Writing Exercises

Death Trap: Friday Fictioneers 100 word story challenge

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This is my first attempt at the Friday Fictioneers 100 word story challenge, so be kind LOL 🙂

Death Trap

I stood breathing heavily, being as still as I could possibly be as the old elevator clunked and rattled around me.

It ground to a halt on the top floor. With an ear piercing screech I scraped the old metal gates open and stepped out. I let out a sigh, I hadn’t plummeted to my death and the decrepit old thing had managed to struggle, surge and take me up to the loft in this rank old warehouse.

What was he thinking? I swear my boyfriend is nuts for purchasing this old rundown warehouse, the lift alone is a death trap.

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Ghostwriter

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Ghostwriter: Post 67 of 365 post prompt 2014

Today’s post asks us: if we could have any Author living or dead write our biography, who would we choose.

Well that’s dead easy.dr-seuss-tee

Seriously what an awesome biography that would be.

She meant what she said and said what she meant.

Oh how wonderful Sarah’s life was spent.

She was born in the early morn.

………….and on and on it would go.

Just think about it people. And here now enjoy some classic Dr Seuss.

2 3 5 6dr-seuss-the-thinks-you-can-think-quote

And my all-time Dr Seuss favourite;

How did it get so late so soon?

Its night before its afternoon.

December is here before its June.

My goodness how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon?

Playlist of the week

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Playlist of the week. Post 66 of 365 post prompt 2014.

Today’s post asks us to write about how our week went putting together five songs that represent it.

Well I’ve decided I’d sum up an average seven day week in the life of me:

Manic Monday. Swimming Lesson. A hard day’s night. Money. Stuck in the middle with you. Family of noise. Stand by me.

MONDAY would be represented by The Bangles ‘Manic Monday’. It’s just another manic Monday. Everyone can relate, no one likes Mondays. Everyone still wishes it was Sunday ‘cause that’s our funday, when we don’t have to runday.

TUESDAY would be represented by The Eels ‘Swimming Lesson’. It’s a downer of a song and I’m only choosing it because of its title. I take my son to swimming lessons on Tuesdays.

WEDNESDAY would be represented by The Beatles ‘Hard Day’s Night’. Wednesday. Hump Day. Who doesn’t feel like they’ve been working like a dog!

THURSDAY would be represented by The Beatles ‘Money’. Thursday is payday. I want money, that’s what I want. Enough said.

FRIDAY would be represented by Stealers Wheel ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’. Because by Friday sometimes I do feel like there is clowns to the left of me jokers to the right.

SATURDAY would be represented by Adam Ant ‘Family Of Noise’. Saturday normally the three of us get to be together and go out and do something as a family. So I’m picking this song for its title, because with my son and I, we definitely are a Family of Noise.

SUNDAY would be represented by Ben E. King ‘Stand By Me’. Stand by me is one of my all-time favourite songs and it suits a loving, lazy, snuggly, family Sunday.

 

 

VIP

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VIP: Post 65 of 365 Post Prompts for 2014.

Hey, only 300 more to go LOL!

Today’s post asks us who is the most important person in our lives and how would our day-to-day existence be different without them.

Well that’s an easy question for me = My Son.

Riley and Me

Life without my son would be; quieter, cheaper, I’d get to sleep in, I’d have privacy and time to myself. But I wouldn’t have as much love or as many smiles. There would be a hole in my soul, so large I couldn’t control and I think my existence would fade away.

Places

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Places: Post 58 of 365 post prompts 2014 (M29)

Places: Today’s post asks us; Beach, Mountain, Forest, or somewhere else entirely?

The sweet delicious smell of white cedar trees fills the air and I see the beautiful trees everywhere with their delicate white, pink and purple flowers.

I’m standing out the front of my Grandparent’s onsite Caravan at Lostock Caravan Park, a place that fills a lot of my childhood memories.

There are beautiful green rolling hills all around me and I’m filled with a sense of love and happiness.

I can hear the rapids running, the cows mooing and life singing along.

As the day turns into night camp fires are lit and the air fills with another of my favourite smells.

I sit and warm myself. My soul is at peace. My soul is home.

Comedy of Errors

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Comedy of Errors – Post 55 of 365 writing post prompts 2014 (M29)

Murphy’s Law says, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Today’s post asks us to write about a time when everything did go wrong (Fiction Encouraged).

Once upon a time

In a land not far away

I was supposed to get married

To a bloke named Murphy

Oh yay!

