Pick a Color! Any Color! – FW Prompt #21

On December 31, 2015 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Free Write4 Comments

Colors, colors, colors. So many pretty colors, and each one has a specific meaning. The question is… which one would you choose?

Blue you can fly. Being afraid of heights that might pose a problem. Although I do fly in my dreams and that is pretty cool.
Orange you can run at the speed of sound. Think of all the wonderful things you would miss.
Yellow is the one everyone thinks about but is not too sure if it’s a good idea. The ability to read minds. Do you really want to know what others are thinking? I wouldn’t want you to know where my mind wanders. It can be a very scary place at times. Even for me.
Pink gives the ability to heal. That would be cool. But think about it. If you could heal any non-fatal wound, and you were careful, couldn’t you live forever?
Grey. The ability to move objects with your mind. Now that would be cool. Especially on those nights when I’m exhausted, I just settle myself down on the couch under my favorite fluffy blankie to watch my favorite show and realize the remote is out of reach. Whaalaa! It’s suddenly in my hot little hands. *sigh* Heaven!
Purple. The ability to walk through walls. Well, you’d have to be careful with that one. What if you were ten stories up and you didn’t realize it was the outside wall and…. well, you get where this is going. Clean up on aisle 4!
Green allows you to shapeshift. That could be cool if not a little painful. I can see it now. I shift into a great big snake and sneak up on my husband who is afraid of snakes and tap him on the shoulder with my tail. When he turns around I say, “Hellosssss.” He he he. That might get me the $10,000 on Funniest Home Videos! (Yes, I have been told I am evil. Muuaahhhaa! 😉 )
Last but not least, Red. The ability to turn invisible. Think of all you could hear, all you could do and no one would be the wiser. You would be the most sought after secret agent ever!

But which one to pick? Better yet…. why?

I guess for me it would Indigo, the ability to jump into a story and live it. Granted, some of them are pretty scary and the heroine or hero don’t have it very easy mentally or physically. But think of the ability to escape, to really escape. Isn’t that why we read? To escape into someone else life if only for a moment in time?

Did I just cheat the question? Probably. And maybe one of the colors above suits you better. Then again, I tend to escape into my own mind quite a bit and play with my imaginary friends, and the thought of actually doing that has always been a dream of mine.

So, which color would you choose?

This is a free write prompt #21 from Writing Outside the Lines. Go give a look. Maybe you’ll find one to inspire you to write something.

Whispers in Darken Night – Free Write Prompt 13

On November 5, 2015November 5, 2015 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Free Write, Poetry9 Comments

Spider webs glisten in the moonlight
Tales of woe and dark mysteries
Spin around the firelight.
Misty mountains call weary travelers
Come to my forest
Rest yourselves
Fear not the darkness or tales of plight.
I hear your voice
I see your burden,
Heavy with doubt and dread.
Come and I will chase away
Those who shall
Try to lead you astray.
Come to me
And know no fear.
Come to me
And all will be clear.
Spider webs glisten in the moonlight
Whispers of peace and contentment
Dance around the firelight.

The idea is to look at the picture and then write what comes to mind. This picture might give me a couple more poems because I love the color and the way the sun comes through the lace of the leaf, but for this Free Write the poem above is the one that popped into my head first.

If you would like to see others from Annie’s Writing Challenge click here and it will take you to this particular prompt. Then take a look around the site, read the other prompts and submissions and then, maybe, try one yourself. It doesn’t have to be a poem. It could very well be a memory you’d like to share, or maybe a short story, maybe even the start of a longer one. Lord knows it’s happened to me a couple of times. Ask Annie. I think I’ve left her hanging more than a few times. he he he

Go ahead. Give it a try. I dare you. 😉

The Blue Door – A Free Write

On October 2, 2015 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Flash Fiction13 Comments

The wall seemed to go on forever. Not unlike the road I was traveling that was my life. And endless nothing that was only broken by the cracks and cranny’s filled with moss and grime, clogging up what was once beautiful shiny new. I’m not sure how my life became this way, or how I came upon this wall. All I knew was it seemed endless and daunting and worn. Worn away from time and neglect. Never turning, never changing, always endless.

A flash. Nothing more. Just a quick glimpse of blue in the faded orange and grey. Stopping I wonder if maybe I was seeing things. Wishful thinking for something that I could never have. A different path, a bright light in the dimness around me.

Change.

