giraffe

And anotherronism said "Holy shit, this f-king story was cool". He's like God or something? Get a grip, Doug. We're all the same.

giraffe

I'm over it. I don't mean to complain about others.

marius

mrsjesus, Doug said rule-breaking IS allowed. I'm leaving town but when I get back on Friday, hope to see more of your wonderful writing ... with or without wordlist! No internet where I'm staying. Catch up with you all later. Have fun!

marius

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Doug

giraffe: BATTERIES was hilarious. The ending was superb.."Mom's got a small one, but that just makes me feel ditzy." LOL

chelydra: I can't quite understand your "mild cubism", probably because I only draw to relax on this site, but I do like to participate. Thanks for joining us. Loved your "no title" piece. The first sentence where you got all the words in was perfect. Nylecoj loves those long sentences too.

In response to giraffe's question about are we being me I suppose "excluding other writers". In no way shape or form. ThinkWrite has room for all. It is a place for all to put their ideas down on paper, tell us a story, or just do some "free writing". Of course it would be more proper to "follow the rules" but its not mandatory.

Doug

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers on ThinkDraw, ThinkWrite and all your grandmothers too!

Doug

giraffe: Just read your little tirade on Ron. No I don't think he views himself as a "GOD". He did start something pretty special that has continued on even in his long absence and we are all a big part of that. At least for that we do need to show him some gratitude and those of us who were "surprised and happy" at his showing up for the last ThinkWrite haven't heard from him for a long time. So get over it, please and write. You have a wonderful mind and your writing speaks volumes. You said you like "peace" and that is why I chose that word so lets see a story about your views on peace.

Doug

Ok, I think I'm caught up now so here is my own first story for this ThinkWrite...

The Single Bulb

A single bulb hangs in a basement the burning filament searching for a clear path through the dusty globe it is encased in. The pull-chain half its normal length was broken in a misstep by the owner who didn’t know his way around a toolbox.

But the light was on…

Randall stepped into the foyer of the dilapidated shell of a home checking it out for a possible flip. The next contestant for a moneymaker was 112 Quixmickle Drive. It must have been empty for centuries by the look of it, but it had to have some potential. He could take an outhouse and turn it into the Hilton making a very handsome profit in doing so.

Somewhere between a quiet storm and a Simple Simon this house had all the ingredients necessary to bring him a ton of cash and the mental thrill that came with it. The walls caving in, the front porch rotted from some purple fungus growing amok and the front door was non-existent. Sometimes it was the pure challenge that flamed his passion rather than the fact he would add another million to his bank account. Much too busy to act like a millionaire there he stood, alone, deep in thought his mind somewhere in the stratosphere crafting a picture of what this heap would look like when he was done.

Maybe it was the quiet that snapped him out of his peaceful trance. No…something was amiss…a warp in the wobble of his dimension distracted him. A faint constant light shined through a small doorway in a house that had no electricity. Maybe a vandal left a battery operated flashlight on. He walked towards the opening of the door and could barely see the old broken wooden stairs before him. He carefully went down the stairs to the basement where he studied the single bulb.

The single bulb dimmed…

giraffe

Very cool, Doug. I've always thought that a single bulb hanging from the ceiling has an eerie, poetic effect.

About my tirade, whenever I've been told that there would be tighter restrictions on my creativity, I rebel. A composition teacher once wrote on my original manuscript IN RED, "Never follow a D Major 7th with a B dominant 7th". I never went back to his class. He tore apart my favorite part of the sonata.

Sometimes being over-critical of someone's creative work can have a terrible effect. It inhibits the creative mind to be cruel and it sounded like you were about to go there. Be kind. We need more writers - not fewer. I'm thinking of starting a new forum for FreeForm Writing. Then folks can choose either format. What do you think?

giraffe

And I'm not railing on anyone. I was commenting on use of profanity which you brought up.

mouse

Doug--Light Bulb---Me thinks another chapter could follow. I want to know what happens when the light goes out BOO !!!!!! Good one.

Doug

mouse: In my original story which I edited down I did have something happen. By getting it down to 318 I think I left enough to the imagination that you can infer what might have happened to Randall and there is no need for another Chapter, although never say never.

giraffe: Glad you liked it. I like visual things and I thought the reader could see the light bulb hanging there as if it was its own person or being.

