Violet Prompt to go With Anxiety and Zombies

I have received some awesome suggestions for the orange category contest and can't wait to post the finished list for you to vote on. There is less than one day left to get in your suggestions. Click here and scroll down a bit to enter. Remember the contest ends at 11:45 tonight and I am sending a twenty dollar Amazon gift card to the person who has the best suggestion. Come on people let me suck your brains. I feel like a zombie now and I kinda like it.

I am getting really nervous about Camp NaNo and Blogging A to Z. It hasn't started yet I already feel like I am behind, actually I feel like I am WAY behind. This seems to be the story of my life. I still have some holes in my A to Z genre list and only a few of my intro posts are completes waiting for the flash fiction that will be added as part of Camp NaNo project. I really need to get my rear in gear. I want to finish the April things this year. April has been a bad month for me for several years in a row and I am hoping to change that this year. Time to write a new story, figuratively and literally.

I have a new prompt for you. It took me a long time to scour Pixabay and find a graphic for the violet character prompts, but I like what I found and hope you do as well.

I was just thinking about what the character that has been stalking me would do if he saw his childhood bully. I decided that he was bullied in elementary and middle school, but something changed in him around 14. He wouldn't acknowledge his childhood bully partially because he thought it was beneath him, but also the bully would quickly cross the road (Like the chicken he is.) to get the hell out of his way. Then I was thinking what could have happened to make someone react like that? to move away quickly instead of just pretending you didn't see the other person or something like that. So his backstory expanded right before my eyes. The then gangly 14 year old character came upon this bully being inappropriate to a female classmate and stepped in. I think he has a bit of a hero thing, which is good since he is demanding to become the hero in a book I have yet to fathom. He beat the heck out of the bully, probably going too far because he wasn't just reacting to the current situation, but many years of torment. This is when their relationship changed and he became a bit of a dark knight.

What would the current character you are working with do? Do you have any tips to stay focused on your writing? Let me know in the comments.

Micropost Easter Edition

Happy Easter to all those who celebrate. I wanted to post another prompt from the as of yet seen green category. Just a quickie for such a busy day.

The search for the last category is running until April 31st so there's still time to enter. Let me use your brain, mine is tired and possibly on a vacation.

Color Coded Prompts and A Contest

There was no ROW80 check-in this Wednesday because the round ended so I immediately didn’t post. I had an idea and had even finished most of the work, but I just didn’t get to it. I have been looking for cool story prompts because I am a master procrastinator. I have found quite a few, but then I was thinking I can do better than that. It could be ego or just a desire to try to make things, but I created a few writing prompts. Of course I ALWAYS over complicate things so there are categories and pictures to go with them. One day I will learn to...Oh look SHINY!

Prompt Type:

Situation Drop-in Prompt - Red
Still need a gimmick because my brain is tired - Orange
Write a Story About Idea Prompt - Yellow
Include These Things Challenge Prompt - Green
Dialogue Prompt - Blue
Place Prompt - Indigo
Character Prompt - Violet

Today I have 2 new prompts for you all and a contest. We’ll start with the contest. I need a hand coming up with some type of prompt to fill my orange spot because I can’t just leave it out. It needs to be something general enough that I have room to wiggle and play, but focused enough that they all seem connected. The winning suggestion will receive a $20 Amazon gift card.

How you enter:

Leave a suggestion on the orange type prompt contest Google form. 



Yes, you have to leave your email if you want to enter. How else will I contact you if you win? No, I am not keeping them after the contest and you are NOT signing up for any sort of continuous emails. I can not be held responsible for email addresses entered incorrectly. Email addresses entered incorrectly will disqualify the entrant's suggestion from the prize. There are also a few restrictions on your suggestions. No profanity, sexuality, religion or politics in the type suggestions. If they are deemed to be outside of these restrictions your suggestion will be disqualified. I will stop collecting suggestions at 11:45pm on March 31st.

