“Dammit!” She slammed through another stack, and slid the entire mess of books aside. Some toppled from the pile, featureless cloth covers catching up dust and disappearing under the wooden bench. Continue reading
freedom
Strategy: Punt and Run
The challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your own creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “CAROUSEL”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories
She’d retreated to the kitchen to escape the cacophony of what had become weekly shouts and belches that took over the living room, to get herself together and decide the next big thing she needed to do.
She would start with something easy: bake a sourdough loaf, with its usual white-whole wheat mix, and add dried fruit and nuts, with a scattering of spices of indeterminate mixture; nothing calmed her like creating something with her hands that no one had ever tasted before (not that these over-enthused sports nuts her husband had gathered would be able to appreciate the craft that brought her calm). Continue reading
Morning Song
From Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr’s photo prompt: The Unicorn Challenge (04/21/23). No more than 250 words in length. Otherwise, let your creative flag fly!
Moon sets as sun rises, soon disappearing behind a tiny fist of palm. Palm no longer whips, panicked in the worst thunderstorm since forever. The marina is still, taking no damage from wave and wind; the marina is well-protected. That’s why she brought him here.
She looks down at him lying half-out of the water, still handsome despite the battering and near-drowning. He breathes, begins to rouse. There’s a decision to make.
These humans are so fragile! Continue reading
Gimme Shelter
“Too much noise going on out there, and nothing more I can do about it, than what I’m already doing.” She clicked off the TV and tossed the remote on the scarred, stained coffee table. “I wish I had a remote to use on myself and my busy thoughts!” Continue reading
Just-Jot-It-January (Jan 9-Unicorn)
So, this month I’m doing a challenge to write a micro a day, for Just-Jot-It-January. Thanks to Linda G. Hill, bloggers in the “Play Group” have proposed a one-word prompt for each day. We share our responses back to Linda’s page, and are able to read what others come up with. Most days, I post my responses every few days in bundles, but today’s single prompt – UNICORN — reminded me of a fun piece I wrote in late 2020, in the Before Times. And if this prompt tickles your imagination, please click the connecting link on the bottom of the post to read others’ responses!
During late 2020, the Rough Writers of Carrot Ranch were challenged to write a 99-word flash that combined Romance and Western; I guess in that sense, the task might classify as Speculative Fiction, with my addition of a magical unicorn. In order to get to the final flash, we all had to cycle through a series of steps/products that varied in number of words, point of view, tagline, and weird trope prop. That’s the technical, but read on for what turned out to be a revelation for me, and hopefully, entertaining for you: Romance of the Rails.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2022)
To see others’ Jan 9 responses click the following:
(https://lindaghill.com/2022/01/09/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-9th-2022/)
Simple Prayer
You shout and tell me it’s not fair,
To give you one more chance, to dare.
That moon and all the stars are mine,
If I bow down just one more time.
Canceled Flight Canceled
He peered over the edge, at the green and white rush and pull of salt water. He knew he wasn’t ready, felt he never would be. He was different than the others. Continue reading





