Diffused morning light filters through a thin cloud cover to reveal a frost-encrusted landscape. I’m not naturally a morning person so this vision is relatively new to me. I like to rise after the frost has melted to dew and more color is revealed. When I draft, I can stay up as late as 3 in the morning, fueled by my imagination.
But I’m revising. It’s a discipline that calls me out of my natural state of being. Thus I rise early.
Or does it? Every week I follow Daphne Gray-Grant, a publications coach whose blood runs with ink. I haven’t missed reading her weekly email in three years and I consider her book, 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better to be one of my best writing tools. Yesterday, I received her email that spoke directly to my NaNoReViSo state of mind — it’s messy.
Her post asks if my mind is messy enough?
Oh, it’s messy! It was so messy yesterday, I sat with Scrivner open to a crucial scene, vacillating over the possibilities of “limited supplies.” You see, when Cobb and Sarah arrived at Rock Creek Station in March of 1859, he purchased the cabin, barn, land and lean-to store that sold hay, grain and “limited supplies.” He then built a toll-bridge and charged pioneer travelers to cross Rock Creek. He built a toll-booth of sorts, another cabin. He built a house, a stable, another barn. He bought a plow in Leavenworth, Kansas and grew a bumper crop of hay and grain that first year. He built as many as five ranches and ran stock.
But what did he sell to travelers as “limited supplies”? And does it matter to the story?
It does matter because it captures the essence of a road station in the late 1850s and 60s. One historical account for the region claims that “real” stores didn’t open up until the latter part of the 1860s, long after Cobb had died. I turned to the 1860 census record and a plat map that showed some of the earliest homesteads, including Rock Creek Station. I began to plot who was where that important year. I realized that living among Cobb’s workers, was a trader by the name of William N. Glenn. The man who sold Cobb the station was Newton Glenn. Was this the same man? Did he stay on to sell “limited goods”?
In 1860, the census records less than 100 people living the territorial county of Jones (now Jefferson). Of that number, a good many of the men listed their occupations as traders, just like Glenn. An old pioneer remembered Sarah Shull as keeping a store at Rock Creek Station. This makes sense and fits my theory and subsequent story that Sarah was in business with Cobb. But what were they selling? What are “limited supplies”? Why were these stations and traders not regarded as true stores or merchants?
By now, I had four books open, two maps plotted with five different colors of ink, three internet pages up to search for “limited supplies” along the Oregon Trail, and no clear answers. I saw a phone number for the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and in desperation I called, feeling silly when a person picked up the other line.
“Um, I have a question…can you tell me what limited supplies pioneers would have purchased from traders along the Oregon trail, specifically in Nebraska?”
What I received in response made me giddy. I found a history nerd! The historian on the other line explained that after pioneers supplied up along the Missouri River, they entered the “wilds” beyond. Traders were typically those looking to make money off the travelers (yep, I already pegged that as Cobb’s motive for business). They knew the land, the tribes and they traded with the Pawnee and Otoe, as much as they did with the settlers. They specialized in dried buffalo meat, buffalo hide blankets, whiskey and moccasins. Shoes wore out quickly on the trail, she said. This is a great detail because I had imagined Nancy Jane living barefoot and pining for real shoes. I’ll revise that scene to have her in moccasins and wanting store-bought shoes.
Before I got off the phone, the historian mentioned she wished she had more time to research this question because she has volumes of diary accounts and books…Really? Okay! I told her I had six weeks, and she happily agreed to answer my question fully. Elated, I got off the phone and went deeper into the records I now had open, noticing even more crucial details that clearly show Cobb was a prolific builder and a community leader. How did it ever go so wrong for him to be remembered as a bully Confederate trying to steal his neighbors livestock? On the census, he’s recorded as owning more land and livestock than anyone else, and is credited with paying for the first teacher, allowing those of few means to cross his bridge, was a fine orator and a leader who organized the territory’s first vote.
Messy. Yes.
I look out at that pristine morning scene and long to be able to write the vision so clearly that the reader can see the edging of frost; to color it correctly to discern fence from quince tree; to show and not tell, yet ultimately tell the story of an incredible event that involved real people, not mythological white hats and black. I want to get the vision right.
