Weekly Prompts

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — March 13th

Fandango12 Comments

This was originally posted on March 13, 2022.

The Ghostwriter

I contacted a guy who came highly recommended to be a ghostwriter for my autobiography. I sat through hours of being interviewed by him and was persuaded that he was capable, so I offered him the job. He said to give him three months.

Sure enough, at the three-month mark, the ghostwriter showed up with his first draft. I eagerly opened the box containing the manuscript and started reading. After about ten minutes I looked up at the ghostwriter and said, “This is not about me. What the hell is this?”

“It’s an autobiography,” he said. “Didn’t you hire me to write an autobiography?”

“Yes, you imbecile,” I screamed. “But I didn’t I hire you to ghostwrite your own autobiography. I hired you to ghostwrite mine.

“Oh,” he said. “I guess I misunderstood what you meant when you said you wanted me to write an autobiography, which, by definition, is an account of a person’s life written by that person.”

“You idiot,” I said. I threw his manuscript at him and said, “You’re fired.”

“Wait,” he said, “are you giving me the boot and not paying me for three months of hard work?”

“I’m giving you the boot figuratively speaking,” I said, “but if you don’t leave here immediately, I’m going to literally shove my boot up your ass.”

Written for Scott’s Daily Prompt (ghostwriter) and Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge (boot).

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt — All the Inspiration I Need

Fandango25 Comments

Esther Chilton’s writing prompt this week is inspiration.

I sat alone at a corner table of a crowded café, my vanilla latte and my iphone on the table as my eyes looked all around me for inspiration.

A toddler drop his cookie, then offer the crumbled mess to a stranger. The child’s mother was about to scold her son, but the man laughed and took a piece.

Across the room, two teenagers argued about which superhero had the better moral compass. At the next table, a woman talked softly to a sympathetic friend about a breakup, wiping her eyes with a napkin that had the word “smile” printed on it, along with a bright yellow happy face.

My latte had grown cold, my iPhone untouched. But my mind buzzed as I looked around.

I realized that, as a blogger, particularly one who blogs from a smartphone, I didn’t need a dedicated writing room, a mountaintop retreat, or my finger on the pulse of the latest viral trends for inspiration.

What I needed was people. Real, imperfect, and unscripted people. Inspiration lives in overheard laughter, mismatched socks, awkward hugs, and the tiny, human sparks that often go unnoticed by most.

I started tapping away on my iPhone. I wrote, “Today, I watched tiny, real moments of life happen in a crowded café. It wasn’t loud. But it was all the inspiration I need to fill pages.”

Image generated using ChatGPT.

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt — Like Birds of a Feather…

Fandango6 Comments

Esther Chilton’s writing prompt this week is birds.

We gather near the same fire, drawn by warmth and shared smoke. Our laughter sounds familiar, echoes of each other, as if one soul split itself into many bodies just to be understood.

Like birds, we move in groups, invisible strings tying wrist to wrist, habits to hearts, songs we all somehow know the chorus to.

One believes, the others echo. One fears, the rest retreat. The comfort of commonness can be louder than truth.

We dress alike without meaning to, repeat phrases like passwords, sit at the same tables, even when the chairs pinch.

Difference stands at the edge — noticed, but not invited. Sometimes it imitates flight just to be allowed to land.

Among birds, safety is flight in formation. Among humans, it’s approval wrapped in a smile. Flocking feels like belonging until someone wants to turn against the wind.

Image generated using Leonardo.ai.

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt — A Sign of the Times

Fandango14 Comments

Esther Chilton’s writing prompt this week is sign.

A billboard blinks above a crowded freeway, selling salvation in 30-second bursts, for a tidy tithe.

Plastic wrappers gather at the feet of trees, clinging like lost children.

A child learns to swipe before he learns to write.

Voices shout harshly in comment threads, while real mouths forget how to speak.

The government falters, along with bridges, roads, and rails.

Temperatures rise and somewhere a glacier breaks and no one hears it as we drill, baby, drill.

Unbreathable air, undrinkable water, food poisoned by toxic waste, while profits soar.

Lunacy leads from behind, enriching the rich and devastating the rest.

Lies and bombs bursting in air, innocents below suffer.

Racism, bigotry, prevail while DEI is denounced as too “woke.”

A drone hums overhead, indifferent in its orbit.

