If this is Friday, it must be Belgium.
Wait, that’s not right. It does make me think I want to go watch a light-hearted rom-com/caper-movie though. Luckily I have many options to choose from.
First, however, I have work to finish, some pre-publication ARCs to read/review, and two library books that are due to go back on Saturday. Really, the days are just packed.
This has been a busy week catching up on all kinds of odds and ends, including *finally* remembering to book my flight for this summer’s RWA conference. I booked my hotel in November, the conference in February, but completely forgot about the flights until Tuesday. Fortunately, all worked out well and now all that’s left is reading through the conference workshops and picking out all of the “can’t miss” offerings.
Before I get further distracted with conference planning however, I need to spend a little quality time getting some words on the page. My creativity seems to still be in winter hibernation mode, so I think I’ll try to wake it up with this week’s writing prompt and random words.
Care to join me?
For those of you working away on a story (whether a first draft or a polished version on its way to publication), if you’re not feeling random, we’d love to hear a bit – whether it’s a scene, a paragraph, or even a phrase that you are especially pleased with and would like to share.
If you don’t have a story in progress, or just want to work on something new, I hope today’s story prompt and/or random words will catch your creative fancy.
Ready?
What if: “Your character found a long-lost relative?”
Feel free to include any (or all) of the following random words:
gossip colors python endless
alarming ambush contestant heartbeat
wilderness director horoscope invisible
junkyard coma accomplice contempt
I look forward to seeing your stories in the comments. If you’re not feeling in the writing mood today, or don’t have time, feel free to post suggestions you might have for future “what-if” prompts. Ideas are always welcome.
Happy writing to all!
Eight Ladies Writing 
Argh! Not too creative today, but I got all the words in. I wonder if snakes can go into a coma?
The Snake’s Coma
The python was in a coma. Had to be. Its colors were too fresh for it to be dead, but it looked too lifeless to be breathing.
“Do you think it’s in a coma?” Bertie asked me. “It looks like it’s in a coma.”
We were standing in a wilderness junkyard. Endless piles of trash, the rejected remains of invisible lives long abandoned, strewn around us. We’d come in search of a car part, a steering wheel that would fit Bertie’s wagon. Instead, we’d stumbled upon the python, an alarming discovery even if the creature lacked a heartbeat altogether.
My accomplice poked it with a stick, an ambush that the reptile either ignored or had no awareness of.
“It’s dead,” Bertie said with contempt.
My horoscope that morning said to avoid heavy lifting, so I was all for leaving the python—dead, alive, or in a coma—be and looking elsewhere. I certainly wasn’t going to pick it up, or even push it out of the way with Bertie’s stick.
The problem was that the python was lying directly on the hood of the car that harbored the steering wheel that would fix Bertie’s wagon.
This stage of the reality show, of which we were two of the contestants, required us to fix the wagon using parts found in this junkyard. The director and producers had been most insistent.
But perhaps we could sneak out the back and buy the part from Autos R Us. The python certainly wasn’t going to gossip about it.
I’m totally thinking snakes can go into a coma. Is the snake just a plant by one of the other contestant groups that was trying to sabotage your efforts. Hard to tell. I’m sure your characters will find some creative way to get the part they need and maybe put the snake to good use.