Is it about being right? No, not really. More like giving a tone of humanity to a man robbed of his dignity whether he was all good or all bad. And to give voice to the women that history never considered beyond silhouettes of wives or mistresses. We are all fully fleshed and mixtures. I want to get the colors of Rock Creek sharp and balanced without feeling frozen in the process of that undertaking. I can accept that my writer’s mind is supposed to be messy. It makes me think I’m on task.
To all of you revising or drafting, keep at it every day. The sun will melt the frost and messiness will ensue.
November 3, 2015 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a frozen story. Is the weather the source of freezing or is a character frozen by emotion or lack of it? It can also be a moment frozen in time. What does it reveal?
Respond by November 10, 2015 to be included in the weekly compilation. Rules are here. All writers are welcome!
***
Cold Morning by Charli Mills
Sarah fidgeted in the freezing air of the prairie morning. First night on the trail in these western wilds. She had an extra cup of coffee at the campfire Cobb built that morning. The hot enamel mug felt good in her hands and tasted even better with the thick slabs of bacon he fried. Cobb bought the best items and loaded their new wagon. While others dickered over prices of mining tools in Leavenworth, Cobb uncrated a large plow with an iron share and wooden mouldboard. A plow? Had cold made him daft? He winked and they headed out.
###
Wow! What a wonderful resource Daphne Gray-Grant’s website is — thanks for that tidbit. Great flash, too. As I was reading, my hands were circling my drink of choice this afternoon and expecting the same warmth Sarah must have been experiencing. Of course, iced soda doesn’t deliver such warmth… *sigh* I’ll be back later to read/share 🙂
She’s got great practical advice. Be sure to sign up for her email and check out her posts or video on mind-mapping. Ha, ha! I suppose iced soda fails to give off a glow of warmth. Good luck with the writing marathon!
Reading through to the links. I love your posts that give insight to your writings. I’m editing, writing and rewriting in a huge mess here. Just wish I had a nerd to ring..!
Love the prompt! Xx
I can’t tell you how excited I was to ring a nerd — serendipity! If anything, she got my mind off the day’s conundrum. I posted this in haste because the Hub wanted to fetch another tree, When I came back, I realized my post and flash needed revision too! Wishing you the best with your mess. Meet it every day! Something is bound to happen. 😉
In a right mess here lol as my Mac isn’t syncing with my iPad and I’ve been adding bits to one document on both machines… Grrrr! And the day had started so well!
I hear you with that mess. Just when I thought I got through my big freeze with the opener (how many chapters to go?…..)I’ve just discovered my laptop isn’t charging. Second time. And so it goes….
And my Internet crashed last night! Tool fails…! 😛
Oh no!! 😛 😮
Brrrr. The cold can definitely make you daft! Balancing writing/blogging/etc – can indeed give one a messy mind!
Yes, it can! Cobb will have to blame the plow on the cold. I’ll attribute my mind mess to writing. 🙂
A mind is messy enough? I think mine qualifies. (I think it won first place…just saying.) Though with your four books, two maps plotted with five different colors of ink, three internet pages up, we may have a tie. 😉 So happy you reached a nerd on the other end of the line. What luck! Thanks for the links. Great post AND flash.
Ironically, (or maybe it’s serendipity) I wrote two lines today on Twitter for a prompt: cold. I grabbed them to see if I could use them and, of course, I got my first line. And my last. All I had to do was fill in the middle–like a wonderful, frozen pie.
Bitter, Cold
https://sarahbrentynflash.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/bitter-cold/
I don’t know…I think reaching a nerd is the tie-breaker! 😛 A bit sheepish on both post and flash. I had to come back and edit. Ha! Great use of your Two Lines, a frozen pie!
[…] Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch […]
Wow — haunting flash. Well done, Sarah.