But it cannot be. Not for me. I have done nothing to warrant a chance to evolve, to change. I take a step forward then stop again. Uncertain of what I should do. Should I keep going on the endless path that is taking me nowhere, or should I turn back and see if what I saw was true.

Curiosity overcomes me and I turn around. I was always told never to look back. That the past is in the past. Yet today, this moment, I look back and I see…nothing. Frowning I almost turn around but now that I have looked I cannot look away. Another step and I see a sliver of something in the wall. Something that is not natural, that is…blue. Now I move quickly, wanting, no needed to know what it is that has broken this endless cycle. And there it is. The flash of blue now revealed in all its glory.

As I stared at the door, as worn and neglected as the endless wall, I wonder how it came here. Who put it here and why? Where does it lead? There is no handle, although it looks as if all I have to do is breath on it and it will fall open. Before I realize what I am doing, I reach out, my fingers hesitating just before they touch the frail wood and peeling paint. My heartrate has skyrocketed, my breath coming in gasps and I struggle to suck in precious air. I have no idea what lays behind this door. How can I just push it open? I know the path I am on is endless and worn, but it is also safe. What if whatever is behind this door is…new? What if it is one of those dreams I used to dream come to reality and everything…changes for the worst? What if…?

I look to my left and I look to my right. Endless crumbling moldy wall greet me and suddenly I realize that I cannot do this any longer. I cannot live in this safe world I have created around me because it is slowly suffocating me. I need to live. To enjoy the precious gift I have been given called life. I need to soar.

Determination takes a hold, and before I can say no my hand pushes on the peeling paint and the door flies open revealing…..

2015 Heidi Barnes

Each of us has our own journey. Whether we go left or right or simply open the door everything we know will be changed for better or worse. Or you can continue on the path before you that is safe and maybe a little worn. I did not finish this because I believe you need to find your own answer as to what is behind the blue door. If you wish to share I would be interested to hear what it is.

If you would like to join this Free Write or read some more submissions visit Writing Outside the Lines.

Have a wonderful weekend. 🙂

I Give You My Trust – A Free Write

On September 19, 2015 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Free Write, Poetry6 Comments

Kerouac Quote

So many things I want to say.
Words tumbling around, every which way.
Each one wanting to be first
Each one for better or worst.
Sifting through the jumbled mess
Just too many to express.
I promise I will find
With deep thought and time
Someday, someway
To convey
Those words that means so much
So you will know
With my heart, I give you my trust.

If you would like to join in this free write exercise or just read the other wonderful submissions go to Sharyl Fuller’s site Writing Outside the Lines and check it out.

Focus – A Freewrite

On September 9, 2015 By HeidiIn Blog6 Comments

Focus. Something we all strive for. Whether it be focus in our work or focus in our life, at times it seems just out of reach. Just at the edge of our fingertips. If only we reached a little further, tried a little harder, we just might see that fuzzy distorted goal snap into crystal clear focus and we would finally see that ever elusive end. However, before that can happen, we must first put all the puzzle pieces in their place. We must line all our ducks in a row. There are many metaphors that I could use, but those are the ones that come to mind right now.

We are in the middle of a renovation. As I look around me at all the boxes, dusty shelves that no matter how many times I dust them it does not seem to help, and I cannot find anything. Even if I had just sat it down I lose it. I don’t mind a messy house, but this…. This is starting to get on my nerves. I need to work on my book. I am late with two birthday cards. I have them already to go except for the stamps that I can never seem to remember to buy. My yard is a mess. I just can’t seem to keep focused. There are too many things I need to do and half of them I can’t do until something else out of my control is done.

Normally these free writes come out as poems or a short story. Not today. Today my mind is too scattered. This week will be the finish of a major piece of the puzzle. Then, hopefully, I can start getting back on track, and the pieces will start to fall into place.

Enough of my ramblings. I wish you all a wonderful week and whatever in your life is out of focus will one day soon become crisp and clear, if only for a little while.

2015 Heidi Barnes

If you want to join in this free write exercise go to Sharyl Fuller’s site Writing Outside the Lines and check it out.

“Make It So” A Freewrite

On August 24, 2015August 24, 2015 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Flash Fiction9 Comments

I haven’t done one of these in a while. A friend of mine has started a Free Write of her own and this is the first time I’ve been able to participate. I have forgotten how much fun they are and how they help loosen up the mind. So often I get caught up in the words I end up getting stuck. These Free Writes help unplug my brain so the words flow easier.

