Happy Friday.  I hope you all were able to enjoy last week’s holiday weekend and/or the last hurrah! of summer and start of a new school year.

Here on the beautiful west coast, we’ve spent the last week with days of “extreme heat” coupled with random power outages and a lack of air conditioning.  Staying inside and trying not to melt into a puddle wasn’t exactly what I was planning to do on my week off work, but at least things seem to be improving.

While hunkering inside and trying not to melt, I was saddened to hear of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing yesterday (and not just because we share a first name).  I follow the Royal Family in my newsfeed and when images of her popped up, it always gave me a feeling of comfort that there was an adult in the room somewhere.  What a long, full life she had.

Now that the week is wrapping up and the temperatures are finaling cooling off a bit, I’m planning to do a little work in the yard–removing the plants that didn’t manage to survive the heat, and planting the plants that I recently started from seed that are bursting out of their pots.  There’s also the day job to take care of too.  Somewhere along the line I plan to give today’s writing prompt and random words a try.

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 either today’s random words or writing prompt will catch your creative fancy.

Ready?

Prompt:   Things change

Feel free to interpret the prompt any way you choose (or ignore it completely) and include any (or all) of the following random words:   

endings               portal            gallery             hound

beginnings          parrot            appear            honeymoon

unplanned          clover             company        ambition

essential             pretend           imposter        babbling

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 writing prompts.  Ideas are always welcome.

Happy writing to all!