Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Words for Wednesday

The lovely Delores at Under the Porch Light has been running this meme for a considerable period of time, week after week.   Computer issues led her to bow out for a while and I took over.  When Delores' absence looked like being more permanent I begged and cajoled for other volunteers to share providing the prompts, and Words for Wednesday became a moveable feast.

Last month Jacqueline at Randomosity tested our mettle.  This month it is my turn.


Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.  Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image.   What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...  We can use some or all of the prompts.

Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog.  I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme.  If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
This week I am going to give you two sets of six words and a phrase.
First the words.
Set the first is:
  1. graveyard
  2. chapter 
  3. symbol 
  4. near  
  5. dangerous and
  6. sawdust
 Set the second:

  1. challenge 
  2. ballerina 
  3. billion 
  4. arcane
  5. conclusion  and
  6. convict
The phrase I am including this week is from one of the books I am reading and got my mind going into overdrive.  I hope it does the same for you.
'Absolution, my child, is not like the bus pass.  It does not run out.' 

***

While we are talking writing challenges I am going to throw another into the mix.

A Valentines Day challenge.

  The lovely Denise Covey and Yolanda Renee are hosting yet another WEP (Write, Edit, Publish) challenge.  The rules and timing for the challenge can be found here.  And the more the merrier.
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94 comments:

  1. DeniseinVA3 February 2016 at 06:05

    This looks fun but my brain is not working right now. I'll try to get back later.

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  2. Bob Bushell3 February 2016 at 06:30

    How is the Skinny one?

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  3. Anonymous3 February 2016 at 06:45

    Good work thank you for sharing

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  4. Linda Starr3 February 2016 at 06:49

    Another chapter in her life was over. After the funeral she stood looking at the cross a supposed symbol of goodness yet the dangerous and near death experience before his death left her feeling like a pile of sawdust blowing in the wind.

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 07:41

      Linda Starr: I hope her sawdust solidifies into a new and wonderful shape. Soon.

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    2. Lee4 February 2016 at 07:30

      I agree with EC's sentiments. :)

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  5. Linda Starr3 February 2016 at 07:15

    The ballerina entered the contest and considered it a tremendous challenge. It was a billion to one she'd make the cut. Many of the required moves for the competition were arcane. Each judge made their own conclusion and convict of any errant position of the contestants.

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 07:41

      Linda Starr: You are on a roll here. Are you going to play with the phrase too? I hope so.

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    2. Lee4 February 2016 at 07:29

      Keep spinning, Linda...did she make the cut??

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    3. Sandra Cox5 February 2016 at 05:06

      Excellent job, Linda!

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  6. Sandra Cox3 February 2016 at 07:25

    Wow. You've got lots going on. I'm kinda like Denise...only my brain is napping at the moment;0

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 07:42

      Sandra Cox: Lots of napping brains this morning (including mine). I hope you when yours wakes up inspiration strikes.

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  7. Anonymous3 February 2016 at 07:30

    I'll have to think about this one for a bit.

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 07:43

      Delores: I am convinced that your agile mind will come up with magic.

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  8. Anonymous3 February 2016 at 07:48

    Another chapter in my life has opened. I can remember so clearly lying in the sawdust in Riordan's meat shop slowly bleeding out. So near death...I managed to draw a hex symbol in the sawdust before the lights went out. When I opened my eyes again I was sitting on a mound of earth in the graveyard watching the mourners surrounding my coffin. " What on earth are they burying?", I wondered.

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 09:59

      Delores: My faith in you was more than justified.

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    2. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:29

      You leave me wanting to know more...

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    3. Strayer4 February 2016 at 03:02

      Yikes, yes, continue the story!

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    4. Lee4 February 2016 at 07:28

      Your imagination is wonderful, Delores! I love it! :)

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    5. River4 February 2016 at 14:54

      A roaming soul who doesn't realise he or she has died? I like it.

