January TwitterFlash Share
It’s the last Friday in January, and time to come back to the ranch to share your favorite Twitterflashes. Share up to five of your best stories in the comments below. The prompt was: In a single tweet, write a story about seeing coldness in a new light. Participants used the #TwitterFlash hashtag. This helps you follow along with others, and find your own work.
Go to Twitter and in the “search Twitter” box enter the hashtag and your Twitter handle (example: #Twitterflash @CJaiFerry). This will bring up your “Top” tweets. In the menu where your search shows up, below it reads choices beginning with “Top.” Select “Latest.” This will narrow your search.
In addition, share one Twitter account that you think other Rough Writers would enjoy and/or benefit from. A good author to follow is Kensia Anske @kseniaanske.
Stop by next Friday, February 2 for the next installment of this TwitterFlash project.
C. Jai Ferry is a flash fiction freak, human trafficking warrior, and Master Ninja at novellaninjas.com, an online space promoting published short stories and novellas to readers. Her titles include Unraveled, a collection of microfiction and flash fiction stories, and “Skeleton Dance,” 2014 winner of the Vermillion Literary Project Short Story Contest, which was turned into a film and included in the 2016 Nebraska Noir collection. She tweets from @CJaiFerry.
Thanks for leading our first foray into TwitterFlash, C. Jai! Cold stuff!
I’d like to share @SistersoftheFey to follow on Twitter. The Sisters are known to us at Carrot Ranch, although they maintain a secret order of Fairies.
Cold TwitterFlash #1
Squeals and crunching snow penetrate the glass between me and the boys who romp. Flora’s twins must be first-grade by now. Their play lasts but three minutes. I count the tick-tocks. 180. Must be cold. Since the accident five years ago, I can’t feel a single draft.
Cold TwitterFlash #2
Cold metal weighed heavy in Eve’s hand. She knelt by the open door of the stagecoach. No survivors. The horses, spent from their mad run nickered and twitched while she unharnessed them. The gold coins she carefully pocketed.
Really liked the second one.
That one came out of the cold blue. 😀
My Twitter account – @EnneaGramType8
#TwitterFlash – “As the door closed behind Jack, Olivia burst into tears. It was the middle of August, but all of a sudden, she felt cold. Freezing. He was gone and this time she knew it was for good. With a mug of hot cocoa she slipped underneath a thick blanket. Still shivering.”
Who I follow – @AllisonWaters17 (but I think you already know her!)
Good use of cold and emotion. And thanks for leaving your handle as well as Irene’s.
Thanks. My pleasure.
Thank you for including me. Twitter feels so foreign to me I have no idea what I am supposed to do but I appreciate you and anybody else that looks.
Social media seems to be a lot of work, You seem to be a natural, though!
Thank you, you’ve put a smile on a just woken up face. Sometimes it is a lot of work but a lot of enjoyment also. I don’t let it get in the way of living (although sometimes it gets in the way of my WIP) which is why I haven’t spent a lot of time working out Twitter.
#twitterflash
Matters of life or death, you find out what you’re made of. They try to reassure me, tell me I had no choice, he’d have dragged me in too, no one could last in that water, I had no choice but to let him go.
But I know. Alive he would drag me down. I am made of ice.
###
I’m back from my photo op.
You had posed pictures taken?
Of course. I was posed, poked, pushed, pinched, pressed, and plated.
Plated?
The plates were cold but her hands were warm.
These were pictures?
Mammogram. Get one yourself.
###
Jagged edged echoes scarred the dark. Red and blue lights clawed the night, shadows reeling like banshees. Frozen in place, she was unable to face what they would find. It was over. He had ended his addiction. Their Narcan wouldn’t bring him back from this shot.
###
It was cold outside. He was tired of being cold, cold and hungry. He knew how to get 3 squares, a warm bed. This time he’d make sure he was set for life.
The last thing the old woman saw was his prison-inked knuckles desperately gripping the knife.
###
Earnest finally found his balance, holding Marge, slow dancing, his large palms gentle on her hips, on the small of her back. Marge, with bent head resting on Earnest’s chest, smiled down at scuffed work boots going toe to toe. He had begun to lead and she to yield.
###
Oops, the last one doesn’t fit, unless they have cold feet.
Got any friends, Kid?
Had a dog once.
Ya gotta tweeter more.
Don’t like bein’ stalked, Pal.
It’s ‘followed’.
Sounds creepy ta me.
‘An ya gotta follow folks yerself.
Be the creep? Na.
Kid, how’d ya ever meet anyone?
Who do I need ta meet?
Yer a heap a fun, ain’tcha?
Cider helps.
268 spaces. @daveryshiftn
I have been enjoying the prolific and twitterflash output of @colburnfa
Cold feet? Depends on how far they go…or what happens the day after the morning after… 😉
A masterful collecting, including Earnest and his cold feet (but we know how well the story turns out). A great variety of cold interpretations. The first one really gets me — survivor’s guilt.