But on the day there was a massive storm

And by the time I made it to the chapel

The wind had blown the roof away

And turned the chapel to rubble

We made it to a replacement

A little country chapel on a hill

And as we were about to say the words

There came another wicked rumbling still

We were trampled by herds

The cows came charging in

And carried Murphy off

After all this I was rather cross

My beautiful white dress was soaked right through

And when I thought it couldn’t get worse

I tripped and fell in cow poo

I made my way home

And a few days later

A call came from Murphy

The cows had carried him half way round Australia

He said he wanted to try again

I told him there was no way the cows had killed all the men that were going to cater

No Yay!

I was sad and solemn as I hung up the phone

All I wanted was a man with which I could create a nice little home

So I went down the street

And who did I happen to meet

A man named bob

He was rather drunk on grog

And he agreed to marry me right there

We ran off and eloped

Bob was better than I had hopped

But every now and then I miss Murphy

Maybe I should have married that man

Oh well it’s too late now

I still cry every time I see a cow

Weekly Writing Challenge: Object

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As I look around my desk trying to decide on an object I pick up my thermos and have a drink.

My Thermos. I love my Thermos, so why not talk about it. It’s a shiny midnight blue steel 750 ml container – so it’s not the prettiest thing in the world, but it’s functional. I was told when I bought it that it would give me 12 of heat and 24 hours of cold retention. I bought my thermos late last year at a 4wd, Fishing and Camping Expo that my husband, my baby son and I attended. There were a great number of things I would have liked to have purchased at that expo, but I was a good girl and only came away with the thermos (my husband did buy a bunch of other camping equipment).

I learnt the hard way with heat. I made a cup of coffee, poured it into my thermos and took it to work. After about two hours I gave up and tipped it into a regular mug so it would cool down enough so I could drink it. Now if I choose to put coffee in it I make it drinking temperature. Mainly though I just use my thermos as a drink bottle. I rarely manage to drink as much water as I should, but with the water being kept cold I end up drinking more, Yay!

Now just for fun – An ode to my Thermos:

Oh Thermos all shiny and blue

You keep my water cold

How much I love you

Your stainless steel construction

Makes you nice and tough

Which is a good thing because I’m careless

And your life is pretty rough

I fill you up with cold water

And toss you in the car

You bounce and roll all over the place

And it leaves not a dent or a scar

Oh my gosh your awesome

Oh how much I love you

I am so fortunate to have bought you

thermos

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/writing-challenge-object/

Buffalo Nickel

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Today’s Post entitled Buffalo Nickel asks us to dig through our couch cushions, purse or the floor of our car and look at the year printed on the first coin we find, and then write about what we were doing that year.

Hahahaha well the first coin I pulled out of my wallet was a twenty cent piece from 1967.

I wasn’t born in 1967; in fact my mother was only 9 years old and would have still been attending Toronto Primary School. My mother, my Aunt Sharon and my Grandparents would have only recently moved from their small flat in Victory parade above the Workshop that was owned by my great grandfather at the time, to their first real family home, which is where my grandparents still live in Carey Bay. So 1967 was probably a very good year for my mother.

My father, well he would have been 9 years old also, but I’ve never heard any particular stories about that year. Most of his childhood stories are along the line of catching snakes in the bush. He tells stories of getting bitten and getting sick, stories of putting the captured snakes in his dad’s bird cages, then getting in trouble when all his dads birds started to disappear, but none of the stories have a date.

So I thought I’d see that was happening in Australia in 1967 – Here are the things I found interesting:

On the 7th February Massive bushfires devastate much of the Tasmanian capital of Hobart and surrounding areas. Well nothing much has changed there we are and will always be a country ravaged by fire.

On the 1st March the Royal Australian Navy replaced the British White Ensign flag on all its ships with the Australian White Ensign. Woo Hoo we’re Aussie and proud.

On the 4th April the Australian government announces it will not ban the oral contraceptive pill, maintaining that the risk of thrombosis is “very slight”. THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT!!

On the 27th May Indigenous Australians are given the right to be counted in the national census after a national referendum and legislation changing citizenship laws. IT’S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!!!!

On the 1st July the postcode system of postal address coding is introduced throughout Australia. Wow I’d never thought of a time when it didn’t exist! How on earth did they get the mail to the right people?

On the 1st August Qantas Airways drops the word ‘Empire’ from its name.

On the 1st October the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service is established.

DRAMA!! Our Prime Minister was Harold Holt in 1967 until 19th December, when Holt disappears while swimming in heavy surf at Cheviot Beach in Victoria. Following the disappearance of Holt, Country Party leader John McEwen is sworn in as interim Prime Minister pending the election of a new government leader by the Coalition parties. BUT 20th December John McEwen announced he will not serve in a government led by Liberal Party deputy leader William McMahon, Harold Holt’s presumed successor, triggering a leadership crisis for the Coalition.

