Sunday, September 29, 2013

Brought to You by the Letters

A magnetic Five-Sentence Fiction

Brought to You by the Letters

Their daughter was years past playing with the magnetic alphabet, but his wife was not. Every weekday morning he found a message from her--"I HEART U" or "MEET MOI FOR LUNCH"--spelled out in primary colors using the letters that had not yet broken or slid beneath the refrigerator.This Monday morning it said, "TH0SE SHOES Q JUST NO".

He sighed as he returned to the bedroom to change out of his loafers (which had, admittedly, seen better days), a bit disappointed in today's note. Inside his dress shoes, six plastic letters met his toes and he grinned as he dumped them out onto the bed, knowing what they would spell. 

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Mixed Vegetables


For this week's Trifextra, a famous trio


Mixed Vegetables

Self-conscious Corn comforted supple Squash when she lost her flowers and her fruit swelled. Corn encouraged shy Bean to explore. Together, the two shorter sisters grounded Corn. Frost claimed the trio together, peacefully.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Iron Writer Update


This is a spoon I found in the woods. It has no bearing on anything.
You can read my crazy 513-word Iron Writer Challenge entry and three others here

Saturday, September 21, 2013

The Iron Writer Challenge: 31

I came across The Iron Writer Challenge on Twitter a few weeks ago. The concept is this: four writers are given four (unrelated and pretty darn random) elements that must be used in a flash fiction piece of about 500 words. Oh, and the story has to be written in the span of four days. I'm not sure why this seemed like a good idea to me with my full (over-full, really) schedule, but I signed right up. The elements for my challenge are: a live griffin (the mythical beast), a Delorean, a peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich, and a ventriloquist. Strangely enough, as soon as I read this list I had an idea. I'm on my fourth revision and ready to call it done, but since I still have another whole day, I'm letting it marinate just a little longer. It's certainly one of the stranger things I've written.

The stories will be posted on The Iron Writer site this Thursday. Be sure to check it out--and think about signing up for your own Iron challenge!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Baby's Breath

A quick five sentences on flowers for a busy Tuesday
Thanks to Lillie McFerrin for another reason to write tiny things!

Baby's Breath


Not the flower in question
In its squat vase, the dense purple-and-white bouquet sat on her desk like a smug, fat woman overflowing an outdated dress proclaiming in a mocking tone what the note said: "No hard feelings." 
She had known all the flowers' names when she was a little girl--the ones in her mother's and grandmothers' gardens, and the ones from the seed catalogs and nurseries--but what the white filler was called eluded her. 
She picked up the arrangement in one hand and her purse in the other and walked quickly down the hallway to his office. 
He looked up from his monitor just in time to see water spill onto the floor as the vase flew toward his head. 
"Hard feelings," she muttered, remembering suddenly the name of the white flower.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Senses of Self

Five sentences on beauty after many near-sleepless nights and a fun and productive but tiring weekend

Senses of Self

She had expected her adjustment to total blindness to be devastating, and at first it had
been, but then the absence of sight became part of her. As they waited for the doctor, she drummed her fingertips on the familiar textured wall and reached over to squeeze her husband’s warm, denim-covered thigh. Sight, she realized, like hearing, was passive, but the purposeful physical connection of touch revealed true beauty and understanding without misdirection. “Come on,” she said rising from the chair and extending a hand, “I don’t need to be fixed.”


Both of his hands closed around hers as he rose, murmuring, “No, you don’t.”