What great resources you have, Charli! Here’s my flash:
Sewing Disaster
By Paula Moyer
Frances sat tailor-style on the floor. Her 15-year-old daughter’s knees were at eye level. On Jean’s petite body was the dress she was to wear in the junior high commencement. Turquoise voile with an embroidered border, it captured the girl’s and woman’s eyes as the perfect dress. The white cotton undershift was already finished.
As she pinned, though, Frances was confused. Why wasn’t the border straight?
“Keep turning,” she directed Jean, and turn she did.
Then Frances froze.
Oh, no.
The border was straight across the fabric. The dress had a circular hem.
Frances sat paralyzed, staring at failure.
I don’t know that much about sewing. Once though my son tried to make a pair of shorts. He cut up a pair and trace the material…but didn’t allow for the seems. 😉
That would be a disaster! If you have 1/2″ seams, then you have a 2″ shortage (1/2″ each for the front and back on the inseam and 1/2″ each for the two pieces on the outer seam). But everyone who sews has a similar horror story.
Oh, Paula! That’s why I don’t sew! I don’t do horror! 😀 <3
Only straight lines for me.
I can do very minor repairs on stuffed animals though 😉
Oh gosh I’ve been there!!! I cannot count the number of seams I’ve had to rip out and redo!!! Great flash!
There’s great tension built into this scene, and almost a daydream quality as we can see the potential before realizing the disaster.
I know that disappointment. Luckily I have a mother who does any sewing I need doing. When she can no longer do it I’ll palm it off to a friend or throw it out. Everything I sew leaves me looking like Frances – staring at failure.
The dress sounds absolutely beautiful. I loved dresses and skirts with borders when I was young. They recently came back into fashion and I love admiring all the beautiful borders.
I’m sure in Frances’s frozen moment she will come up with a solution. I’ve rarely met a seamstress who didn’t. (But in truth, I’ve rarely met a seamstress. My mum usually did a pretty good job though.)
Thanks for sharing Daphne Gray-Grant’s book and website. I have signed up for her emails. There are a number of other goodies to go with that too. I think mindmapping is a very effective tool. Sharing your writing process is helpful for us, your readers. I’m sure it is helpful for you to clarify it to yourself in writing. Messy! How wonderful to be messy minded! I love it.
What a wonderful phone call to make with all the information which helps other nuggets appear in texts where there were none before. The right tools (information) can weave wonders.
Your Rock Creek story grows more interesting with every post and every flash. The richness of background knowledge that you bring to this project will make it all the more believable and worthwhile. If Cobb could see what you are doing he would be rightly proud, and grateful that you see humanity in him and want to share it with others. So too would the women, Sarah and Mary, as you show their characters in full 3D.
Cobb may have the right tools for his work, but you too have the write tools for yours.
I’m glad you find Daphne Gray-Grant’s resources useful! It does help me to process my process by sharing it, so I do hope others find it useful, too. Norah, that really touches me, what you wrote about Cobb and Sarah and Mary being proud. Maybe I’m emotional today, but it brought tears to my eyes. That wasn’t my initial purpose, but seeking the truth has led me to understanding these three better. That, too, I hope to share! Thank you! <3
You amaze me with the depth of information you have explored. You will be channeling their truth better than anyone else.
I’m signing up too, thanks so much for linking us to Daphne Gray-Grant’s book, what a wonderful writing resource! I can just picture you there, looking out at the beautiful frost (we have rain and no frost in sight, and still mild, but I love clear, frosty days) sitting on the phone and wanting to leap up with a ‘whoop’ as you talked with your lovely history nerd! History nerds rock in my book. Love your flash, fascinating background that you share, the shoes, mocassins, those ‘limited supplies’. I’m lapping this up. I’ve defrosted a little, but still so messy – but it’s great to know that’s a good thing and that I’m in great company here at the Ranch 🙂
History nerds are the best! I was so disappointed when I went to Rock Creek because the employees were just that — they worked there. None had really any interest in the event, and most couldn’t even answer simple questions. So when you find a history nerd actually working at a historical place, that’s like finding gold! Keep defrosting! I’m right behind you! <3
The best kind of gold panning…well, you know what I mean! Thanks Charli…likewise 🙂 <3
History nerds ARE the best! One of the book ideas I’ve been toying with and researching/writing little excerpts and stories here and there over the years is a based off of my own family’s experiences traveling to Oregon on the Oregon Trail in the mid 1800s. There is this little museum in Brownsville, Oregon that has countless records of the families that settled in this area of the Willamette Valley. Gosh I could spend days in there reading through journals and archives!!