How you WIN:

On Friday April 1st, when the April Madness starts, I will post a list of the suggestions on my blog. Everyone has a vote even if you didn’t enter. The orange prompt type with the most votes by 11:45pm April 4th will be our winner and the person who suggested it will receive the $20 Amazon gift card by email. I will announce the winner on April the 5th. Good luck and thanks for joining in to help me complete my colorful set. Roy G. Biv also sends his gratitude.

Now on to the shiny new toys. I am a little obsessed with prompts at the moment. Probably because I am having trouble coming up with story ideas. Of course I did just come up with these so it seems counter intuitive, but I am convinced it is a different part of my brain or something.

As you can see with the red prompts you will be dropped into a situation. I chose red for this type because I always feel like these are meant to be emergencies that your character has to deal with. So CODE RED it is. The plan is to reuse the same artwork that I found on Pixabay and adapted by adding a color overlay on Picmonkey. If you have never played with Picmonkey you should definitely give it a look. It's a great free web based photo editor.

The blue dialogue prompt isn't something I came up with all on my own. I was in the grocery store and a woman said the first line and the second part was my first thought. I am not sure the woman was interested in some sort of revolution, but that is the kind of scene that flashed in my mind. It was fun to make these and I hope they spark some interesting stories one day. I have a few more and am planning to make even more. I am excited to share them.

What do you think of my prompts?  Let me know in the comments.

Photos by Pixabay.

404 Catchy Blog Title Not Found

Working on getting posts ready for Blogging from A to Z has taken most of my writing time. Which is fine because I can't actually write the flash fiction stories until April 1st when Camp NaNo begins. I am still using my phone to Swype things out and it is getting old. I need to get my freaking laptop fixed and very soon. I have been Googling and reading so I have a plan of action, but it makes me nervous because I don't really know what I am doing.

I decided to leave the beautiful Native American man with the new name alone for the time being and proceed with The Genre Flash Project. I have been scouring Pinterest and any other sources I can to try to find some prompts that will help spark my brain for some of the genres. Of course this led me to Seventh Sanctum where I proceeded to spend several hours generating all sorts of things, most of which were not helpful for my current goals. Then from there I found Chaotic Shiny and let me tell you this site LIVES UP TO IT'S NAME. I spent so long playing with the generator toys there I stayed up until 4 in the morning. Again, I didn't accomplish much I can use for these stories, but my D&D geek inside who adores playing with generators was immensely pleased. It's all about priorities.

ROW80 Rundown

Make the check-ins on Sundays and Wednesdays - This is the last check-in for my truncated round, but I am proud to be back to writing after so long away.
Visit 5 fellow ROW80 bloggers each check-in - I visited all 5 of the fellow ROW80 bloggers I was aiming for and even left some comments.
Write 500 words every day -
Thursday - 623 words on A to Z posts.
Friday - Made it to 537 words.
Saturday - An unexpected invite to come hang out with my sister and her BFF took priority over my writing goals. Of course our crazy friend Jose Cuervo kept us busy all night.
Sunday - Only 291 words on A to Z, but this post as well so probably there.


Pics from Pixabay.

A Wrench in My Flashing Plans

I'm so excited about April. I've been working on my Camp NaNo/Blogging from A to Z combo project in all my stolen moments. I have been writing the posts that will go around the flash fiction so that part will be handled. I'm still looking for ideas for a few letters (I'm looking at you Q, X and Z.), but I'm making progress. I'm thinking I may have to expand my concept to find styles that fit the letters. Someone suggested writing a flash fiction in quatrains. I don't think that's a genre, but it starts with Q and would most definitely be entertaining.

Martin Sensmeier with this look is very close to what I envisioned.

