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Sue Spitulnik

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Hot Air Balloon Ride – Flash Fiction

My boyfriend glumly watched it storm. Why was he so upset we had to reschedule our hot air balloon ride over Letchworth. We had the whole summer. Even our parents called to commiserate.

Finally, two months later the brilliant sun made spray from the water falls sparkle and bend with rainbow colors visible. The reflection from the gorge rocks glinted so bright we had to shade our eyes. Suddenly others in the basket turned their backs. My boyfriend presented a dazzling diamond ring brighter than the sunshine. Oh my. Yes!

Our parents treated us to dinner after we landed.

 

Note: Letchworth State Park in western New York state is known as the Grand Canyon of the east.

 March 8, 2018, prompt from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch Literary: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that features a balloon. It can be a party balloon or a hot air balloon. How does it add to your story? Go where the prompt leads.

Respond by March 13, 2018, to be included in the compilation (published March 14). Rules are here. All writers are welcome!

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Rewrite: Again and Again

A repeat from last year, and as true as ever….

Sue Spitulnik's avatarSue Spitulnik

I’m slowly learning the art of proofreading, or should I say rewriting, and rewriting again. There is a difference between writing something and making sure all the punctuation and spelling is correct, and writing something to show action, grasp the reader, and not use any exclamation points. I had no idea; until I decided to write a fiction novel.

I’ll give you an example. “Millie was mad because her husband was late and dinner was drying out, then the dog peed on the rug!”         OR         “Millie looked at the clock one more time wondering if her husband had been in an accident. She tried adding some more milk to the dried-out casserole, but ended up throwing the mixing spoon into the sink when she spotted the puppy peeing on the rug.”

The first example has no misspelled words and has correct punctuation, but leaves the reader with a ‘who cares’ attitude. The second example shows the reader Millie’s frustration without…

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I haven’t mentioned lately that the name of the day confused me, but this one did. The National Day of calendar says this day is dedicated to the over 145 million small businesses in the United States. It is the time for these small businesses to “be heard” and break through the big-business dominated times. There are many ways for this to be done, be it through creative marketing, smart publicity tactics, strong visual appearance or any of the other inventive ways of making their presence known. Continue reading →

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Big Temptation

Cheese Doodles, Cheese Puffs, Cheesies, whatever you call them, are one of my biggest temptations. I can walk through the snack isle at the grocery store and ignore most of the bags, but the cheese doodle bag has a power the others don’t. They are on my personal list of “don’t buy or you will eat them” along with M&M’s and potato chips. Continue reading “Big Temptation” →

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Feeding the Ravens – Flash Fiction

When visiting Grandma, I asked, “May I feed your friendly ravens?”

“Boy, you stay away from those evil birds. They’ll peck your eyes out!” my father snapped.

My mother disagreed. “I’ve fed those birds all my life. Only mythology and superstition say they are evil.”

Grandma settled the argument when she handed Dad her I-pad open to a fact page about ravens; they mate for life, use tools, can learn human speech, play in the snow, fly upside down, recognize human faces, voices and kindness.

Dad stomped up the stairs.

Grandma, Mom and I went out the back door.

 

In response to Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch Literary March 1, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes a raven. It can be in nature or used to describe humanity as a metaphor. Follow the bird. Go where the prompt leads.

Respond by March 6, 2018, to be included in the compilation (published March 7). Rules are here. All writers are welcome!

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Celebrate Reading

What child doesn’t like Dr. Seuss, or adult for that matter? National read across America Day is celebrated on Dr. Seuss birthday. It was specifically planned for children to raise awareness about reading and to motivate them to do it. I happen to believe if an adult reads to a child when they are little, they will be more likely to read themselves. The adage monkey see, monkey do comes to mind.

I read Winnie the Pooh to my children when they were small and characterized all the voices. It was our special time to share closeness and life’s lessons. One of the few times in their day when they sat still. Now they are both so busy they rarely take time to read.

Knowing it’s adults that read this page I want to introduce you to flash fiction. A genre you will always have time to read because the stories are very short. At CarrotRanchLiterary.com you can click on the blog button on Thursdays then scroll down to read the 99 word stories submitted for the prompt word that Charli Mills has given for the week. There are usually between 40 and 50  submissions and they are as varied as the authors that write them. In fact, they are so varied, it’s fascinating to think about how many different subjects come from the same prompt. I post my own submissions on this page, so you have had a taste of what I write.

Authors tend to write what they know so I commend Dr. Seuss for being able to write about green eggs and ham, and other fanciful things. My mind doesn’t work in such a way that imaginary things become real because the words rhyme. It’s his gift to all of us, and I wager an awful lot of people who inhabit this earth know his characters and their habits. We are all richer for the interaction and if you can read these books aloud to your little one, you will enrich their lives too.

 

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