Hello! And welcome to Experience Writing’s Writober kick-off celebration. We’re somehow still having summer here in the Seattle area, and I’m about to go dive in the lake to cool off, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get in the Halloween spirit. I had a ton of fun this morning with Tourmaline .’s prompt “Monster” fitting with the SoCS prompt “me” and the #Writober7 image of a little girl reading horror stories to monsters. It is a monstrous day.

Tourmaline .’s Halloween Challenge

Today’s word for Tourmaline .’s Challenge is Monster. Inspired by the #SoCS prompt, I thought about me as a monster and took some fun high-contrast black and whites of myself.

I then cropped and resized these images to create transparency filters. This new technique I’m developing is tricky, but so much fun.

Stream of Consciousness Saturday (#SoCS)

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “me:” to either find a word that starts with “me” or use the word “me” as the theme of my post. Though Monster doesn’t start with “me,” it has me in it. I had already been thinking about how humans are the real monsters for Tourmaline .’s challenge. Now, I’m thinking about how I’m the monster.

I found some interesting definitions for monster: 1b. one who deviates from normal or acceptable behavior or character 2. a threatening force 5. one that is highly successful.

Funny how easy the monster comes out
with a change in light and shadow
The untamed, deeper, wilder parts lurking
where no one can know or go
What is this monster up to underneath
in the unseen, and should I be afraid
to meet this other monster me?

Is she the pain in my left fang
I always blame on the press of stress?
Is it a kink in her tail that makes my coccyx wail
that I blame on a fall in the past?
I feel her sometimes, clicking claws
in my mind when the world appears so unfair
and now that I’ve seen her, I wouldn’t want
to be near when she’s here so
Beware Monster Me

So fun that my stream of consciousness came out as a poem. I’m loving today’s prompts.

Writober Flash Fiction

Today’s visual story inspiration is Fairy tales? haha, please . . . by AlvaroCardozoW. I’ve been wanting to incorporate my study of contradictory nouns into my fiction, so today’s story will include the grief in happiness and the happiness in grief.

I did it! I completed a story draft! It’s rough, but it has a beginning, a middle and end. There’s conflict, and change, and monsters. So how do I want to do this? I think I’ll share a little excerpt. Let me know if you’d rather I shared short summaries or maybe I’ll try to condense my stories to a couple sentences to share after I write the drafts. I’ll work on it. For today, here’s a short excerpt:

A water spot hits the page and spreads, blurring the next word, but she knows it, and continues reading, “thing in the world.” She sniffs again. Her voice pitches higher as she reads, “I think, is.” She uses the sleeve of her dress to wipe her eyes. The fabric is scratchy and hurts her cheek.
She sniffs and takes a deep breath to continue when she hears a voice say, “Don’t mess your dress. I’ll lap those up for ya.”
Alas looks around. She thinks she sees a shimmer by her left shoulder which is crammed against the walls. She feels a slight tickle at the corner of her eye.

Maria L. Berg (#Writober7 Day 1)

What a fun first day of Writober. And I still have some swimming and reading to do. I hope you’ll put links in the comments to all the exciting things you’ve been doing to celebrate. Thanks for reading Experience Writing and I’ll see you tomorrow.