This meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Week after week she provided us with challenging prompts. 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 movable feast. Delores discontinued her blog for a while, but she has returned, and we are grateful..
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. I have
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 month the prompts I will be providing the prompts here. The prompts will be here next month too, but will be provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton. Her prompts will include photographs taken by her friend Bill.
As always, I am hunting for more people to challenge us. Delores has volunteered, and I have an extra month of prompts from Margaret et al, but would like more. If you are able to play please let me know in the comments (including which month would suit you best).
This week's prompts are:
- watch
- limit
- rush
- luminous
- dashing
- quack
AND/OR
- cactus
- creep
- shake
- haircut
- shadow
She felt no need to rush this moment, the days of her dashing about were long over. She would put no limit on her time, just let the hours creep away as she sat on the pier to watch the luminous moon glowing from behind the shadow of the clouds.
ReplyDeleteNow let me see if I can work these words into another chapter about Tom.
River: I like your quick use of the prompts - and hope you can work some at least of them into Tom's story.
DeleteYou're already on a roll, River. I'm looking forward to reading your story on Friday. :)
DeleteA little back story, this is Cherie, Tom's Mum, taking a few moments at the end of her photography assignment.
Delete(I just now decided that)
Oooh, nice initial use of the words, River.
DeleteLetters, that spell it out, well, I think??????????????
ReplyDeleteBob Bushell: Alphabet soup?
DeleteI glanced at my watch--4:15. Almost time for rush hour. After dashing from one appointment to another all day, I had reached my limit.
ReplyDeleteAs I turned the corner, something dark and luminous landed at my feet in a flurry of fluttering feathers. I blinked. The feathers belonged to a duck. And its faced looked just like my recently-deceased aunt, complete with cocked head and one crazy eye.
"Quack?"
"Aunt Candice? Is that you?"
"Quack!" The duck waddled a few paces, stopped, turned its head and looked at me. It motioned with its head for me to follow.
I did.
Carol Kilgore: Love it - and am wondering just where Candice Duck is going to take you...
DeleteThis is fun. It brought a smile to my face (where else would a smile appear, I wonder?)
DeleteWell done, Carol. :)
Oooh! Where is Aunt Candice leading her??
DeleteHA! Brilliant, Carole. And you left me with a smile on my face.
DeleteGood to read ... thanks everyone
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~ Jan: I hope some day you will join us. It is a lot of fun.
DeleteOne drink made John feel dashing and debonair. A very welcome feeling after the rush and insanity of a very busy week. Standing at the bar he ran his fingers through his spiky new haircut, and forgot his mother saying 'it looks like a cactus'.
ReplyDeleteTwo drinks? Brave and bold. He could speak to people he usually admired from afar, shake their hands and feel confident he was their equal.
Three drinks? John's inner stand-up comic emerged. Every time his new boss Dr Donald came by, John quacked. Loudly. Quack, Quack, QUACK. She didn't laugh. His workmates didn't laugh, and Lisa told him he was behaving like a creep. John didn't agree, and waddled after Dr Donald quacking merrily.
In the light of a sober (and unemployed) day he shuddered. Without a shadow of a doubt he had ruined what could have been a promising career. He really, really needed a print saying WATCH IT!!! YOU HAVE A TWO DRINK LIMIT engraved in his brain. In foot high luminous flashing letters.
Hahaha! I know people like John.
DeleteThat'll teach him! Good one, EC. Love it! :)
DeleteI know a few who could use a two drink limit too. Love this story.
DeleteLike! :)
DeleteOr just a soft drink ... I'd hate to be out of work like that - I'm feeling for him now - lovely story telling ... H
DeleteLove it! Funny and... sobering. For a lot of people, restrictive drink limits sound like a pretty darned good idea.
DeleteAnd here is my effort for this week...
ReplyDelete"All the locals in the small town were on the WATCH. They gathered on corners mumbling together secretively. Stories were being passed from one to the other over cups of tea in cosy kitchens.
The new doctor who had arrived in town may be DASHING, tall, dark and handsome with a LUMINOUS smile that would light up the darkest room, but rumours quickly spread throughout the town that he was a QUACK.
To her dismay, Mrs. Rush knew from past experiences, once a rumour started it spread rapidly like a plague, and was as difficult to eradicate. Rumours spread faster than wildfire.