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  9. Strayer3 February 2016 at 08:34

    What an idiot, I thought to myself privately, on the rainy somber day we laid Ricky to eternal rest in the graveyard near the forest. My younger sister, who always liked my husband (god only knows why, because she didn't live with him I say), wept noisily and clung to my coat sleeve. She'd come on the bus from the far side of the city and now I'd probably have to keep her over night. Like I needed that on top of this. The priest was up there now by the grave, waving his trinkets, talking symbols and life ever after and about to drop a handful of dust over the casket as he mumbled about dust to dust. More like flesh to sawdust, I was thinking. Ricky wasn't all that bright. Drinking a case of Coors before going out to chip up the tree limbs? Seriously? He was yelling at the neighbor, whom he hates (hated) with his beer can clutched in his extended arm, loosened his grip to gesture with one finger (you can guess which) and that beer can dropped down into the running shredder. He didn't pause a second going after it, arm got caught up, pulled the rest of him in, and out he came on the other side, in kind of a tomato soup. Neighbor came running over, also clutching a beer, yelling what a dangerous stunt that was, not knowing Ricky was now the red smoosh all over the lawn. That ends the Ricky chapter of my life. My sister was leaning hard against me as Ricky's pine box was covered with dirt. The end of the service was near. My sister, a good soul (unlike me), believer in angels and unicorns, soothes me (or thinks so) by saying, he's not gone, we'll see him again, real soon too, in heaven. Or god will shoot him back here all made whole again, only he'll be like a dog or a mouse, something like that. "Absolution, my child," I said, "is not like the bus pass. It does not run out. He's absolutely dead and gone." With that we walked off, arm in arm, her still snuffling and me thinking about that fat life insurance policy I took out on Ricky after last year's chain saw incident.

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    1. Strayer3 February 2016 at 08:41

      I meant to add, before hitting publish, that the pine box was all for show, that they'd had to scoop him up into some quart mason jars and padded in the space with some of those limbs he meant to shred and dead leaves.

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    2. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 10:00

      Strayer: Brilliant. Dark, funny - and not impossible.

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    3. Lee3 February 2016 at 15:43

      Hahahahahaha! That's good...very good! :)

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    4. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:31

      Dark humour is often the best kind and in this case, you nailed it!

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    5. Strayer4 February 2016 at 03:03

      Thanks EC, Lee and Jacqueline! Makes me happy you liked it.

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  10. Merlesworld3 February 2016 at 10:23

    It was a new chapter in her life she had escaped from a abusive husband, last night she slept in a graveyard in a outbuilding on a bed of sawdust, it was dangerous to stay so near to her former house but she had a beloved dog who would not fare well living with her angry and nasty husbane so when she got a chance she would snatch Sandy, her dog and they would start a new life together, he was her symbol of freedom.
    Merle.............

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 12:39

      Merlesworld: Love it. And I hope Sandy bites her husband on their way out.

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    2. Lee3 February 2016 at 15:47

      Let's hope they did. Like EC, I hope Sandy bites the husband...twice!

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    3. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:32

      Sandy should get him neutered! The husband, not the dog...

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    4. Susan Kane4 February 2016 at 09:56

      Here's to her and Sandy escaping!

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  11. Denise Covey 3 February 2016 at 13:06

    Thank you so much Sue for the WEP Valentine's Day shout out. Sorry but my blog is hogged, so can't do Words for Wednesday at the minute but it looks like so much fun! And you know how I love a writing challenge!

    Denise :-)

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 13:20

      Denise Covey: You are a tad busy this month (which is an understatement), so your absence is totally understandable. Some other month?

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  12. River3 February 2016 at 15:25

    That's quite the varied lists you have there. I like the phrase.

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 15:29

      River: I look forward to seeing what you create.

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    2. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:28

      You always come up with something brilliant. =)

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  13. River3 February 2016 at 15:29

    I like the stories put up here quite a lot, some great efforts there.

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  14. Lee3 February 2016 at 15:41

    And here is my tale for today....using both words and phrase.

    "The old CWA Hall situated NEAR Traveston, a rural area on the southern outskirts of Gympie had been host to many country balls, dances, functions, meetings and many other types of events.

    When the organisers of the dances ran out of rosin, which was quite often, they’d lightly sprinkle a coating of SAWDUST over the floor to stop it from being a DANGEROUS CHALLENGE; to stop it from being slippery.

    A BILLION feet had glided across the polished timber floor throughout the years from its construction in the early days of the gold rush in the 19th Century. Thousands of little children had purposely, gleefully slid up and down from one end of the hall to the other in between dance breaks.

    Molly had memories filled with mixed emotions from her childhood when, under Miss Gidley’s stern eye during her ballet classes, she danced across the floor pretending she was a prima BALLERINA.

    Molly remembered vividly the times she played truant preferring to ride her pony across the paddocks with the blowing freely through her hair, than practicing endless pirouettes.

