise of a remarkable life.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer

An Everyday Hero – Friday Fictioneers

/ JoHawkTheWriter / 13 Comments

Title: An Everyday Hero
Source:  Friday Fictioneers sponsored by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple
Word count: 100 words

empty diner plate

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Earl pushed the paper cap askew and wiped sweat from his forehead. The tiny kitchen was warmer than Hades.

As a kid, he dreamed of saving the world. He ran with his red cape streaming behind him. Flying in the sky, he shot lasers from his eyes and righted every wrong. He remembered the moment a disbeliever’s careless shoe squashed his purpose. Disillusioned, he became a hash-slinger, cooking meals for hungry customers regardless of their ability to pay.

A grimy hand returned an empty plate. “You saved my life, Earl.”

Sad eyes brimmed with unshed tears. It was payment enough.

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Keep on writing.

Jo Hawk The Writer