Hope scrolls by in pastel fonts, buried beneath sponsored grief.

We watch with sorrow in our hearts and tears in our eyes as our democracy dies.

Image generated using Meme Maker.

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt — Final Exam

Fandango11 Comments

Esther Chilton’s writing prompt this week is Tests.

When I read Esther’s prompt word, “tests,” I was reminded of a recurring dream I used to have. I was in college and I was taking a required course. The subject matter of the course was of little interest to me and the professor who taught the course was a snoozer. In the recurring dream, I quit attending the class and I only skimmed the course text book. And then it came time to take the final exam, which I needed to pass in order to graduate.

I remember how I felt in that dream and so, to respond to the prompt word, I wrote the following about those feelings as I was taking the test.

The room is silent, yet my mind screams with questions. A clock on the wall ticks louder than it should, each second a reminder how quickly precious time is slipping by.

Multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, essay questions, it doesn’t matter. Every question seems unfamiliar. Answers elude me like that proverbial ghost in the attic.

My palms sweat as I grip the number two pencil like a lifeline. Thoughts race, collide, dissolve, while clarity is lost in a pea-soup fog. I look around, hoping someone else feels the same storm, but everyone else seems to have all of the answers.

My stomach churns from nerves, not hunger. My confidence slips away with every blank answer. It’s not just a test, it’s a measure of much more than knowledge. It’s a measure of me.

When it’s over, relief doesn’t come, just that empty feeling of failure.

Image credit: clipartix.com.

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt and Judy’s Tell Me a Story Prompt

Fandango18 Comments

Esther Chilton’s weekly writing prompt this week is “treasure,” and asks us to share our thoughts about that word in a post. Judy Dykstra-Brown has presented to us a photograph and asked us to tell her a story inspired by the photo below.

I decided to see if I could combine Esther’s word prompt and Judy’s photo prompt into a single post. I hope it works and that you enjoy it.

A homeless vagrant, a weary traveler, or just a local man in the act of being, he rests, stretched out on the warm stone of the low wall, a simple stage for a public slumber, a casual pose in the afternoon sun.

The sunlight filters through leaves, dancing gently on his flannel sleeve, while around him, life continues, people lost in their own thoughts, locked in slow conversation, laughter folded into creases of time. Perhaps they are unaware or just ignoring his private stillness.

The man is not lost, but merely taking a pause, claiming an unburdened moment free from the clamor of expectation in the whirl of passing hours, where rest is a treasure, unmapped, unmeasured, and entirely his.

Photo credit: Judy Dykstra-Brown.

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — May 2nd

Fandango13 Comments

Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term subscribers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about it? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Flashback Friday post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on any day this past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on May 2, 2019.

The Accommodation

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Andy and his wife sat on the other side of the large, mahogany desk of Mr. Henry Simmons, the bank’s loan officer. “I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Goldman,” Simmons said, “But you are three months in arrears on your mortgage payments. You leave the bank no choice but to initiate foreclosure.”

Sarah, Andy’s young and very attractive wife, had dressed very provocatively for this meeting, wearing a very short skirt, and a very low cut blouse with the top buttons undone. She and Andy had discussed their options, knowing that they were behind in their mortgage payments and also having heard rumors that Mr. Simmons was quite the lecher. They agreed that Sarah should put her considerable assets on display for Mr. Simmons.

After Simmons broke the news about the foreclosure, Sarah leaned forward towards Mr. Simmons, and shrugged her shoulders, giving the loan officer a fine view of her ample cleavage. “Mr. Simmons,” she said in a sultry voice, “I’m sure there must be some suitable way we can work this out, don’t you agree?”

Simmons looked over at Andy, who smiled and said, “Luscious, isn’t she?”

Simmons looked at Sarah, then back at Andy. “Am I to understand, Mr. Goldman, that you are offering me your wife in exchange for not foreclosing on your home?” he asked.

Sarah stood up, leaned forward, and placed her elbows on Mr. Simmons’ desk, leaving nothing of her charms to Simmons’ imagination. She slowly moistened her lips with her tongue, seductively smiled, and whispered, “What do you think, Henry?”

Simmons cleared his throat, wiped his brow, and said, “My dear, I think we have reached an accommodation.”