Try as she might, nothing Mrs. RUSH said would SHAKE her fellow members of the Bridge Club out of their childish, harmful beliefs about the doctor.
Why everyone was in such a RUSH to discredit him pushed Mrs. Rush to the LIMIT of her patience.
A dark SHADOW had descended over the little community. It made her flesh CREEP and the hairs on her back stand upright like prickles on a CACTUS.
She was deeply disappointed by the community's behaviour.
While visiting the hairdresser for her monthly HAIRCUT, Mrs. Rush was startled and angered when she saw the headline in the daily newspaper.
There in was in large PRINT for the whole town to see, and no doubt, gloat over.
Their baseless vendetta, their nasty, false rumours had succeeded in causing the doctor to pack up his stethoscope and leave town."
Lee: I really like this - and wish it wasn't too often true.
DeleteNice one Lee; small town gossip is often the death of many a new venture, even worse to have a new doctor pack up and leave too soon.
DeleteThat it is, River. I hate gossip; and I never listen to it...nor do I spread it.
DeleteThanks! :)
Terrific job, Lee. Gossip and nasty rumors have murdered the reputations of many good people.
DeleteGreat words...I shall apply myself. And, any month or two or three you like EC, doesn't matter to me.
ReplyDeleteonly slightly confused: Thank you so much. And I love your take on the words too.
DeleteI need to start trying more of these. I find that when I pop in I am too tired to participate, but I do enjoy reading what others share. :) I need to check them before work!
ReplyDelete~Jess
DMS ~Jess: Some time I hope that your busy life allows you to join us, but it is lovely to have readers too.
Deletehaiku
ReplyDeleteWhy watch the limit
Rush in oh luminous one
Dashing ways of quack
(don't be afraid to act)
Martin Kloess: Haiku are beyond me.
DeleteI posted this on my blog (it's till Tuesday here in the USA):
ReplyDeletehttp://jannghi.blogspot.com/2017/05/words-for-wednesday-post.html
Jamie Ghione: Thank you. I loved your little dance with the words, and hope you join us again next week.
DeleteYour entry is amusing. I'm afraid I have no mojo for this one right now, but I'm glad you're still running with these. I'll get back to it sometime.
ReplyDeleteTake care, EC.
Rawknrobyn: Whenever you are ready. And if you are never ready that is ok too. I hope your mojo is allowing you some fun.
DeleteLooking forward to seeing what folks come up with. You did most excellent work with yours! :)
ReplyDeletemail4rosey: Thank you. I am always amazed at the different directions the same prompts take people.
DeleteMy head feels addled tonight, EC. Can't think of a thing to write!
ReplyDeleteMarie Smith: Some other time - and I hope your poor head recovers.
DeleteWatch out you stupid creep! silently yelled Debbie as she spied the guy who was always in a rush, dashing in and out of the doors in the hallway. Him with his perfect haircut, luminous smile and unctuous demeanor trying his best to impress everyone at work. No, not really everyone. He never paid any attention to anyone he considered his underling. He dismissed them as if they were shadows or moving bodies who occupied HIS realm as objects to do his bidding. He had been there a year and other than a compulsory shake and "welcome to the job" greeting on his first day, there had been no interaction between them other than occasional eye contact. His words and constant sucking up were only spent on those in higher management. In the break room he was often the topic of whispered discussion and branded everything from a jack ass, to a brown noser to a quack, to a jerk. He was clearly under qualified for even his low level management and no one could understand how he ever landed the job. They especially hated how he dashed about like he owned the place.
ReplyDeleteOne particular afternoon he flew past Dianne, tossed a report at her and said "Print times 7". There was no request, no please no thank you in advance. It was like she was a faceless nameless creature to procure his seven copies . And that is when she finally reached her limit. In the months that followed there was varying water cooler gossip about what happened next, but somehow while hurrying through the halls right after he passed Debbie, snatching his copies without a word of thanks, he managed to trip and fall into the succulent display at the end of the cubicles. When he managed to get to his feet he wore a grimace along with about 500 cactus spines. Poor Debbie. She was so gad she was invisible to him or he might have seen the barest wisp of a smile on her face. For once she did not mind having to hold everything inside, for if she let it out the entire office would be flooded with gales of laughter
Anne in the kitchen: I worked with someone like that. We put his rapid rise through the ranks down to 'suck skills for success'. And loathed the man.
