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Friendly Prompts, Day 3: Stephanie

4 Apr

104My friend Stephanie Friedman did a Daily Shorty week with me last fall. She suggested that I choose a piece of art by Chicago artist Jason Brammer as my prompt for the day, and sent me to his site to browse. I chose his piece “Cherry Blossom,” which reminded me of the Maine sky in August, although I’m not sure why. Maybe because the soft beauty of the piece reminds me of how I feel when I’m looking at a Maine August sky. In any case, thoughts of August reminded me of the balloon festival we have here in Lewiston-Auburn the first weekend or so of August, and I was off and running. Many thanks to Stephanie! And of course I’m grateful for Jason Brammer’s stunning work.

Working Title: Balloon Chase
1st Sentence: We spent a couple of hours chasing the hot-air balloons with our cameras.
Favorite Sentence: One landed on the highway, its bubble of rainbow silk deflating, then ribboning out to border the road.
Word Length: 301

Photo by me or the husband, 8/2012.

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More Paintings Last Day!

21 Jan

Raspberry tartThis raspberry tart looks almost unbearably wonderful. Faced with a shelf of those things I would eat them for every meal until they were gone, I think. Dream with me. And applause, applause for the completion of Week 38! On my last day of this week I used Leslie Anderson’s “Stonington Street” to spark my shorty. Maine writers, see the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing for details on submitting short stories inspired by Anderson’s paintings (deadline March 1). This was a tough week, mainly because I seem unable to recover a fairly normal level of energy since the dive I took this fall when I was working really hard on some editorial work. Today was particularly tough but I got it done. Despite the difficulty of the week, it was a pure delight to spend another 7 days with Laurie Anderson’s paintings.

Working Title: Blue
1st Sentence: Today in January I yearn for August blue.
Favorite Sentence: But no, my nails are pliant, thin, inherited from a victim of consumption in a flowing white nightgown or a failed prince in girlish shoes murdered in his sleep.
Word Length: 374

Photo by Flickr user Selena N. B. H. 5/2008.

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More Paintings Day 6

20 Jan

WestieComing to the end of my second week of stories prompted by Leslie Anderson paintings—just one more after this one. See the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing for details on the March 1 deadline if you’re a Maine writer and you want to play. The day’s shorty was inspired by Anderson’s “Semaphore.” I had a lot of hope for this one but the execution wasn’t so great. On to the next.

Working Title: Talking Coffee Cup
1st Sentence: For a while they spoke only in Coffee Cup.
Favorite Sentence: The Westie talk was a boost to Veronica’s weeks of slinging cups of the same over-cooked, over-sugared crap, over and over in all its multisyllabic forms, while she worried about the next test at her night class.
Word Length: 1,035

Photo by Christopher Walker, Krakow, Poland, 11/2006.

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More Paintings Day 5

19 Jan

Imaginary iUPDATE. “Imaginary i‘ was one of the winning entries, along with “Vanilla,” drafted here on 1/17, and “Reflections” 10/17. Many thanks to Leslie Anderson for her beautiful paintings, to MWPA and Shanti Arts for sponsoring the contest, to judge Ron Currie, Jr. for selecting my shorties, and again to Shanti Arts for publishing such a beautiful book.

Selected Leslie Anderson’s “Pulling Weeds” as the prompt for today’s shorty. Maine writers, see the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing for details on the March 1 deadline. Many false starts before landing on the day’s draft but finally pulled it together.

Working Title: Imaginary i
1st Sentence: For the school carnival that Halloween before she graduated, she had dressed as imaginary i.
Favorite Sentence: He’d wanted to keep ladling them into her open mouth, see which she swallowed, which ran down the sides of her face.
Word Length: 826

Image by Allison and Valerie 4/2011.

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More Paintings Day 4

18 Jan

Red CabooseUsing the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing as a source for prompts this week. Maine writers are invited to write and submit (by March 1) short stories inspired by a series of paintings by Maine artist Leslie Anderson. The day’s shorty was inspired by Anderson’s “Narrow Gauge.”

Working Title: The Conductor
1st Sentence: The red caboose was not, as everyone around him thought, Jeffrey’s favorite toy.
Favorite Sentence: When the babysitter thinks he’s nuzzling, even kissing the red caboose—ohmygod so adorable—he is, in fact, whispering instructions.
Word Length: 900

Photo by Ktb615 5/2010.

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More Paintings Day 3

17 Jan

Vanilla ConeUPDATE. “Vanilla” was one of the winning entries, along with “Reflections,” drafted here on 10/17, and “Imaginary i” 1/19. Many thanks to Leslie Anderson for her beautiful paintings, to MWPA and Shanti Arts for sponsoring the contest, to judge Ron Currie, Jr. for selecting my shorties, and again to Shanti Arts for publishing such a beautiful book.