Christina, that sounds absolutely fascinating about your family and the Oregon Trail. As a Brit mum with kids educated in California, I loved learning beside them when they studied all about the Oregon Trail (and of course we had the computer game!). That library in Brownsville sounds like a treasure trove for history nerds!
I WOULD spend endless days in there! Great place to find inspiration, then details.
Sherri, I have family that teases me about dying on the Oregon Trail (referring to the game). 🙂
[…] http://carrotranch.com/2015/11/04/november-4-flash-fiction-challenge/ In 99 words (no more, no less) write a frozen story. Is the weather the source of freezing or is a character frozen by emotion or lack of it? It can also be a moment frozen in time. What does it reveal? […]
How often we are caught like an unknowing deer when our spouses make awkward decisions without consulting us. But back then with Cobb and Sarah it wasn’t usual at all for a man to include his wife in his choices.
Charli it sounds like you hit the jack-pot with a resource! I enjoy reading the background of your pieces and your adventures in painting a picture in words. Thank you. I offer:
Emotional Freeze Tag?
Phones are tools; they can answer calls only if the machine
is turned on. Same for cells voicemail is heard only if you
want to listen; see?
I did ask you to wait…did you get what you wanted hearing
‘rings’. The weight is heavy, yes? But I was just doing what
you first said, which was to stop before beginning the very
next round of ‘text’.
And again you will say the fault lies in my lines, I’m used
to that but you are going to have to abide by them at least
for now.
©JP/dh
With a few really minor adjustments, my daily verse became
my flash fiction piece. I love it when that happens. I call it the
‘Twinke Zone Effect’ – after the ever popular ‘Twilight Zone.
It happens when I write a piece before looking at a prompt
and voila – they mesh almost perfectly. In this case almost
exactly to the word count as well…that’s the tweaked part.
You can see the post (and link to the poetic version) here:
Emotional Freeze Tag?
Oh, yes — and Cobb made an even more awkward decision in that he brought Sarah with him. She was not his wife! But his wife came out, too. He did include his wife in the decision, and the two women were also expected to take turns fixing dinners. 🙂
I love your Twinke Zone Effect! It’s a serendipitous moment. Your flash is full of meanings within the “lines” and that give it much depth. Glad it tweaked down to 99 words!
I actually combined one word and added one to get to 99.
(I always include the title in the count too. Is that right?)
You don’t have to count the title, but if you want to, you can.
Love the focus of your post on history today and the details, details, details! It’s said the “God is in the details,” and “truth is in the details.” In fiction, it’s the details that lend authenticity to the story, not just how they figure in the setting but what they say about the characters’ choices revealed through their material belongings. It’s in the details that we indulge our senses in reading: to feel the “hot enamel mug,” see that “edging of frost.” Good for you for going after the primary sources. You hit a goldmine this time! And thanks for the link. I have too much stuff coming into my inbox these days but this one looks worth signing up for.
Daphne-Gray Grant’s newsletter is worthwhile and I never miss reading it. Besides, she’d great at posting the minutes it takes to read!
The primary sources have revealed much, but I’ve had to sort through so much bias. At one point I began marking historians’ opinions if it was unsubstantiated. Sometimes I think they write more fiction than novelists! And yes, it comes down to those details. I was so excited to find the plow, a forgotten bit of historical data from an Old Pioneers book of Nebraska. To think of a plow in Cobb’s hands changes a lot of imagery regarding who he was. Hope all is going well with your revisions and subtitle selection!
My blog post offers not only a flash “Brain Freeze”, but also a longer excerpt from my current NaNovel: http://goo.gl/h4Sa6Q
Brain freeze! I forgot about those, especially on a hot summer day, slurping down ice cream too fast. I’m glad you are finding ways to tie in your NaNovel to the flash challenge. I’m a bit envious of all the writing going on, but staying disciplined. Mostly.