All right I know its early, but where are the rest of you. I'm so swamped in getting this house deal closed, etc and I've still found time to prove giraffe wrong. tee-hee.

chelydra

off topic, replying to Doug on Mild Cubism - Just wanted to let you know I found a ton of examples of Mild Cubism (more or less) in your own gallery and collected some on that forum to show that you're already (more or less) a Mild Cubist!

Qsilv

Giraffe -- if you really want to rebel rather than merely rant, stay in THIS series and keep writing free-form as and whenever your own will leads you. I certainly do. ;>

Doug -- that light bulb story is a rare gem. What I like best about it is that with no cheap shock it's still, as giraffe noted, wonderfully eerie... satisfying like a poem or newly planted bean-stalk seed... leaving the reader free to wander off and complete it.

Doug

Thanks Q....It did have a shocker ending until I edited it out. After I blue penciled it I thought it was actually better as you noted.

chelydra: OMG! I'm a "mild-cubist". I'll have to shimmy over there and check out what I did without knowing it. Ya' see I have no talent. I just dabble. lol. And please continue to join us any time you want!

giraffe

You're right, Qsilv. Actually, Mothers' Day is still kind of traumatic for me. I'm over it. My mom and I shared the same birthday so we always celebreated it together. Then she died on Xmas morning. Kinda screws up my holidays. I was being rash.

Dragon

I know when I'm torch bearer I usually set a strict word count but that doesn't mean I don't read the ones that go over (and usually enjoy them too). When it comes to choosing the next torch bearer I pretty much only consider the ones that stuck to the rules but I love the variety and you guys are right, ThinkWrite can only thrive when we have lots of contributions. Sometimes a story that blatently breaks the rules and uses none of the word list can get your creative juices going and get you to write something you may not have thought of on your own.
I guess what I'm saying is that I prefer there to be strict rules in place but I'm gonna go ahead and break them if I have to and expect others to too.

Oh BTW, good word list Doug. I hope I can find the time to get something going this round. I had absolutley no creativity in me last week and as a result I totally missed getting something in for giraffe's round.

giraffe

318 w/o title. Blame Doug for this challenge.

PEACE CLASS

"Peace. It sounds so simple, but it never happens. Just another excuse to fight wars. Somewhere in some stratosphere, there may be an alien race that lives together peacefully.

When they search for intelligent life in the universe there are variables and constants. Time is important - light years and longevity of a species. By the time we find intelligence out there, they may have already destroyed their own planet and each other the way we do.

Maybe we have too many races to be intelligent. Our American Indians now have been found to be descendants of Chinese who migrated through the Aleutian Straits. And now much of our country is owned by China. Hispanics are descendants of the inbreeding from the Spanish Inquisition. Europeans and Mayans.

That Inquisition thing bugs me. All they were doing was stealing the gold and torturing the natives. Maybe peace is the opposite of greed.

OK, class. Your next assignment is to write an essay on how religion influences peace. You are allowed to include topics like the Holocaust, religious persecution, the witch trials and belittling women in religious philosophy. I'm hoping some of you will include the concept of quiet, inner peace.

We're also adding the word JOY. Like a game show contestant who just won a huge wad, is that peace?"

"Professor Quixmickle," she shouted, waving her arms. "Are we allowed to include disputes in families?"

"Darla, you can add purple gay penguins if you want to. Just stick to the theme. According to my watch, the bell should have rung 2 minutes ago. Maybe the battery is out."

"What should we do right now, Sir." Bobby yelled.

"I recommend that between now and when you get to your next class, you think about time and its effect on peace. Now hurry and grab your bags. You don't want to be late for Compassion 101. I'm late for my Truth seminar."

giraffe

The timing thing says that maybe it's too late for peace, compassion and truth. I didn't have any words left in the story, but that's the gist.

Doug

Just read an article in the newspaper the other day that they have traced Neandrathol DNA to homo sapiens. We all have it in us. From a genetic standpoint I think we are "born" to wage war, dispute, fight or whatever you want to call it. It takes effort to achieve peace. It is not an innate characteristic to us humans. Working so close to a few major college campuses has taught me a few things. Either I'm getting older, the future is doomed by the children being raised today or maybe a bit of both.

I'm going to find out the "cost of peace" in a half hour when the barristers call me with my final closing costs for the closing tomorrow. Our house in the country away from the city that creeps closer and closer to where I currently reside now. A lot of "unpeaceful" things have crept or should I say slinked into the neighborhood the last ten years we've lived here.

Find you peace giraffe whereever you can find it.