Back to the well of the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing. Maine writers are invited to write and submit short stories in response to paintings by Maine artist Leslie Anderson. Mainers, the deadline is March 1! Today’s shorty was inspired by Anderson’s “Morton’s Moo.”

Working Title: Vanilla
1st Sentence: Jerry was counting pairs of shorty-shorts—a deeply sad fashion trend he’d hoped would never come back—when he heard the “Here you go” from the bangs-and-ponytail that had taken his order, and turned to claim the Styrofoam cup she had pushed through the window.
Favorite Sentence: “It’s always the nilla-magnariffics who don’t know what they really want,” whispered someone in the crowd, followed by uh-huhs and yeps.
Word Length: 739

Photo by Flickr user Steven Depolo 8/2009.

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More Paintings Day 2

16 Jan

KayakAnother day inspired by the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing. Maine writers are invited to write and submit short stories in response to a series of delightful paintings by Maine artist Leslie Anderson. The deadline is March 1 and submissions need to be snail-mailed: Details here. I wrote today’s shorty after meditating on Anderson’s “Lake Rower.” And yes, I do know that this painting does not feature a kayak but I like the sound of the words “holy kayak” much more than “holy rowboat.”

Working Title: Holy Kayak
1st Sentence: He had been taught to call the bird an egret and she had been taught to call it a heron and somehow neither had stumbled over the common knowledge that the two words were often interchangeable, particularly if you are not an expert in ornithology, which neither was, and so they missed the simple truth that they were, in fact, BOTH right.
Favorite Sentence: After a few decades of extreme muscle-condescension, if you, Mr. Bigger and Stronger, decide to get in her way, on a day when she happens to be holding a paddle in her hands—a paddle that she is quite handy with, a paddle that has sculpted her small shoulders and arms—will she use that paddle as a weapon?
Word Length: 1,036

Photo by Walter Siegmund 4/2009.

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Another Week of Paintings!

15 Jan

ClamsMaine writers, look sharp! The deadline is drawing near for the Summer Stories Short Story Competition put together by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing. Mainers are invited to write and submit short stories in response to a series of delightful paintings by Maine artist Leslie Anderson. The deadline is March 1 and these submissions must be posted: Details here. I used 7 of these paintings as story prompts for a Daily Shorty week in October and I’m going to use 7 more as prompts this week. I’m in love with these folks for giving me extra incentive for two weeks of shorties and providing me with gold-plated prompts! I chose “Clammer” for today’s inspiration, which reminded me of a scrap I’d written for another (unfinishd) story. I rescued the scrap and built on it for the day’s story. Incidentally, I am a huge fan of the Maine lobster, but all seafood here is heaven and I’ve met quite a few natives who consider clams to be Maine’s best treasure.

Working Title: Dad Day
1st Sentence: Oh great, it’s a Dad day.
Favorite Sentence: Yeah, it did make you feel a little bit like hot fudge slipping off a scoop of ice cream.
Word Length: 1,200

Photo by Flickr user Leon Brocard 1/2008.

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Leslie Anderson Paintings Day 7!

22 Oct

And adieu to Week 25! Enjoy with me this pretty éclair as I celebrate another completed week of this project. Many thanks again to Leslie Anderson for her inspirational paintings posted at Shanti Arts Publishing to invite original short stories for the contest they’re running with the Maine Writers & Publishers Association. Today’s shorty was inspired by Anderson’s Blue Bucket. I do have to confess to ending the week on a slide. Yesterday I couldn’t execute and today I struggled for a subject and finally had to move forward with material that just wouldn’t come alive. Well, anyway, it was a good week overall.

Working Title: Lunch Box Man
1st Sentence: If my father were a superhero and I had to write his origin story, explaining his source of strength, I would have to describe the hard plastic, fully insulated, milk-crate-sized lunch box he carried to work every day.
Favorite Sentence: Take his lunch box and he would go boneless and helpless and roll into the gutter, Lunch Box Man destroyed.
Word Length: 470

Photo by Jagvar 6/2005.

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Leslie Anderson Paintings Day 6

21 Oct

Back to the well of inspiration from the Leslie Anderson paintings posted at Shanti Arts Publishing for the purpose of the contest they’re running with the Maine Writers & Publishers Association. Today’s shorty was inspired by Anderson’s Fair Night. I was happy with my start but I couldn’t execute this story well, likely partly because I’ve been doing a lot of editing work at Hunger Mountain and so I’m particularly mentally tired. I hope I can liven it up when I’m able to go back and revise.