Thanks, Boss. This was fun, in spite of myself.
My take on that first one is that the survivor is truly guilty, could’ve hung on and hauled in and chose not to. (How do ya like me now?)
I can feel the questionable vibes in that one. I like how it can be read “good” or “evil.”
All of these are fantastic D.
Fun reads… but I just don’t tweet… yet. I’m holding out. But I think that’s OK there’s only so much one person can do. 🙂
That’s fine, Jules! Pick your playgrounds. 😉
Know what you mean Jules. One reason that I have never managed to work through twitter (although I try to have a presence) is because I can only stretch so far.
Here’s the one I posted. I don’t use twitter much. It is the first time I posted anything beside a share or response to other shares.
——————————–
They drove the kids to Florida. It was very cold in Chicago that winter. That was the first time they saw palm trees. They were so weird compared to real trees they looked at each other with fresh eyes.
We used to go every year, once my grandparents retired there. I’m sure the drive was similar. Differences can be a learning experience 🙂
That such a great outlook in that last line, Frank. And thanks for trying the Twitterflash!
Change is good…renews everything if you look at it right. Nice!
Thank you, Jules, Charli and Liz. I am thinking of using twitter to post photos or short poems now that I’ve posted something on its own and seen photos there.
I’ve seen people use Twitter in this way, introducing the poem or photo in a tweet, and writing the poem over a background or photo.
I’m just pasting what I entered in comments to the original post. My Twitterhandle is @Trolligirl:
“Looks like I can only Tweet 140 Characters. 😦
Bet here’s what I did assuming an 280 capacity…
5 degrees past sundown. My head’s sweaty, cheeks toddler-pink, thighs numb. Shoveling snow is heavenly: light & dry, creamy & easy to toss over dead leaves & lawn. Let’s just see what the snowplows do to my pristine driveway. HA! #Twitterflash #cold #snowplow
Hunched up, shivering, too many layers 2 count. Sundown = lighter snow. How many more feet left? Steam along in a crystal cloud, labored breath gets loud. Shovel scrapes, catches ice islands, my belly bronco-kicked. Come and get me, snowplow! #Twitterflash #cold #snowplow
I stand before you, supplicant. Your pale eyes, barely blue, barely there. My mouth opens, rolls out an apology, a Spring-time breeze. A breath 4 new beginnings. You’re not having it. My tears are diamond knives. I’ve cut myself 4 the last time. #Twitterflash #cold #unforgiven
“
The snowplow Chronicles! Minnesota snowplow drivers are the most gifted in the world for plowing in driveways. What is up with that? Your last one is powerful and sharp. Thanks, Liz!
Lol! Wish I knew how to get at the 280 capacity for my desktop… 🙁
That would make a good Twitter topic because I’m not sure about how that works with the expanded word count.
Here’s my contribution:
Jane labors out of her sleeping bag, into her jacket, out of the tent. Breath steams, frost crunches, but she smiles, fumbling pocketknife and cooler. Tasty breakfast, meat and cheese, cold frappuccino. The only way winter is a friend to the homeless–no ice needed. #Twitterflash
I already follow C Jai and D. Avery, and I love their stuff! Will be sure to branch out. The creative possibilities of Twitter are wonderful! Thank you for this. 🙂
Oh my goodness. To be placed in the same sentence, in that sentence, with C Jai-
Thanks.
This really brings power to Jane’s story, “no ice needed.” It’s not fully appreciated until one has experienced no refrigeration in summer.
Here’s my contribution:
Bob’s arms craved his cold, detached mother but again rejection. His smile & arms dropped. The room & his heart froze. With Nanny’s return came warmth. Scooped up, Nanny cuddled. Sharing words of love. Unseen, his mother watched, cold tears rolling down her face. #twitterflash
I follow everyone that has commented on this post but I’m not sure what I am supposed to do particularly with comments made.
I tweet as @AllisonWaters17
I don’t know what to do with comments either. On my blog I respond to all comments, but I wonder if that is appropriate on twitter.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that doesn’t know what to do. I feel so rude but it doesn’t seem to flow correctly to do anything else so I just ignore it all. C.Jai has her work cut out educating me but already I have learnt about lists.
My personal experience with Twitter is that comments don’t always work as well as retweets (RT). One thing I do (and I can’t say it is effective or not) is that I go directly to a post-link and share it on Twitter directly (that way I can actually read the post) or I add an introductory comment before I RT (such as, This #Twitterflash by made my blood run cold…). Conversations get too weird, especially if multiple people are involved. But I’d like to know of different RT strategies and if there are any actual comment courtesies.
What gets me most in this flash is how hurt the mother is in her prison of detachment.
Good feedback for C. Jai to consider in where to help us all navigate next!
Well this is mighty cool. (heh) Sorry I missed it – I’ve kind of missed January in its entirety. Planning to get back to life with the new month! Hope we’ll do this again!