I was full steam ahead with The Genre Flash Project when I received an email today I have been anxiously waiting for that has thrown a bit of a wrench in my plans. There's this character I know I've mentioned him before. He sprang into my brain really detailed and came with a female love interest as well as her best friend, but he didn't have a plot or a name. He is a Native American so I went looking for a fitting name, but didn't like what was available in the translation sites and baby name books. Then I stumbled across the Native Languages of the Americas site. They are having a fundraiser to help preserve Native American languages. For a small $10 donation they will give you 3 names that match your criteria as best as possible and how it would sound using English phonetics. They stress it isn't a spirit name and it is intended for a pet, boat, fictitious character, etc. Well, that is perfect for me and this dude who is freaking bugging me. I gave them a lot of things I knew about the character and in a little over 2 weeks they sent me the most perfect name. It fits this character and I'm in love with it.

So the wrench is now I kinda want to play with him, but he still has no plot. The naming actually turned up an interesting subplot, but nothing strong enough to build around. So there's a romance and a family drama in this guy's POV, but what the heck is he really doing? Are there romance novels from the guys POV? Do they switch? I have never read just a romance. I have loved books where there is a strong secondary romance plot, but haven't gotten into romance as the reason for the storytelling alone.

ROW80 Rundown

Make the check-ins on Sundays and Wednesdays - Later than I would have liked, but I'm still standing.
Visit 5 fellow ROW80 bloggers each check-in - I visited 3 fellow ROW80 bloggers. Not a reached goal, but at least I got around. You can just take that however you want.
Write 500 words every day -
Monday - On Monday I caught the plague and thought I was going to die. My son got better just before I got sick so I knew it was short lived, but I had no idea how bad my poor baby was feeling.
Tuesday - I was better so continued writing on my phone. I made 582 words and most of them were the ones I intended. It was kind of frustrating because Swype can be such a birch.
Wednesday - Short moments in a waiting room and while I was waiting on dinner to get done equaled this post and a bit more work on Genre Flash. So over 600.

What about a project really gets you excited? Have you come across any awesome resources like request a Native American name? Please share in the comments. We could all use more amazing resources.

Photos by Pixabay.

Abducted By Robots

Right so this sounds like a title for a bad Sci-fi sorry, but alas it is my life. Now is time for a little game I like to call good news/bad news. The good news: my daughter's robotics team made it to their regionals tournament. The bad news: It's 22 hours away and our car will not make it. More good news: there's a spot for her and her junk (Why do teenage girls have so much stuff?) in the coach's van. The bad news: my baby girl has been gone for a week and I missed the competition. Good news: they had a live feed so we were able to follow along. More bad news: their robot fell off a ramp during 2 different matches and was stuck on it's back like a helpless turtle during 2 different matches. The best good news: all the kids on her team are great sports and they had a fantastic time even though they didn't make it to the worlds competition.

Score Board

Good News - 4

Bad News - 3

April is fast approaching and I'm still not sure what happened to February. April means double whammy time. I'm going to do it again, or at least attempt it. Blogging From A to Z Challenge and Camp NaNoWriMo. The “plan” is to write a flash fiction piece for every letter of the alphabet satisfying both requirements for A to Z and Camp NaNo. I'm only aiming for 20,000 words, but that's 167 more per day than I'm aiming for and missing at present. I'm thinking it has to be better than last April as long as I stay out of the hospital.


ROW80 Rundown

Make the check-ins on Sundays and Wednesdays - Sadly, I haven't been here in a while. There is just so much robotics stuff to do.
Visit 5 fellow ROW80 bloggers each check-in - More no, but I am coming to visit you all now.
Write 500 words every day:
Thursday - I spent some time working on my Blogging A to Z/Camp NaNoWriMo plan, but not 500 words worth.
Friday - So much nothing.
Saturday - I went to a birthday party with lots of fun and games, but no writing. I'm sure that doesn't count.
Sunday - I wrote this. Does that count?

Are you planning to jump into any of the writing challenges this April? Do you know of any other challenges that would be fun to try? Let me know in the comments.

Photos by Pixabay.