I’m writing this in bed, listening to the occasional rain, trying not to barf all over you.
See, somewhere between noon and 1PM, I suddenly and violently came down with a burny stomach/bloody sinus malady, and it’s not been attractive nor amusing.
Still, PROMPTuesday must not suffer. No instead my husband will bear the brunt of my weak calls for toast and the putrid rice yogurt I bought in a dairy-free fit, while I compose the lamest PROMPTuesday ever.
And with that illustrious introduction, here it is:
Start a story with the sentence, “It was a dark and stormy night.“
Why?
Because it is.
Meanwhile, let me just prop myself up and extend a fever-soaked fingertip toward the keyboard to type out the rules:
- Try to write your entry in 10 minutes. This encourages top-of-mind, primal thinking before the ego and judgmental brain kick in. Just set a timer, make your kid count to 600 slowly, whatever. It’s an honor system. And I trust you.
- Aim for 250 words or less.
- Please have fun. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Together, let’s rediscover the simple joy in the writing process.
- Post your submission in the comments OR post in your blog and leave a link to your blog in the comments.
Wanna catch up on the PROMPTuesdays archive? It’s here.
It was a dark and stormy night. Phil “The Fish” Robertson was battling the storm with a tacky umbrella and some holed canvas shoes.
Picked the wrong day to wear these buggers, he thought. Picked the wrong day to give this bloody umbrella another chance, he grumbled. Picked the wrong day to give up my bottle-of-red-a-night habit, me mused wryly, and staggered homeward.
Hellman’s Mayonnaise, he swore.
“The Fish” picked the wrong day to lock himself out.
Blog This Mom! has posted “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night.”
Feel better, dear Deb!
Cheri’s post reminded me to play…but I had two stories in me: It was a dark and stormy night…
Mine is up and called Hyperbole.
Feel better, Deb!
It was a dark and stormy night, although the weather was perfect.
How’s that for a short story?
I’m just going to say it right now, I am no good at writing this in 1 minutes. With all the interuptions I loose track of time and once it is quiet I loose myself in the story. I hope you enjoy it anyways.
Short and silly.
It was a dark and stormy night. Just the way she liked it. She lay light as a feather, stiff as a board on her cushy mattress, and the comforter tickled her chin, but just below, because she hated when the irregularly washed fabric crept up toward her nose. She twisted toward the barely open window, clacking her toes, just listening to the rain throw itself down the gutters. At its best, the torrents sounded like fingers tapping a keyboard, prolific and sure; at its worst, an angry knocking at the door.
A moment before, as the electric atmosphere charged through the crack in the window, she’d withdrawn her iPod earphones, all the better to imagine the wind whip, the trees bend. Such apt reflection. Or was it projection? She couldn’t tell anymore.
The creaking stairs foretold his approach, and she shut her eyes tight against the storm; its comfort, its telepathy. But he walked by her with a light step, just closed the window with a teeny sigh not meant to wake her, and took his place beneath the cold sheets, seeming careful to leave the comforter just under her chin.
This just sounds like a fantastic way to spend a rainy day. Thanks for the prompt and the inspiration to write.
Feel better. Mine is posted at my site:
vixensden.com
http://blognut-moremindlessrambling.blogspot.com/2009/02/promptuesday-43-same-girl-different-day.html
It’s up – feel better Deb!
By the way, your story rocks.
OK, I’ve got mine up. I, too, get lost in the writing and take more than 10 minutes – maybe 1/2 hour. But I always start right after I read the prompt, and don’t go back. I look for a picture after I’m done.
http://www.doves2day.blogspot.com
Great writing so far, everyone!
And don’t worry about the rules, they’re just loosey goosey anyway. I’m just glad we’re all writing and sharing.
Deb
Jiminy Christmas, Deb — you wrote THAT when you’re hurling all over the place?! That would have taken me a week, and then — well, I could never have written that. You rock.
But I did write, and I plugged what you do. may it send some creative souls your way. I know many creative souls. : )
http://foolery.typepad.com/foolery/2009/
02/it-was-a-dark-and-stormy-night.html
Plus, I hope you feel better, and until you do? OC Housewives, baby.
It was a dark and stormy night. It was a smark and normy night. I swas a shark and dormey night. ” Honey, wheres my drink? I’m trying to WRITE over here……….”
This was great. So many outcomes from just a dark and stormy night. I confess, I love dark and stormy nights. I know I lost a few of you in my post. I took an idea from Ray Bradbury’s book, Farenheit 451. It’s a good read, if your into books that make you think.
I think I can categorically state that this is the finest
piece I have ever written about frolicking rainbow ponies. Get well, Deb!
There is something decidedly depressing about mine, but it’s what came to mind. Sorry.
http://alwayshisangel.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/622/
Pssst! Foolery sent me!
http://www.ithinkwereallbozos.com/2009/02/19/it-was-a-dark-and-stormy-night/