    Miss Gidley secretly favoured her above her other students knowing that one day Molly would be acclaimed dancer even if Molly, herself, wasn’t aware yet of how good she was.

    With a twinkle in her eye, Miss Gidley took Molly aside one day after she’d failed to appear for another lesson. Miss Gidley quietly said to her:

    “ABSOLUTION MY CHILD, IS NOT LIKE THE BUS PASS. IT DOES NOT RUN OUT: however, my patience might if you continue to keep up with this reckless disregard to your lessons!”

    Molly never forgot those words uttered by Miss Gidley. From that day forth she turned up, dutifully, for every ballet class in the ancient CWA Hall.

    The old building played a very interesting CHAPTER in the history of the area. It stood as a SYMBOL of times gone by.

    For many years an ARCANE rumour had been passed around mysteriously between only a few. The truth behind what had supposedly gone on was all very hush-hush. Mainly because some descendants of those caught up in the event, on all fronts, were still alive and living in the area.

    The whispered hearsay behind closed doors was about a tragic event which occurred in the mid-1800s, a century and a half ago. An escaped CONVICT had taken two hostages and holed up in the hall for nigh on a week before the troopers stormed in bringing the stand-off to a bloody CONCLUSION; one wherein one of the hostages was saved. The second hostage and the convict ended up in the GRAVEYARD."

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 16:23

      Lee: I love it - and am all too familiar with stories which are kept quiet because there are still relatives around...

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    2. Lee3 February 2016 at 20:58

      Thanks, EC. :)

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    3. River3 February 2016 at 21:16

      If only those walls could talk eh? The tales they'd tell would blow your mind.

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    4. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:35

      OOooo, a cliffhanger; love it!

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  15. The Cranky3 February 2016 at 15:53

    I'll try to come up with something and publish it on (my) Friday. Hope you and the Skinny One... and the Furry Ones... are all well.

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    1. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 16:23

      Jacquelineand...: Looking forward to it. I hope your bathroom issues are being resolved.

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    2. River3 February 2016 at 21:30

      I'm looking forward to your story too :)

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    3. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:35

      Well shuckydern! Picture me blushing.

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  16. Margaret D3 February 2016 at 17:56

    Good tales by your followers.
    Can't think of a thing - mind is blank!

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  17. Elephant's Child3 February 2016 at 18:58

    'Absolution, my child, is not like the bus pass. It does not run out.'
    I wish I could believe that. You have repeatedly given me absolution in the name of our Father. Can I trust you? Do you really know what he would do? And how can he possibly forgive me when I cannot forgive myself.

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    1. The Cranky4 February 2016 at 01:36

      Brilliant and mysterious in it's brevity!

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    2. Lee4 February 2016 at 07:25

      You've used the phrase well, EC....you've painted a clear image with the words.

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  18. River3 February 2016 at 21:11

    EC, what on earth have you done that you cannot forgive yourself for? Surely nothing is so bad. If something was done unintentionally, you should have no guilt over that.

    Anyway, I couldn't find a way to use the phrase, but my story will be up on my site on Friday. Had to work a bit harder for this one.

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 04:58

      River: It is a fictional snippet - just told in the first person. Mind you, I do find forgiving myself difficult. Looking forward to your story.

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    2. River4 February 2016 at 14:57

      picture a group of ten year old kids...

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  19. Mason Canyon3 February 2016 at 22:05

    I always enjoy reading the various ways the words and phrase can be turned into so many different unrelated tales. I especially like the phrase.

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 04:59

      Mason Canyon: The different directions the same prompts take people is amazing isn't it?

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  20. Granny Annie3 February 2016 at 22:24

    I may wish I had taken this challenge instead of the 29 Faces challenge. I am drawing a new face every day for the month of February. Yikes!

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 05:00

      Granny Annie: I couldn't even begin to attempt the 29 Faces Challenge. Loving yours.

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  21. Sonya Ann4 February 2016 at 02:30

    So many talented souls here. I love to watch. Ohhhh, word voyeurism.

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 05:01

      Sonya Ann: I too am a word voyeur. Are you going to play next week?

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  22. Sandra Cox4 February 2016 at 03:15

    The sun warmed her shoulders as she sat at the graveyard reading, her back against a freshly cut tree, sawdust at her feet. Turning the page, she started a new chapter and frowned when she saw the symbol on the header. It looked familiar. She glanced at the headstone near her and saw the same symbol. As she stared at it, a dangerous languor seeped through her. As if in slow motion, the book dropped from her hand and her body slumped.