AND the most important thing that happened in 1967 and my ‘Tory’ loving daddy will agree: General Motors Holden exports its 100,000th car and launches its first compact sedan, the Torana! Yeah Baby!!!

Post 52 of 365 Writing Prompts 2014 (M29)

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda

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Post 41 of 365: Today’s post ask us to write about something we know we should do but don’t.

This is the first 365 Writing Prompt Post I’ve managed to do for February, so maybe I should say; I Should do my 365 daily post to stretch myself and improve my writing. In my defense I’ve just had way too much going on and my writing has taken a back seat.

There are endless things I should do but don’t:

  1. Exercise more – I don’t think I need to explain this one.
  2. Wash my dogs more often – Poor dirty doggies, I think the effort that has to go into washing Buster has something to do with it. Our three year old female wolfhound cross Ellie loves water, be it swimming or rolling in puddles, so washing her isn’t an issue. Our fourteen year old male wolfhound cross Buster on the other hand hates water. If you’re walking Buster past a body of water larger than a small puddle he will pull at full strength in the opposite direction to get away from it. At full strength Buster is stronger than me, regardless of his age he is a big strong dog, who has a wonderful temperament and is very loving, except when it comes to water. We have to tie him to the clothes line to wash him and you always end up tangled in the rope yourself. He will run around and around the clothes line until there is no rope left. He bucks and barks and really doesn’t enjoy it. He has gotten better as he’s gotten older, he’ll give up after a while on fighting getting washed now as long as he get heaps of tummy rubs during the event to keep him calm. Buster was already six years old when I first met him, as my husband already had him before we met. My husband purchased Buster from a mate’s farm when he was about two, he had been a working dog. Shane says that Buster has always been this way with water. I think that maybe as a young pup he might have nearly drowned in a dam or something.
  3. Try to Swear less – I’m fucking terrible, ask anyone who knows me personally not professionally. I do try and keep my language in check at work. If I’m with people I’m comfortable with or I get a few drinks into me or I hurt myself, then the ‘Bad Words’ come flying out.
  4. Put money aside for a raining day – My husband is a Spend Now Worry Later kind of person, it drives me nuts. Trying to get savings in the bank is nearly impossible these days, it’s always one thing after another. I have set my husband and myself some strict rules of late so we can attempt to rectify this one.
  5. Look after myself better – I don’t think I need to explain this one either. Most mothers put their own needs, health and wellbeing last, hell most women put their own needs last.
  6. Drive slower – Now I don’t fly around doing 100 in a 50 zone or anything and I DO slow down for school zones,  but If I’ve got to get from A to B I just want to get there immediately!! I don’t try to speed, but I do. I’m not going to give you a list of bullshit excuses. I know it’s bad. The end.
  7. Clean my car more often – It’s filthy. I love the way it looks with a freshly washed exterior and vacuumed interior, but I don’t love the having to do it part.

Ok so the list isn’t endless – These are the first things that popped into my mind.

Writing Workshop

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Today I attended a Newcomers Writing Workshop run by The Hunter Writers Centre. We talked a lot about different forms of writing, finding our own voice, practice exercises and ways to improve our writing.

We did a Memoir Exercise in which we had thirty minutes to write out a memory, then we read them aloud and dissected them as group. I really enjoyed hearing all the different things we’d all dredged up from our memories. The memory I picked out, well I’ve just posted it as its own post – http://sarahalison27.org/2014/02/01/learning-to-drive/

We did a Random Photo Exercise where a bunch of photos were spread out and we had fifteen minutes to write a short piece drawn from one of the photos. It took me awhile to pick a photo. The photo I did go with was of a man wearing a hat in a 1950’s style convertible automobile. I just focused on the guy and his hat >>>>

I slid down and slumped back into the cars seat. I was wearing a black bowler hat pulled down to partly obscure my face, but not so far down that I couldn’t see. I has hiding out in an anonymous looking black sedan with out of town number plates.

I was keeping tabs on a young girl named Audrey for my boss, she was his daughter. She didn’t like her father interfering with her life, so I was tasked with the job to tail her from time to time and keep tabs on who she was hanging out with

He was at her place again, that boy named Bob Brown. That filthy no good rat was harassing her again. I could see him through the window. I drove off. I’d report what I saw to my boss later tonight.

She was a lovely young girl, but she had terrible taste when it came to men. Her last boyfriend had put her in hospital, then my boss and I had put him in an underwater grave.

My boss was a powerful guy, not a fella to be messed with.

<<<< And that’s as far as I got.

I really did enjoy myself today and everyone there seemed to get something out of the workshop. Now I’ve just got to sit down and write out the scribbled notes and advice I took down and look into some of the things we talked about. I think I’ll definitely be joining the Prose group run by the HWC. Today was a fun, entertaining and interesting day :-).