Six-Word Saturday

June 28, 2014June 28, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

http://www.showmyface.com/search/label/6WS

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Tell Me A Story Saturday Writing Challenge – A Woman Scorned

June 16, 2014June 17, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

Here’s my own story in response to my “Tell Me A Story Saturday” challenge. Just follow the link to learn how to join in the fun. This week we are writing stories of 25 words or less.

A WOMAN SCORNED

“Annie! You’re attending my wedding?!”

“I’m the planner.”

“You? My ex-wife?!”

“Relax …. Here, this glass of champagne’s just for you …. It’ll all be over soon.”

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Velvet Verbosity #382 – The Error of the ‘Ess’

June 11, 2014June 13, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

This week’s prompt from Velvet Verbosity is the word “Heiress.”

THE ERROR OF THE ‘ESS’

The Lincoln Herald’s executive editor glowered in Alexandra’s doorway. “Alex, I’ve told you a dozen times that you cannot use these “ess” suffixes in your stories!”

“But it’s about a world-renowned heiress. What else can I call her? She certainly isn’t an heir.”

“Yes, she is.”

“No, she’s not. An heir is a man.”

“You know the Usage Panel refuses to accept suffixes designating gender.”

“But that’s crazy! Journalism’s being smothered by all this ‘political correctness!’”

“Yes, true journalists are gasping for their last breath. It’s too late for me, but I’m going to save your life: you’re fired.”

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Five-Sentence Fiction – ‘Anticipation’

June 4, 2014June 17, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

I’ve been forgetting to try the 5-Sentence Fiction challenge the last couple of weeks. And I’m almost too late this time around. The page says I have only about 3 hours left. The prompt this week is “Marriage,” and since I’m watching the clock, I ran to my poetry file because I remembered a poem I wrote about a year ago that had just about enough material for five sentences. The only problem was that I didn’t use sentences at all in that poem. So I borrowed the material (from my own work) and added the necessary subjects and verbs to give me five complete sentences. Whew! It’s been almost as hectic as actually getting married. My “story” is below the picture.

ANTICIPATION

Coming and going, to-ing and fro-ing, thoughts in a dither, stomach a quiver, I’m scared.

Scurrying, worrying, phoning, conversing, weighing last doubts, I still could bow out if I dared.

Checking all pockets, fastening lockets, sniffing the bouquets – fragrant sublime haze – I’m okay.

Guests in their places, smiles on their faces, music at high tide, “Here Comes the Bride”: IT’S MY WEDDING DAY!

HOORAY!

A Sharpened Pencil

June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

There’s just something about sharpened pencils – lead pencils, colored pencils – it doesn’t matter. There’s just something about sharpened pencils that brings out a craving in me: a craving to write! I’m not alone, of course. It happens to all of us who were born to be writers. In fact, that’s one of the ways you can know for sure that writing is in your genes – in your soul – in your gut.

I suppose paintbrushes do the same thing to the artist, and adding machines the same to accountants. As a matter of fact, I’m going to make it a point to ask my accountant friends if they feel this uncontrollable itching to punch buttons when they see an adding machine sitting there with a pristine roll of paper tape rolling out of the top and just begging to be imprinted with numbers. I’m sure they do.

That’s what happens to me when I look at sharpened pencils. I have this almost insurmountable urge to pick up one – or more – and start moving it across an untouched sheet of paper. At least my preference is untouched, uncontaminated paper, but when such is not available, I have been known to grab a napkin, a piece of cardboard, or the back of a used envelope. But write I must.

Or if I’m sitting and looking at a cup full of freshly sharpened colored pencils mixed in with the lead pencils, as I was today, I run for my sketch pad and begin to draw. Am I an accomplished artist? No. But I can no more keep myself from putting those colored pencils to paper and moving them across it in gliding, soul-satisfying strokes than I can keep myself from reaching into a just-opened box of chocolate candy and taking a piece.

However, whether lead or colored, when the point is no longer sharp, then I must change pencils. That is the other cardinal rule that governs this addiction. Dull pencil points will absolutely not give me the fix that I need.

So what do I write – or draw? Now, honestly, that part really doesn’t matter where this addiction is concerned. The requirement is that I write (or draw) SOMETHING. And therein lies the only real advantage of this craving: by giving into it, I am put in a position of creating something that never before existed – something out of my own being, my own entity – something that relays who and what I am.

When I’m writing – which is what I do most often, of course – the product may turn out to be superfluous words that don’t make any real difference in this world I live in. But more times than not, those words – once they are tweaked, re-arranged, and polished – offer something satisfying, inspiring, entertaining to myself and others who read them.