If you want to join go to Sharyl Fuller’s site Writing Outside the Lines and check it out.

So here is my submission for this weeks Writing Challenge. The idea is to just write. While I did fix spelling errors, there is no other type of editing. I hope you enjoy.

Word Bank: grovel submerge radiance lower jaded

I wanted to ask why? What had happened in the past that had made him so jaded? The boy I remember was loving, caring, put others before himself. This man I hardly recognized. Oh the features were the same if not a little older. The same brown hair, the same crooked nose, the same broad chest and narrow waist. It was the hazel eyes that were the most changed. They did not have the same light that shown the radiance of his soul. That beautiful innocence. Now they were dark and angry. At what I did not know. All I knew was that those eyes were leveled at me and they frightened me. Lowering my eyes, I fought not to grovel at his feet. I would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he frightened me, and I refused to submerge myself in the horrors that surrounded him. I would not become what he was, no matter what he did to me.

“Your eyes are downcast, but you do not submit,” his voice shivered over me, cold and condemning.

“I will not bow to what you have become,” I answered with more confidence than I was feeling inside.

The silence stretched on.

“You know the consequences,” he whispered.

Was that fear in his voice? What was he afraid of? He was in complete control. I was at his mercy. There was nowhere for me to run, to hide. Yet he sounded afraid. Slowly raising my eyes, taking in every inch of his well-honed body; I risked a peek up into those eyes and saw they were a little too wide. A little too wild. What was going on?

Without speaking I once again lowered my eyes, giving him my answer. There was a small gasp of surprise then the room seemed to grow colder. I could feel him steal himself from what was to come.

“Very well,” he said his voice flat, unemotional, cold. “Make it so.”

Have a wonderful day. 🙂

Trust

On January 29, 2014 By HeidiIn Uncategorized5 Comments

So today I decided to post my weekly Free Write Friday I do on this website. It’s a bit late as it’s last weeks prompt, but better late than never. 🙂

Here is the prompt from Kellie Elmore’s Website:

Here is my response:

Trust. Easily given, easily broken, impossible to get back. How many chances do you give before you say enough? How many times must your heart be broken before it can break no more? Where do you find the strength to move forward and not bleed mistrust onto others who do not deserve it? the answer for each person is different. It takes a different amount of time to heal, to trust, to break that one final time. Some never trust. Once someone breaks them that is it. Everyone is the same. No one can be trusted. I believe everyone is different therefore everyone should be given a chance, and some more than one. We all make mistakes and we should remember that no one is perfect. Not even yourself. One mistake should not mean a lifetime of pain.

If you would like to read more submissions, click on Kellie’s name above and it will take you to last weeks prompt. Have a wonderful day. 🙂

Drowning in Questions

On December 27, 2013December 27, 2013 By HeidiIn Poetry2 Comments

Drowning in a sea of damnation.

Trying to keep my head above the waves of what ifs,

Choking on the if onlys.

Wanting to know was it me who was not enough

Or was it you who did not care enough?

How do I survive this endless circle of blame,

Step away from what cannot be changed?

How do I walk away

When hope still lingers we can survive?

How do I let go and once again become

Whole?

From a prompt on Kellie Elmore’s Website.

Do You Fear the Night?

On October 26, 2013 By HeidiIn Creative WritingLeave a comment

(Song lyrics from Epiphany, Nightcastle by Tran Siberian Orchestra.)

The darkness holds many secrets

Tales have been spun of evil

Searching for lost souls to feed their lust

I say be gone

For no evil lurks in the darkness

Only superstitious fools seeking

To control that which they do not

Understand

As I walk this path

Through mist and trees

As sound travels from twig and branch

Sight hindered by darken night

My mind wanders to tales of woe

Of fairies and pixies playing tricks

To lure the unsuspecting

To deaths veiled door

Suddenly those I scoffed

As charlatans and liars

Who warn us

Beware of nights promised delights

With beginning dread

Words become true

When eyes so bright

Surround me whole

And darkness descends tenfold

I realize then there is no hope

For prayers and song will not bring

Valiant knight to save my soul

I am lost

My story’s end unfolds

Copyright: Heidi Barnes

Here is the link to the Free Write at Kellie Elmore’s website that I participate in every week. Please go take a look at all the wonderful contributions from some very talented people.

#FWF Free Write Friday: Do You Fear the Night?

To See What I See

Tag: FWF