Day 233 Writing Short Stories

Sow

The deep grooves in the frozen, sown land stretched all around her. She watched the heaps of hard soil undulating and knew there would be no other harvest for years. The soil was dead. They had barely gotten it to yield crops this year, and the quality had been poor, lacking minerals.

It was not only their farm. It was the land itself. It couldn’t carry another harvest any longer. Yet, there was no way she or the others could stop. There was nowhere they could go. The once-fertile land of their mothers was now dying, and so was the empire of their fathers. The children were weak. The food barely fed them, her. It left them plump and ill. Every night, she cried for her own children. Their bones and spirit were killed before they could bloom. She cried for the land and the empire. She cried at her shortsightedness. There had to be a yield.

If the land died, so did the people.

Superstar

The adulation had made him a product. There was no person. No me. Nothing but a puppet for the advertisement and the screams. There were always the screams. He could delude himself, as he had done at the beginning, that he was worthy of adoration, but the truth was always there: he wasn’t. It was like a thorn in the mind, bleeding inside, coloring everything dark. Something he couldn’t hide from.

He had sold himself for the screams, the gifts, the adulation. He didn’t know who he was any longer. He was nobody any longer. Just clothes on his skin, clothes he didn’t even like.

Flowers

Picture a field full of wildflowers. Now take a step into the field and smell the flowers, feel the warm wind on your skin, and hear the susurrus of the nearby trees. Now close your eyes and stay there. You are free.

The prompts are from the book A Year of Creative Writing Prompts.

I was naughty today. I shaped the prompts, ignoring the actual tasks. I wanted to write a few mood pieces and be on my merry way. Partly, this rebellion is due to a short night’s sleep. I went to bed past 3 a.m., and, of course, it disrupted my sleep routine. I’m trying to get it back on track today, so I’m at my best tomorrow.

So, because of a lack of sleep, there are no insights today. I’m sad about that, that my mind feels so sluggish. Stories and writing about concepts are what make me sparkle, and I want to feel that feeling at least once a day. It wasn’t there today. I didn’t push the prompts deep enough. They are shallow and raw. But I forgive myself. I’m not feeling at my best now.

Thank you for reading ❤ I hope you are at your best today!