First 50 Words

February 28, 2007

Crazy Making

Filed under: Essay, Opinion, Photo Writing Prompt, Writing prompt — first50 @ 7:21 am

dow.jpgWatching the stock market is crazy-making for the little investor like me. A few weeks ago the money commentator for Newsweek was saying how overdue the market was for a correction. Then when we experience a correction–okay a big correction of 400 points on the Dow, everyone has a attack of catalepsy.

Not being an expert, I don’t know whether to wring my hands in fear, or sigh with relief because the situation has corrected itself by . . .

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “crazy making.”

February 27, 2007

Listen my children

Filed under: Opinion, Poems, Writing prompt — first50 @ 7:55 am

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the predawn verse of bloggers dear,
On the twenty-seventh of Feb, in twenty ought seven;
Hardly a reader is now awake
Who reads this post from that famous day and year.

A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A typer in the darkness, a writer at the door,
And a blog that shall echo for evermore!

Today is the 200th anniversary of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow! Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “listen my children.”

February 23, 2007

Joni Mitchell Apples

Filed under: Food, Writing prompt, fiction, memories — first50 @ 6:30 am

I dragged into the kitchen looking for the coffee I could smell. My hostess came through the big glass doors leading out to the garden carrying a handful of apples.

“These are Joni Mitchell apples,” she said, “not real pretty but they make great juice.” She dumped them on the counter near the juicer.

“Joni Mitchell apples?” I said.

“Remember that old song Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees?” . . .

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “Joni Mitchell apples.”

February 22, 2007

Greek Yogurt

Filed under: Food, Writing prompt, fiction — first50 @ 8:07 am

She slapped a dollop of Greek yogurt on her Kashi and took a bite, savoring the crunchy tang. As she swallowed, she heard a scream from Margaret’s apartment above her. Heavy footsteps sounded on her ceiling and something fell with a clump. Her spoon clattered to the table and she stood, listening. The pounding footsteps moved toward the doorway to the hall while a faint moan came from above her.

She knew that the 78 year old neighbor in the apartment above her lived alone. She grabbed her baseball bat on the way out the door and ran for the stairs . . .

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “Greek yogurt.”

February 21, 2007

Rusty Junk

Filed under: Childhood memory, Photo Writing Prompt, Writing prompt, fiction — first50 @ 1:49 pm

rusty wheel

Walking among the dried clods of dirt I wondered if anyone ever picked up anything on this ranch. Everything seems to be discarded and left laying where it fell. I see wheels, water heaters, fuse boxes, tires, bricks, wheels, shelves–even a refrigerator.

The horses and cows within the fence step over these obstacles with delicate precision as if they were prickly pear or yucca.

People live here, work here, but never clean here. This seems . . .

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “rusty junk.”

February 16, 2007

The baby arrived early

Filed under: About Us, books — first50 @ 8:02 am

Order Mastering HTML and CSS from amazon.com

Too happy not to share the news that my book came out a bit earlier than expected and it’s a celebration around here! Yee Haw! Good times, good times.

Tee Shirt

Filed under: Writing prompt, fiction — first50 @ 5:36 am

I watch the tee shirt lady from my hidden perch behind the two-way mirror in the office above the drug store. The tee shirt vendor comes in every two weeks and straightens and restocks the tee shirts. We sell a lot of those shirts, they’re a good profit maker for us.

About once a week, the tee shirt lady comes in. If the shirts are neat, she pulls them from the rack in handfuls. She unfolds and wads them up and stuffs them back in the rack so they look unattractive. Sometimes she comes in the very day the vendor has straightened them all out. Sometimes she misses by a day or two and the display looks good for a while. Why? That’s what I don’t . . .

Please leave a comment with your firstĀ  50 words on the topic “tee shirt.”

February 15, 2007

World Changing

Filed under: Good Reading, Writing prompt, books — first50 @ 7:32 am

Hey, yo, you there. Here’s a world changing website that will help you find your way to a bright, green future. Ya want a bright green future, don’tcha? Yeah, I thought you did. Well, read that stuff and you’ll find all kinds of ways that people are working to keep your world green. Your world. Uh huh.

The folks at world changing wrote a book, too. The call it World Changing: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century. It uses up 600 pages of recycled paper so it has what sure feels like a ton of good ideas for ways to keep this old world breathing and producing fresh water. Yo.

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “world changing.”

February 14, 2007

School Closed Today

Filed under: Childhood memory, Writing prompt, fiction — first50 @ 8:24 am

Timmy woke to a bright white light outside his bedroom curtains and knew that the hoped for snow had come in the night. Yes! School closed today! Timmy didn’t bother to go ask his mom if it would be true, he knew it would.

He dived into his closet and pulled out the box with the remaining Legos that he hadn’t already used in his 17 bridges project. He was working on number 14 last night when he had to turn out the light. During the night, he’d dreamed of a new way to hold up the roadbed on bridge number 14 and he was . . .

February 13, 2007

Last King of Scotland

Filed under: Opinion, Writing prompt, movies — first50 @ 7:01 am

In trying to get a look at all the Oscar nominated actors and movies before the awards are granted, I just saw The Last King of Scotland. Forest Whitaker certainly deserves his nomination for this difficult role. He was really good. James McAvoy, who played Idi Amin’s Scottish doctor was wonderful, too.

It’s strange to watch a film about someone like Idi Amin and come out of the theater saying that it was really good. You feel a little like you’re approving what he did, rather than approving what the film maker accomplished with . . .

Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on “last king of scotland.”

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