What a gold mine of a resource you found! Suh-weet!
I want to say, thank you for hosting these challenges. Having to fit my story into exactly 99 words makes me think carefully about every single word and how it fits to paint the picture I want. Excellent exercise, and a lot of fun. I enjoy reading everyone’s stories. Here’s mine for this week:
http://ninetyninemonkeys.blogspot.com/2015/11/toward-freezing-flash-fiction.html
Definitely! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with to answer my question. I’m glad you find benefit in the constraint! I know I certainly do. 🙂 Such a heart-breaking flash. And good luck with NaNoWriMo!
I really want a thick slab of bacon and a warm cup of coffee right now. Even if it is seventy today!
—
Summer Snow
Dad packed the snowballs tight in his big hands. Then we stuck them in the freezer before he had to leave.
“I’ll save them for summer!”
Spring came but Dad didn’t. Mom said he took a job far away. The snowballs got pushed back. Behind pizzas and burritos.
Summer came and I dug them out. Only one remained. I traced the ridges from Dad’s squeeze. Mom grabbed a tissue. I packed the snowball tight, like Dad had showed me. Tighter. Gasping as it crumbled in my hands. We scooped it up. Tried again.
But it never looked the same.
I think bacon and coffee were on my mind, too! Your flash is poignant, especially the vision of a boy tracing the ridges of his absentee dad’s grip left in the frozen snowball. It’s times like this that changes a child’s life.
Very sad. Where is Dad?
Loved your 99 words. Isn’t research fun and rewarding?
Thank you! Yes; the dilemma is how and when to stop. I read your festival post and thought — more research! Cobb has a coon hound…
It is a joy for me to read about your research. Digging deeper and deeper for the truth, the story. Finding support in people you have never met. Opening yet another cavern of plausible answers. Your trek down the NaNoReViSo road will be an interesting journey. Thanks for sharing it with us Charli.
Frozen Mystery
by Ann Edall-Robson
Remote, quiet and off the grid. A fixer upper the realtor had said. Only a deer trail to the door.
From the outside, the dovetail corners of the cabin spoke volumes as did the overgrown yard.
It was inside that sent her imagination reeling and took her breath away. Everything in place as if someone had gone out for a walk.
The wood stove with split logs stacked beside it. A bed frame made from poles. A table, a bench, dishes on the shelf.
Determined to dissolve the mystery that had been frozen in time, she signed the papers.
http://www.annedallrobson.com/99-words/frozen-mystery
Oh, I love this story — I’d sign the papers, too!
Cracking intro, your mind is clearly as messy as mine, although yours is buried in a fact finding mission of truth and history, mine is buried in random recesses of fantasy, constructing more and more random fantastical details and obscure settings! I am a night owl without doubt. Editing terrifies me, more so if I need to be sensible and use daylight hours to do it!!
Here’s my entry:
Yin Yang
‘I’m not afraid to look,’ I said to the doctor eyeing me.
The paralysis burning through my hands was the inevitability. When I turned the mirror over and confronted what was left of my porcelain skin I’d have to accept my life was over. I’d never be loved. I’d be ugly. A monster.
The doctor clasped my hand in hers and stroked it.
I swallowed, said goodbye to myself and turned the mirror.
I was a monster of sorts. But in the acid carved scars, I saw strength, beauty. I still loved myself and that was all that mattered.
I think there’s much similarity between your quest for science to fill the fantasy and history to fill my fiction. Revision by daylight is scary! Powerful and beautiful flash! How the character sees past the scars is the clincher moment.
That’s a powerful piece, Sacha. Well done! Loving oneself regardless of the disfigurement is difficult but all the more important.
ONE CANNOT HOLD ON TO THE PAST
The frost had hit at least a week ago, so I was surprised as I walked the backyard to find so many rose buds adorning the straggled bushes.
Retrieving the trimmers, I carefully clipped eleven unopened, long-stemmed, crimson beauties, and placed them in a crystal vase. I even remembered Mother’s resurrection ‘aspirin’.