Working Title: Natural Habitat
1st Sentence: The deep-fried turkey legs were running ahead of the gigantic gobs of pink and blue cotton candy, but only just.
Favorite Sentence: In our thirty minutes of viewing time, the woman fished out and ate, according to Jason, twelve cashews.
Word Length: 901

Photo by Andrew Dunn at Cambridge Midsummer Fair 6/2005.

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Leslie Anderson Paintings Day 5

20 Oct

So thankful for these lovely paintings by Leslie Anderson and to Shanti Arts Publishing and Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance for putting together the contest that’s inspiring this week of shorties. It’s nice to have a ready-made week of prompts in a totally exhausting month. I’ve noticed that I’m writing particularly short stories in response to these paintings. Is that because I’m so worn out? I don’t think so because writing short is about developing a vision appropriate to that length, not about less energy. Is there something about responding to these particular paintings that make the stories so short? Am I *gasp* actually learning how to “think”—and therefore consistently write—short? Time will tell. The day’s shorty is a response to Anderson’s Last Night at the Lake.

Working Title: Nothing Funny
1st Sentence: If we hadn’t been laughing when she came back to her deck chair, the night would have taken a whole different direction.
Favorite Sentence: The sun would have finished its melt into the lake, the stars would have glittered the sky, and we would have waxed nostalgic and gentle for another half-hour, then pushed ourselves inside to refill our whiskey glasses and settle into a game of cards.
Word Length: 485

Photo of a sunset over Maine’s Moosehead Lake by Lee Coursey 7/2008.

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Leslie Anderson Paintings Day 4

19 Oct

I hope my Maine writer friends will be entering this short story contest sponsored by the Maine Writers & Publishers Association and Shanti Arts Publishing. I’m so glad they’re teaming up to do this. Wrote the day’s shorty in response to Anderson’s Porch Reader.

Working Title: Porch Scam
1st Sentence: If you stay on the porch, reading, then you won’t have to weigh in on who asked first for the ocean front bedroom, who contributed more to the cost of the rental, which news channel is more fair, who washed up last night after dinner, how much coffee should go in the filter—two tablespoons per six ounces or eight.
Favorite Sentence: What is the statute of limitations on wounded feelings and how much time do you serve for favoring one son over the other, for preferring one son’s wife, the one who gave you grandkids?
Word Length: 300

Photo by John Vachon for Farm Security Administration/WPA 7/1941.

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Leslie Anderson Paintings Day 3

18 Oct

Maine writers, here’s a short story contest sponsored by the Maine Writers & Publishers Association and Shanti Arts Publishing. I love this idea. My shorty today was inspired by Anderson’s Hay Day.

Working Title: Man in Overalls
1st Sentence: My father on a tractor was like the Amish on jet-skis or an elephant wearing snow shoes.
Favorite Sentence: Men and their need to name things that have engines, said Mom, as he spit on a bandanna—another element of the farmer costume—and rubbed a fender that couldn’t possibly benefit from the treatment because it had a nasty rust spot.
Word Length: 616

Photo by Stutz.

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Leslie Anderson Paintings Day 2

17 Oct

UPDATE. “Reflections” was one of the winning entries, along with “Vanilla,” drafted here on 1/17, and “Imaginary i” 1/19. Many thanks to Leslie Anderson for her beautiful paintings, to MWPA and Shanti Arts for sponsoring the contest, to judge Ron Currie, Jr. for selecting my shorties, and again to Shanti Arts for publishing such a beautiful book.

Maine writers, check out this short story contest sponsored by the Maine Writers & Publishers Association and Shanti Arts Publishing. What a great idea for a contest and for a book. Today’s shorty was inspired by Anderson’s Quarry Girl.

Working Title: Reflections
1st Sentence: Jenny tends to be startled by her own face in all those photos her friends take while they’re hanging out—who is that?
Favorite Sentence: They fracture this picture of herself, laid flat beneath her, this oblong Jenny with the curtain of hair, the small, pale face, that ball on the end of her nose.
Word Length: 423

Photo of flooded slate quarry in Monson, Maine, by Gwernol, 6/2007.

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A Week of Paintings

16 Oct

Maine writers, take note! The Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Shanti Arts Publishing are inviting Mainers to write and submit short stories in response to a series of lovely paintings by Maine artist Leslie Anderson. Details here. Thank you to both groups for handing me a week of prompts on a silver platter! I chose “Street Dance” for today’s inspiration.

Working Title: Crowd Play
1st Sentence: A crowd was gathering in a plaza off to my right.
Favorite Sentence: “Oh, Honey,” said a woman in a real July voice, bred far south of here.
Word Length: 514

Photo by Joe Mabel 5/2007.

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