DeleteYay Dianne. Karma cactus bit him. Good.
I worked with one whose constant sucking up was only spent on those in higher management, but she didn't manage to rise through any ranks. She just wasn't good enough.
DeleteI once worked with someone like that, too. Matter of fact, I had to train him to take over my job when I left to have a baby. (Yeah, a loooong time ago...) I wish I'd had the opportunity to introduce his smug. sucking-up, lying face to a few cactus plants... :)
DeleteThe luminous dial of her watch flashed white and changed to a mushroom cloud of rainbow colours. Mental eye roll. Another one of those. What did he think? She’d be impressed by cheap tricks? She turned, looked him over once and then moved her gaze to his drink. She blinked, raising her eyelids slowly, smoothly lowered them back again.
ReplyDeleteThe dark liquid in his glass rose in sparkling drops, one by one, and formed into a circle and then into a ‘Q,’ which she kept spinning lazily at eye level. She could feel his sudden rush of unease. Not so dashing now, eh?
She blew out her breath in an invisible ring of air. The glass rose up and she flipped it in midair behind the revolving Q and let the liquid collect into an inverted cone and held it quite still, effortlessly, there at the very edge before a fall. His field and demeanour shrank before her. The watch-face changed back to its normal self. She smiled a dismissive smile and set his glass down at the counter with all its contents intact, and turned her back to him. He wouldn’t bother her again tonight.
These upstarts. They were the limit. Called themselves healers and magicians but didn’t have the stamina to move a drop of liquid even. A perfect pandemic of them lately. Total quacks. She’s have to look for a new hang out again.
*She'd have to look for a new hang out again.
DeleteNilanjana Bose: Love it. Definitely a woman to respect.
Delete:)
DeleteA poem for the second set:
The small print is a cactus thorn,
the terms like a bad haircut;
this deal she cannot shake on,
this deal she will not take on!
It should have now been final, but…
all she feels is a raging scorn,
all she feels is fury torn
along the edge as that creep struts
up and down shadows, deceit.
She gets quietly to her feet.
Nilanjana Bose: I hope those quiet feet are practised in the gentle art of kick boxing...
Deleteintriguing Nilanjana Bose, I like the mental images I have now.
DeleteWell, I was thinking more in terms of a karate chop, but kick boxing will do fine too :)
Delete@River thank you. Glad you enjoyed the images.
The luminous glowworm had no intention of dashing or rushing – it needed to wait and watch for the sky to start getting its own glow back, when the limit of its light would no longer be needed.
ReplyDeleteAround here the birds are already singing their dawn chorus, the roosters’ circadian rhythms have clicked into place … coock a doodle doo rings out, ducks start to quack – all this cacophony awakes the bleary-eyed human …
… the new day starts afresh … the light cycle has begun … and our daily tasks start anew …
Cheers Hilary - mine has too!
Hilary Melton-Butcher: I love the way you depicted the start of the day. I beat the birds up this morning, and will be very happy to retire. Early. I love your light cycle though, and hope your day is wonderful.
DeleteYou painted a lovely picture, Hilary.
DeleteThis week's chapter came fairly easily, probably it helped that I stayed home all day, so had time to work on it. It will be on my blog on Friday.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I am really, really looking forward to it. I was out for a lot of today, after minimal sleep. Tomorrow I plan on doing as little as possible.
DeleteI always enjoy reading these prompts. My brain is too jumbled to try my hand at it today but I do so enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteMason Canyon: There are always some really creative uses of the prompts aren't there. Even when my brain is out to lunch I enjoy them.
DeleteLoved this list of words! Mine features a character I've been developing elsewhere and can be found on my blog Words & Worlds for anyone who's interested.
ReplyDeletehttps://dragonquillca.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the inspiration!
Carolyn McBride: I have been, I have enjoyed, I have applauded.
DeleteGood luck everyone!
ReplyDeleteCloudia: Thank you. Some day you WILL join us. Please.