The splendor of the roses radiated a majesticness over my western ham and baked macaroni and cheese. Supper was exquisite.
Awakening, and anticipating a breakfast of sausage, pancakes, and roses… I faced disappointment.
Blackened and drooping buds… Darkened, molten leaves… One cannot hold on to the past.
https://rogershipp.wordpress.com/2015/11/07/one-cannot-hold-on-to-the-past/
This flash has a sense of longing that’s wrapped up in both hope and disappointment. Beautiful imagery.
Thank You!
Hi everyone! It was hard for me to think about a frozen story with all the balmy weather we’ve been having in South Carolina. This is the best I could do:
http://edandednastories.blogspot.com/2015/11/caution-sign.html
Hi Larry, in balmy South Carolina! Funny! Ed was taking no chances and I don’t blame him — wouldn’t want to slide off!
Thank you for this giggle. Great post.
Chuckling… great story. 🙂
[…] Flash Fiction for Charli at Carrot Ranch […]
Charlie, Here you go: http://wp.me/s5u9VI-rigor
Thanks, Tony
Great one word title, too that reflects the prompt!
[…] Would you like to read some of the other entries? Here they are! […]
Hi Charli, Thanks for introducing me to Daphne Gray-Grant. I’d never heard of her. Sounds interesting. I’ll be checking her blog out.
Your flash is great! There’s that mixture of inspiration and and hard work that I always associate with the American way of approaching life: the creative struggle. Have a dream and then make it happen. Love it!
I’ve just posted mine. No dialogue this week! An interior monologue. It’s a cry for freedom and a way of getting over a creative block, which freezes our inspiration.
Unfrozen
Let me tell you why I know I’m making the right decision. I had steady job, a good husband, an oversized house, and a fast car. Everything I needed for an enviable life. Then I received a message from a secret admirer and replied. Soon I started longing for a more creative job, a more supportive husband, a smaller apartment, and a bike. I left my husband, sold my house, and cycle to the coffee shop every day to write my novel. I know I’m right because my inspiration flows. I hadn’t realised I was frozen until I melted.
http://lucciagray.com/2015/11/09/carrot-ranch-flashfiction-challenge-november-3-frozen/
Funny thing is, I started following her when I was still working full time, freelancing and holding on to writing a novel. I hadn’t really thought to share her resources because I think business writing or freelancing, but she’s a great resource for bloggers, too! I’m still working on that American struggle 😉 Great flash! And I like the use of inner dialog and that last line.
[…] response to Charli’s prompt where she […]
Loved your flash this week Charli. The stark contrast between the hot and the frozen made me feel the cold and the heat. You are lucky that you struck the nerd. It is fantastic when you can get onto someone like that who can so easily clarify that which wasn’t clear before. I’m glad you wrote that it is good to be messy. It is a state I’m constantly in but now I will relax into it and see it as a good thing. I’ll have to pay more attention to Daphne Gray-Grant.
Mine this week
http://irenewaters19.com/2015/11/10/frozen-99-word-flash-fiction/
I lucked out with two this week…Geoff helped me solve a land deed riddle! My first draft, I didn’t want to entertain others’ ideas or even clarifications and I don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but now that I have a story, I want experts. Yes, good to know messy serves a purpose! Your flash is great! Made me shiver… 🙂
Glad to hear Geoff could help you as well. I guess it is natural not to want help while writing the first draft as it is soley yours. I think it was the second or third draft that I mined Roger for additional detail. You’re calling in the experts at the time you need them.
Glad the flash made you shiver. 🙂
[…] Mills’ November 3rd Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction challenge was to write a frozen story in 99 words (not more, no […]
You inspired me again, Charli! No doggie dare required. I signed up and book marked Daphne Gray-Grant’s site. Thank you for sharing it. There is a wealth of material there for me to read. And… she’s located out of Vancouver – just a ferry ride away from me. 🙂
My story involves a displaced person whose life path was frozen living in one of the hundreds of camps located in Europe after World War II. It seemed fitting with Remembrance Day being celebrated this week.
http://katespencer17.com/2015/11/09/displaced/
No doggie dares this time! 🙂 How fun that you are just a ferry ride away from Daphne Gray-Grant! She has useful information. And a very fitting flash.