And truthfully, this addiction doesn’t require wooden pencils to have its effect on me – or on the rest of us who call ourselves writers. A computer keyboard and a blank white document page on the screen in front of us will do exactly the same thing.

But we are not quite as susceptible to the keyboard and screen, because unless we are sitting in front of them already, they don’t pull on us the way that pencil does. We are likely to run into those pencils almost anywhere. And when we see one – that is if it’s nice and clean and sharp – look out world: we just may unleash our greatest masterpiece on you before you know what hit you.

100-Word Challenge for Grownups # 134 – Blackbird Conversation

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

Julia is into birds this week on her 100-word story challenge. Here’s what she says: “I am very lucky to have a garden and even luckier that a variety of birds visit each day. At the moment we have 2/3 blackbirds who are really ruling the roost so to speak. They are beautiful song birds I know, but they are having a conversation. You can tell with the intonation of the sounds and the responses from another birds.

So, your prompt this week is to write that conversation!”

So I did. It’s below the picture.

OVERHEARD CONVERSATION OF BLACKIE BIRD AND HIS FAMILY

“Mama!”

“Mama … we’re hungry!”

“Yeah, we’re hungry.”

“I’ll check on Dad’s progress.”

“Honey, found anything?”

“Not yet. Those dang Cardinals grab everything in sight!”

“They think just because they’re so splendid to look at they should get the best of everything.”

“Hey, two worms! I’ll grab ’em.”

“Oh, look out! Kitty-Kitty’s comin’ at you at 2:00!”

“If I run, I’ll lose the worms to the Bluejays.”

“Barn-a-Bee’s on the roses. Call for help.”

“Hey, Barn-a-Bee, Kitty-Kitty’s crouched to attack. Help!”

“On my way. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz … SMACK!”

“MEOW!!#%$!!#$%!!”

“Great hit! Right on the nose! Thanks, Barn-a-Bee, old pal. I owe you one.”

I actually got the idea for this story from a whimsical poem my mother wrote many years ago, titled “Wish I Were A Bumblebee.” You can read it at this link.

Photo courtesy of http://www.public-domain-image.com/blackbirds-pictures/close-up-of-a-female-tricolored-blackbird-agelaius-tricolor.jpg.html

Velvet Verbosity # 378 – ‘The Happy Barber’

May 14, 2014May 2, 2020 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

This week’s Velvet Verbosity 100-Word Story prompt is the word “Beard.”

THE HAPPY BARBER

Albert, the town barber, arrived at his shop to find a customer waiting.

“I thought you’d never get here!” the customer said.

Albert’s eyes grew round.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” the customer said, now in the chair. “Quick! Get me shaved.”

“Oh … I couldn’t! I just couldn’t ! That’s the most perfect beard I’ve ever seen.”

“What!?!?”

