Cedar Sanderson

Week 41 of Odd Prompts

It’s time to kick those brains into gear with your Odd Prompts! This week we can decide to take more time to write or art, or… whatever keeps you sane. It’s like making a budget, you set the time aside and make a commitment not to waste it!

So grab your prompt, or pick a spare, and let’s go. Speaking of spare prompts, shall I pull all of them out as we’ve passed them and put them in a repository for other times when you need a little gentle mental kick in the pants?

PrompterPromptPrompted
nother MikeThe motorcycle saddlebag held a bottle of fine wine…Leigh Kimmel
Anne GuglikIt was November of my 30th year. Fleetwood Mac was playing in the background, and I was enjoying the fine ocean spray.Cedar Sanderson
Fiona Grey“With this ring, I thee wed.” Grinning, she slid the ring on his finger, looked up, and…nother Mike
Becky JonesThe wind swirled the leaves into a small vortex…that slowly seemed to morph into something else. Something with a head, arms, and legs. What are you watching?Anne Guglik
Leigh Kimmel“Under Pressure” is the title of a song by Queen and a novel by Frank Herbert — connection? For extra credit, also tie in Billy Joel’s “Pressure” and ZZ Top’s “She’s Got Me Under Pressure.”Becky Jones
Cedar SandersonThe kitten arched and hissed at the empty corner.Fiona Grey

  Visual Spare!

(photo by Cedar Sanderson)
SpareAs you walk through the ruins, you can feel the old dark magic starting to stir…
SpareOn graduation day at the Lone Ranger Academy, standing at the lectern, what do you tell the new grads?
SpareSocial occasions, like parties, bars, dance halls, all changed when everyone started having their cell phone provide their personal theme music background wherever they walked…
SpareThe trojan horse was made of matchsticks.

Reading the prompt responses every week is fun, and fascinating to see what the little prompt seeds grow up into.

If you’d like to take part in the prompt challenge, or submit a spare prompt, send an email to oddprompts@gmail.com and if it’s a spare, indicate that in the subject line. Many thanks! See you next week!

(Header Image: antique book, photo by Cedar Sanderson)

17 comments

  2. […] Week 41 for the Odd Prompts and once again, I got a prompt from Leigh Kimmel. These prompts are making me think! And that’s not a bad thing…but, brain hurt. Anyway, this was Leigh’s prompt: Under Pressure” is the title of a song by Queen and a novel by Frank Herbert — connection? For extra credit, also tie in Billy Joel’s “Pressure” and ZZ Top’s “She’s Got Me Under Pressure. […]

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    • No. “Wed-nes-day IS a strange spelling for Woden’s Day.

      Hrmm…

      Woden’s Day
      Woden’sDay
      Wodensday
      Wodnsday.,…no..
      Wedensday.. maybe..
      Wednesday… transcription error… that stuck?
      Wendsday… matter of time, IF things haven’t been ‘cemented’?

      But hiccough vs. hiccup.. so…

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  7. “As you walk through the ruins, you can feel the old dark magic starting to stir…”

    It wasn’t until I was nearing the end of this segment that I realized that I had misread part of the prompt. Whoops. Oh well, I took what I thought I saw, flipping it to 3rd person, and added to the story. I’m still not real sure where it is going, but it definitely wants to go somewhere. Need to sit down with partner-in-crime and a notebook and start hammering out some story ideas.

    https://undomesticatedfeline.wordpress.com/2020/10/13/odd-prompts-week-41/

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  9. Fiona Grey prompted

    “With this ring, I thee wed.” Grinning, she slid the ring on his finger, looked up, and…

    And here’s where I went with it…

    The Ring
    By Mike Barker

    The wedding, as such things go, had been magnificent. Family, friends, everyone seemed intent on making it wonderful for them. And then they started the ceremony, and she heard the old words roll around them. Right up to the point where she said, “With this ring, I thee wed.”

    Grinning, she slid the ring on his finger, looked up, and saw strange reflections fading away. Wait, that was that guy she had dated in college, fading away. And there was a woman that she thought had been interested in him, shaking her head and fading away. There were also images… there she was, lying in a hospital bed? And that too was fading.

    She gulped, realizing that somehow, she had gotten a glimpse of the other pasts, and the other futures, the might-have-beens that had just become obsolete when she put that ring on his finger and made that commitment.

    And shining through those ghosts of what could have been was his smile, answering her grin. His eyes, glittering with emotion. His arms, reaching out to pull her in for that first kiss as a wedded couple.

    The glory of that moment sank into her, and would never let her go.

    (well, maybe…)

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    • I am both mildly terrified and delighted. For some reason, I read this with a dark and ominous expectation, which made it wildly creepy. I love the fact that it’s also wonderful and light from a different perspective. Bravo.

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