The end of a satisfying day Lots of good food Lots of good company Lots of laughter No better way to celebrate a birthday My middle daughter looked happy today She smiled And laughed And said lots of thank you’s The best gift a mother can have
Category: Timed Writing
The Secret of How to Help A Baby Go to Sleep
Tomorrow is my daughter Elizabeth’s 26th birthday. She is coming over so we can celebrate. Waffles and turkey bacon are on the menu for brunch, then we have a few movies to watch before having the “official’ birthday meal, which will be of her choosing. It is a tradition in our family that we talk…
LA News Highlights 11 pm January 14, 2012
Murders in Orange County Returned Iraqi vet Accused of killing four homeless men Crowds mourning the men’s deaths Tracking rain tonight A few clouds out there already Rain likely for later tomorrow We really need the rain Two LA area women Managed to escape the sinking Italian cruise ship Life boats went down sideways Since…
Childhood Games and Career Choices
You know how sometimes you read that if you go back to what you loved doing when you were a little kid – 4, 5, or 6 – then that will tell you what your ideal occupation should be? Well, in my case, this is exactly true since when I was a little girl, my…
Prompt: A Photograph of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian House Living Room
The light was soft in the room, the windows covered by three lines of bookshelves that allowed the sunlight to come in but also diffused it. A long built-in wooden couch ran right below the bookshelves, with lime green cushions on the bottom and back with periodic splashes of orange pillows. Jacob lay sprawled on…
Flash Fiction Prompt: Write an Embarrassing Moment for a Person Quite Different Than Yourself
My daughter came home one night and announced, “I’m getting a divorce.” I wasn’t surprised about this since I’d told her before she married James that this was a mistake. First of all, James was a good-looking boy – or young man since he was twenty-five – but he was just not right for my…
Last Night in Texas
It’s been a good long trip and we are here for our final evening. I just heard the cat hop off of the chair upstairs – his domain – and he is now eating. Amazing how sound can travel down the stairwell. I am sitting in the staircase room in one of the yellow wing…
Prompt: A Halibun Poem: Twenty Years After
The day came when she could no longer contain her anger. She picked up a crowbar and began chasing him around the back yard. The cardinal stared The wind blew hot from the west The sun bore down hard She cursed while she ran. He rushed into the house and slammed the door. She thought…
Prompt: Take a Traumatic Event and Write How You Would Change How You Acted
When I was nineteen, I was sexually assaulted. A boyfriend turned mean and perverted what had been a loving sexual relationship. I spent three days locked in his apartment with him terrorizing me. I will turn 59 in a few weeks. I have spent the last 40 years carrying those three days with me. I…
New Year’s Day Haiku
The dictionary defines haiku |ˈhīˌkoō; ˌhīˈkoō| as a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. I don’t have much in me today so I think I’ll write a haiku or two. That way I can feel as if I’m doing my 20…
20 Minutes a Day 