[…] the game Freeze this week is the flash fiction prompt set by Charli Mills at the Carrot Ranch to In 99 words (no more, no less) write a frozen story. Charli suggested that the freeze could be related to weather, emotion or […]
Hi Charli, I didn’t want to be left out in the cold so I’ve joined with a game of “Freeze”. Thanks for the prompt. http://wp.me/s3O5Jj-freeze
Ha! Come on in from the cold, Norah! Glad you could join us! 🙂
Thanks Charli. 🙂
My brain is frozen with a heavy cold, so I’m opting out again this week. Congratulations to all the other Ranchers for your fab contributions.
Revision still has me in a frozen state! Thanks for reading, Anne!
Sorry to hear you are not feeling well, Anne. I hope you are recovered soon. 🙂
I read this at first thinking your weather turned cold. Sorry to hear that you are the one under the weather!
[…] this background, I think my response to Charli Mills’ 99-word writing challenge over at the Carrot Ranch probably makes more sense. The theme this week was to write a frozen […]
Fantastic post and a great flash! Loved getting a bit of insight into your writing life. I just downloaded Scrivener and am LOVING it so far!! 🙂
I (again…) apologize for my lack of posts lately… Life has really gotten in the way of my writing these past few weeks.
This prompt reminded me of a hike my husband and I took over the weekend to a picturesque spot where two rivers meet and converge. We frequented this spot over the hot summer, but in the fall it turns into a misty wonderland of colors, especially at sunset. As we were leaving the chill set in and MAN was it cold! The frost blanketed the scenery almost instantly and it was a stunning sight to behold 🙂
http://thewordyrose.com/2015/11/10/frozen-shades/
Scrivener is awesome! I write scene by scene and I like that when I’m revising I can rearrange the scenes so easily on the board instead of Word where one has to cut and paste. I copy the entire manuscript each revision, so I can return to earlier drafts. Enjoy it! It’s a great tool!
That’s okay! There’s no attendance record at the ranch. 😉 The reality of the writer’s life is that we do get buried at times. Oh, what a stunning sight your frosty rivers must be!
YES! I love that feature. I was getting so frustrated having to copy and past and go back and forth rearranging things. It is such a useful tool!! 😀
Thank goodness… I truly want to be included in your “Rough Writers” and feel as if I’m completely failing in that due to my lack of involvement as of late 🙁
It’s a come and ride when you can outfit. Exciting things coming for you Rough Writers, though if you want a “longer trail ride.” I’ll be updating RW pages *soon*!
I actually wrote the response pretty quickly this week…then closed out my computer without saving it. That’s indicative of the week I am having. The accompanying blog post? Like pulling teeth. Why is writing so haaaarrrrddd?! ::insert obnoxious whine::
http://www.cjaiferry.com/blog/one-writers-identity-crisis/
Oh! I know, I know! Pulling teeth might actually be easier some weeks. I echo your whine.
But you make it look so easy!
Takes me back to a time. Actually, many times.
Hope not too late Charli…it’s cold out there 😉
Deep Freeze
As if to the beat of a song she didn’t know, he scraped at the ice clinging to the windshield.
Slumped in the passenger seat, she watched as with every slice, white frost escaped into the frigid air; fleeing from its icy prison.
Ha. Prison. I know that.
She didn’t hear what he said as he turned the key and reversed out of the driveway, but she caught his off-guard momentary glance, no doubt bemused at her smirk.
I’m going to Capri and I’m not coming back. That’s me. No commercial.
Divorce papers signed; she floated like scraped frost.
Powerful scene, Sherri. And I love what that last line expresses so eloquently. It’s never too late at the ranch! Coffee pot is always on.
Thanks Charli!
[…] prompt this week […]
gulp, hope I’m in time…. http://geofflepard.com/2015/11/11/freeze-frame/
Yes, but only because you sent me to the coal fields to mine new information. I had to come up for air!