At that, the door to Mr. Simmons’ office swung open and the bank president and a security guard walked in. The bank president said, “Henry, I think it’s time to start anew.” Then he turned to the security guard, pointed to Simmons, and said, “Arrest that man.”

“Wait!” Simmons said. “There’s been a huge miscommunication here. Nothing untoward happened.”

Andy stood up, unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled out the wire he was wearing. The bank president then said, “We’ll let the jury at your bank fraud case decide that after they hear the tape, Henry.”

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (arrears), Ragtag Daily Prompt (suitable), Word of the Day Challenge (luscious), Your Daily Word Prompt (anew), Weekly Prompts (communication), and The Daily Spur (jury). Photo credit: FlutterByStudios@DeviantArt.com

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt — Toys

Fandango6 Comments

Esther Chilton’s writing prompt this week is: Toys.

At the tender age of five I surprised the world by taking the victory lap at the Indy 500.

Before I reached the age of seven, as commanding general of the massive allied army, I defeated America’s enemy on the bloody battlefields of France.

And I flew my World War II fighter plane in missions knocking out many Messerschmitts in dog fights over Germany.

At eight I joined the police force and cruised the big city arresting bad guys at a record setting pace.

By nine I crafted exquisite tinker toy windmills and built bridges and skyscrapers with my erector set.

These weren’t just childhood toys, they were creative outlets to the imagination of a growing boy.

None of the photos above were my toys or are me. I grabbed them off of the interwebs, although I had toys like these when I was a kid.

Esther’s Weekly Writing Prompt — Going Green

Fandango7 Comments

Esther’s writing prompt this week is: GREEN

Back in August of 2021, my wife and I owned a 2012 Mini Cooper Countryman. It was a great little car and we loved it. But at ten years old, it was showing signs of age and we decided it might be a good time to get an electric car, since our Countryman required premium fuel, which at the time in the San Francisco Bay Area was going for about $5.00+ a gallon. One year later, in the summer of 2022, it was approaching $7.00 a gallon.

We decided to get an electric car not only to avoid having to take out a bank loan just to fill our car’s tank with gas but because we wanted to buy a zero-emissions vehicle. We figured that not only would we be saving money by not having to pull into a gas station and to fill the tank every week, but that we would be going green, and reducing our carbon footprint.

We love our electric car. It’s close to maintenance-free because it has way fewer moving parts, never needs an oil change, and it’s been almost four years since we pulled into a gas station. Once a week we plug the car into our at-home charging station in our garage and the car automagically starts charging at midnight when our electricity rates are the lowest and is finished before we wake up in the morning. What is not to love?

I don’t want to get in a big debate with anyone about whether buying an electric car is a positive thing for the environment or if it’s delusional to believe that owning an EV is going green. I believe that buying and driving a zero-emissions, non-polluting vehicle is good for our environment. And since this my blog, my opinion reigns supreme.

We bought our electric car in August of 2021 — not a Tesla, by the way — and couldn’t be any more pleased.

End of story.

Photo credit: wallpaperaccess.com

Weekly Prompts Wednesday — Mini Me

Fandango16 Comments

I’m a big Mini fan.

Okay, yes, that may sound like an oxymoron, such as “jumbo shrimp.” But it’s not l. By saying I’m a big Mini fan, I don’t mean I’m a diminutive person who is a fan of, say, an athletic team. I’m actually a regular-sized person who is a fan of a number of sports teams. But I’m also a big fan of Mini Coopers, the British-made cars now owned by the German automotive company, BMW.

My wife and I, back in 2008, bought two Mini Coopers. She got the very sporty John Cooper Works Mini convertible and I got the very practical Mini Cooper Clubman, a slightly stretched version of the regular Mini Cooper hardtop. Then, in 2012, we bought a Mini Cooper Countryman (pictured below), a small SUV model, which we loved.

Alas, we are now Mini-less, as we decided last year to migrate to an electric car. At the time, Mini Cooper did not offer an electric model. In fact, even today, the only fully-electric Mini is the smallest model, the two door hardtop.

We are happy with our non-Mini Cooper electric car, but if Mini ever decides to launch fully-electric version of its Countryman model — which today is available in a plug-in hybrid model, but not all electric — we would seriously consider becoming Mini owners once again.

Written for the Weekly Prompts Wednesday challenge, where the word is “mini.”