“Why, it’s thick and velvety, with perfect color. Every barber longs for a customer with a beard like that to care for. I’ll delight in trimming it for you, but I could never shave it off.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m sorry to upset you, M’am. But I will not shave off your beard.”

~~~

Author’s note:

I’ve reached the time of my life where I’ve had to learn to deal with one of those aggravating challenges that nag at ladies in their middle age years: those confounded extra hairs that keep cropping up above our upper lips and on our lower chins. Testy little things they are, and our determination to get rid of them – and keep getting rid of them when necessary – is without limit.

There are a number of weapons in our arsenal: creams, waxes, strips, eye-brow shapers, tweezers, and any number of exfoliating gadgets sold “only on TV.” So far, no one I know has had to resort to visiting Albert (thank God), but my personal small warfare in this area has undoubtedly attributed to my whimsical take on this week’s prompt.

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Clipart courtesy of http://www.wpclipart.com/working/signs/barber_pole.png.html

DE-STRESS ME!

April 23, 2014April 23, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

It’s been a particularly lousy week!

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Ahhhhhhhhhh ……..

April 17, 2014April 17, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

Hey Everyone,

It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee!
`

Time and life have taught me much. One of the things I’ve learned is that, no matter where you go or who you see, what you do or what you fail to do, one of the most delightful experiences in life is breathing in the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee.

May I offer you a cup?

25-Word Story Challenge: ‘Wedding Plans’

April 4, 2014April 4, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

Here’s my story for the 25-word story challenge.

WEDDING PLANS

“Sorry folks,” Carter said. “Seems my bride eloped with someone else.” He laughed. “She took the car I’d arranged for my own last-minute escape.”

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To join in the fun, hop over to the challenge itself and get the details (link above). It’s really easy – well – easy to join – not so easy to write a complete story in 25 words – but, hey, if it were easy, why do it, right?

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Velvet Verbosity # 372 – Short Engagement

April 2, 2014April 3, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

Velvet Verbosity this week presented us with the word “Smack” as our prompt for a 100-word story. Below the picture is my story. I didn’t have any choice but to write it. The concept SMACKED me in the head and wouldn’t go away.

THE SHORT ENGAGEMENT

“Daphne, for weeks I’ve fought against the whole idea of loving you. I’ve argued all the reasons I should never even consider marrying you. You’re too unsophisticated and uneducated to fit into my social set. And your looks – well – you know what you see in the mirror. I need a beautiful woman beside me – who matches my looks. So you can see how I’ve struggled.

“Yet … I’ve lost the battle, Daphne. I am in love with you and cannot escape it. I’ve decided to marry you and suffer the consequences. Here’s the ring.”

SMACK! The black eye lasted a week.

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(My apologies to Jane Austen for borrowing and abusing her unique “love” scene idea from Pride and Prejudice. I just couldn’t pass up the perfect fit of that concept with this prompt.)

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Six-Word Saturday

March 22, 2014March 22, 2014 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

Visit the creator and hostess of “Six-Word Saturday” here:
http://www.showmyface.com/search/label/6WS%C2%A0

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Bananas About Bananas

March 19, 2014February 12, 2019 | Sandra Pavloff Conner

I just finished off one of the most delectable bananas I have eaten in ages! The skin was golden yellow, but not too deeply golden. There was still a hint of green on the stem. The meat of the banana was firm and without blemish. And the flavor literally exploded in my mouth. MmmmMmmm!!!

I do love bananas, but I’m also extremely particular about my bananas. I can’t stand them if they are soft enough to feel the least bit mushy, or if they are starting to turn brown. Now, my hubby was just the opposite. He’s with the Lord now, enjoying the fruit of Heaven, which I’m sure is far superior in every way to what we have here, but when he was earthbound, he was also particular about his bananas. He wanted them brown – almost to the point of being disgusting. And if they were almost mush, that was even better. Ewwwww!

I never changed his opinion, but then he never changed mine either – which didn’t cause a problem because when we bought a bunch of bananas, I ate mine during the first few days, and then after they were ready to pitch as far as I was concerned, he dived into his half of the bunch. (Would that all differences in marriages could be so easily resolved, huh?)

Now, I am a great lover of banana bread as well, and I realize that when we make banana bread or muffins, those bananas are supposed to be especially ripe and very soft. That’s supposed to make them at peak flavor. And I don’t mind the thought of them being ripe and mushy once they are hidden in the bread, but I’d rather someone else make the bread so that I don’t have to see them as they go in. Ridiculous, I know, but, hey, we all have to have some kind of little idiosyncrasies, or we wouldn’t be individuals, right?

Another of my favorite treats is banana splits. But, alas, I am also particular about those. I want the old fashioned kind – which can be found almost nowhere these days – with three different flavors of ice cream, covered in three different kinds of topping. I’m sorry, but unless I have vanilla ice cream on one end covered with pineapple topping, strawberry ice cream in the middle covered with strawberry topping, and chocolate ice cream on the other end covered in chocolate syrup — and BOTH halves of a whole banana (not just a smidgeon stuck on each side) I have NOT had a banana split. Needless to say, it’s been a while since I’ve had that satisfaction.

But on to my next favorite: banana pudding. And, of course, I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I’m also very particular about that as well. I do not want my bananas to turn dark while in the pudding! But that problem is pretty easy to avoid, because when I start eating banana pudding, I usually don’t stop until it’s gone anyway. Or if it’s a very large portion, I might have some left for a second day, and that’s it.

The last item on my banana list that I consider a delicacy is banana ice cream. And I don’t want any of this artificial flavoring stuff. I want real bananas flavoring my ice cream. I can still remember, as an elementary-age child, making trips on hot summer nights to the local ice cream stand in our neighborhood. My family and I looked forward to those trips several times a week during those summer months, and I always ordered the same flavor: you guessed it – banana. Oh, wow – happy memories are made of banana ice cream!

Ooops, I almost forgot one more of my favorite banana recipes: banana and peanut butter sandwiches. And, of course, there are rules. The bananas should be slightly firm and very evenly sliced. The bread is best toasted. I spread a thick, even layer of peanut butter on the toast; then line up those banana slices. Depending on the size of the banana and the bread, I might get three rows of slices, but I can sometimes get 4. That’s good — and healthy — eating.