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 05:02

      Sandra Cox: Ooooh. Love it. And want to know more.

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    2. Lee4 February 2016 at 07:26

      Eerie...and great use of the words and the reader wants to read further.

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    3. Susan Kane4 February 2016 at 09:55

      I love this...use of words almost making the words invisible!

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    4. River4 February 2016 at 14:59

      Ooooh! I love this and would love to read more.

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  23. Cloudia4 February 2016 at 07:26

    You clever people who can do such things! I'm recovering from a miserable cold/ Strange how bad the common cold can make one feel.....I hope you have been feeling well!

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 14:09

      Cloudia: I am so sorry. A cold makes a person feel vile out of all proportion to the severity of the illness. I hope you are feeling much, much better every day.

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  24. A Cuban In London4 February 2016 at 08:58

    Blimey, that's a bit of a challenge for someone who does not possess the skills of a nimble ballerina but the stealth of a convict. A billion-year-old conclusion could be that my body feels far too arcane to rise up to this challenge. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  25. Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com4 February 2016 at 17:11

    Sorry I don't have a contribution now, EC. A Cuban nailed it, though.

    Be well.

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    1. Elephant's Child4 February 2016 at 18:20

      Rawknrobyn: Next time perhaps - and you are right about A Cuban in London's contribution.

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  26. Harlynn 4 February 2016 at 23:49

    This challenge sounds fun!! I'm not quite sure how the rules go about though..
    I was once a tiny ballerina. I'd practice my twirls in the basement as my dad cut wood. Where later I'd secretly play with the sawdust. Learned the hard way how dangerous it was after splinters!

    - Harlynn
    mindyourmadness.blogspot.com

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    1. Elephant's Child5 February 2016 at 08:16

      Harlynn: Welcome. You nailed this. I remember playing with wood off-cuts too.

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  27. mail4rosey5 February 2016 at 00:08

    I imagine these kinds of exercises are so fun and welcome for the writers. They are fun to read too.

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    1. Elephant's Child5 February 2016 at 08:18

      mail4rosey: It is a fun game for lots of us. Writers, readers and dabblers. And you are right, they ARE fun to read.

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  28. Hilary Melton-Butcher5 February 2016 at 04:44

    Hi EC - great to see you posting .. and I'd love to do this Challenge - but for now am swamped with my little journey which has to be finished shortly! And I'm giving a talk on Rembrandt .. that's taking up a bit of space ... but one day a space ahead will occur and I'll settle in for a bit of fun ..

    I love the stories I've read - wonderful different takes on life and words ... Absolution ... ah well! Cheers Hilary

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    1. Elephant's Child5 February 2016 at 08:20

      Hilary Melton-Butcher: Some other time we would love to see you play.
      Are we going to see/read your Rembrandt talk? I hope so.

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  29. Anonymous5 February 2016 at 04:55

    I'm doing WEP this month! I've got just a spark of an idea right now, but hopefully it turns out ok!

    I'll have to stare at your prompts for a minute and see if anything comes of it. I like these sorts of challenges. It feels sort of like a word problem.. I don't know. If I do, it'll go up on my blog!

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    1. Elephant's Child5 February 2016 at 08:20

      Madilyn Quinn: I saw you were playing WEP - and am really looking forward to reading your take.

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  30. River5 February 2016 at 17:38

    I've added my name to the WEP list, not sure how the link works to publish on my own blog, but that's where my story will be.

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  31. The Cranky5 February 2016 at 22:13

    Mine is now done and up... it turned out to be a very strange little tale.

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  32. DMS6 February 2016 at 02:24

    What interesting sets of words. I will be mulling them over a bit and if I come up with something that makes sense I will pop back over and share. :) Such a fun idea!
    ~Jess

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    1. Elephant's Child6 February 2016 at 05:41

      DMS ~Jess: It is a fun challenge, and I hope to see you back again.

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  33. Susan Flett Swiderski6 February 2016 at 15:28

    Lots of people worked their magic with the words this time around. :)

    Thanks for the birthday wishes for my hubby. It's been a terrific day. :)

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    1. Elephant's Child6 February 2016 at 15:57

      Susan: They did didn't they? I am so glad that you and Smarticus had a wonderful day.

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