DeleteAfter crossing the desert for a week my horse and I were dusty, dry, and thirsty. Although we had stayed hydrated we had lost weight and our shadow was noticeably thinner. Seven days of sand, dust, and cactus had dulled our senses and we needed to get cleaned up. I took care of my stalwart gelding first by washing him off to cool him down and get the dust off. When I finished he finally gave a shake the droplets flying off of him were mostly clear instead of muddy. The livery stable was near the hotel so I headed over there for a place to rest my weary bones. The hotel owner said he had a room and the bathwater had only been used twice so I stopped in that room for a soak. A sign in the room said “Shave and Haircut, 1 dollar”. The letters were in a rather large red print which I hoped wasn’t blood from the victims of the haircut and shave. Thought it would make me a bit more handsome. I was finally presentable, but only had the energy to creep off to bed instead of going to the saloon for a visit with my favorite barmaid. At least I wouldn’t stink when I visited her the next day.
ReplyDeleteLOVE it! (And you said you weren't a writer...) I especially like the part about his shadow getting thinner and hoping the red sign wasn't blood from earlier shave-and-a-haircut customers. Nice tale told with good humor. (It doesn't stink at all!)
DeleteJono: I also love it - and suspect the favourite barmaid will be grateful too.
DeleteThis is very good Jono, I laughed at the bathwater has only been used twice bit.
DeleteThanks! I do find these word prompts fun. Sometimes there is an almost immediate picture in my mind. Thanks for these, EC!
DeleteAlejandro watched the limits of known physics rush by him as the starlight turned to smears that streaked across the black canvas called space. Their luminous shine was dashing past at several times the speed of light and several thousands times the limit any other of his colleagues claimed was possible with today's technology.
ReplyDelete"Quack." they had called him.
"We'll see who's quacking now that I've developed warp technology." he muttered to himself as he killed the engines and pivoted back in the direction of Earth.
Nice job. Isn't that the goal of science? To make the impossible... possible.
DeleteRobert Bennett: Hooray for people who refuse to be limited.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHow about I do the challenge in a single sentence?
ReplyDeleteWatch the speed limit as you rush toward the luminous stranger, for though dashing he may be, his psychiatrist defines him as a "quack." ;)
Aren't you the clever one? Nice job.
DeleteCrystal Collier: Now that is facing the challenge and raising the bar to high-jump level.
DeleteDear Elephant's Child, I've never been very good at prompts and creative writing. But maybe trying this would help me get better. So here goes with this week's prompts:
ReplyDelete"Slowing to the speed limit--5 miles an hour--I watched the quacking ducks waddle across the sidewalk and then dash in a rush toward a pond made luminous by sun-filtered rain drops."
Peace.
Dee: I like it. A lot. And would love to see some sun-filtered rain drops too.
DeleteThe 3D cactus print came out of the machine slowly. Prickly still and looking like a mohican haircut, it cast a shadow on the floor. An easterly wind began to creep in through the window. The plant started to shake.
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
A Cuban in London: I can so see that. Well done.
DeleteHappy Writing to all.
ReplyDeleteThe Happy Whisk: Thank you. Some day you will join us.
Delete:-)
DeleteThe Happy Whisk: I am taking that as a positive. Soon?
DeleteI dunno. I don't rule it out but I don't think about it either. But I do enjoy reading what you guys publish.
DeleteThe Happy Whisk: When and if you decide to join us you will be very welcome. While you are just reading? You are still very welcome.
DeleteThanks. I really just enjoy reading them.
DeleteSo fun reading these comments here. Very well done, everyone!
ReplyDeleteLux G.: Thank you. I had fun, and I hope everyone else did too.
DeleteI enjoyed reading all of these so much!
ReplyDeletejenny_o: I am glad.
DeleteThese are fun :)
ReplyDeleteDenise inVA: Aren't they?
DeleteI love how you make writing a community affair!
ReplyDeleteThe best work gets done that way, I imagine.
Big cheers to you in the stringing together
of words:) (so much i love about that!)
-Jennifer
Jennifer Richardson: Thank you. I am a big believer in the value of community (though my introverted self needs time away too).
DeleteDashing into the dune a lone duck quack; luminous colors rush the sky with no limit.
ReplyDeleteA prickly cactus shadow on sand; a snake tail shake, a lizard creep, print in my mind.
Linda Starr: Love the snippets which printed on your mind.
DeleteThese are fun, and I loved reading through all the comments!
ReplyDeleteLove Affair with Food: Welcome and thank you. They are fun. Perhaps you would like to join us next week?
DeleteInteresting post! Thanks for sharing! 👌👌👌
ReplyDeletecarolina g. ticala: Welcome and thank you. I hope you will join us next week.
Delete