marius

Thanks again, Qsilv, and all.

Not sure I have any idea what I'm doing (and folks, feel free to lend a hand) ... off we go .... the word list ...

estuary
kite
affection
graduated
hallelujah
connection
hand
prickly
beverage (or the particular kind of beverage: juice, Coke, water, tea, etc.)
quixmickle*

[*Word my sis made up. According to her, a quixmickle is, scientifically, the next greater thing than infinity. We sign emails, "Love you 10,000 quixmickles," but you can define the word as you wish, or ... create your own new word.

Let's go with 321 words, not including title. And, I liked Qsilv's idea that the writings can be anything: essays, stories, conversations, poems.)

This challenge ends at 6 p.m. TD time on January 26.

Dragon

hehehe, I love using made up words! I really will try to get writing on this one, I couldn't get myself going on the last word list despite them being really good words.
Just a point of clarification, am I right in thinking an estuary is kind of an inlet onto a river or a wetland type area? I think I'll look it up to be sure.

Dragon

Ok, here's what Wikipedia says:
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.[

marius

Dragon, you are right. Link below will show some photos if you click on the catalog button. Many different kinds (looks) of estuaries. San Francisco and Chesapeake Bay are two famous estuaries in the USA. Years ago I went birding at the Carmel River estuary in CA ... glorious little spot.

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nerr/index.html

giraffe

Hey, Marius. Fun list. I've heard of estuary shrimp - especially tasty because they're bred in a fresh water cove (where the river meets the ocean). When they mature, they go out to the salt water. But catch them first and they are very expensive and rare. That's a rough word. This should be fun.

marius

This link tells WAY more than anyone probably wants to know ... but, there are some good pics.

http://www.estuaries.gov/estuaries101/About/Home.aspx

giraffe, you could name one of your characters "Estuary." Qsilv did something like that with her first TW contribution. (Which I enjoyed btw!)
; )

marius

Darn the Quixmickle!

The car wouldn’t start. Maybe something was wrong with the battery. But, no, the battery and all other mysterious elements appeared fine.

She said a few bad things, like, “darn the quixmickle!” In the far reaches of the darkening estuary she heard a kite call out. A small group of sanderlings wandered about pecking in the sand. At least they had something more nourishing than a coke.

Hallelujah, a night spent in the Estuary! She couldn’t imagine a more dismal thought. It was ten miles to the nearest human establishment and that was a rickety old home that had not seen affection in years. Michael had told her not to go birding alone in far off places. He always said that, but for thirty-one years nary a mishap had occurred except for the one time she misread the mile markers on the trail map and had to walk ten miles instead of two.

That had been scary because she was in the military base bivouac area and had not bothered to find out if they’d be using the place. Mercifully, the scarlet tanager she’d been seeking came out to sing. She followed the song to the actual bird and then saw her car through the trees.

This time didn’t look so promising. She tried the car again. There’s always the thought that the Universe might step in and do something magical. It didn’t.

She sat down and her hand touched something gooey, but it was too dark to know what it was. If she hadn’t stopped smoking she’d have a cigarette lighter with her. Bad habits have advantages.

Suddenly there were snippets of hushed conversation. She could hear boat oars dipping in the water. This was not high school kids celebrating the unlikelihood of being an official graduate. She called out and there was silence. Her skin felt prickly. A spotlight fell on her and whatever was spoken, it wasn’t English.

marius

Thought it'd be good to 'test my own medicine.'

Odd thing ... marius does not do scary, even mildly scary ... not ever! See what the mere mention of Steven King does to my mind! Off to read a chapter of Wind in the Willows. That should help. (lmao at self.)

Qsilv

wait wait wait..... haaaannng on... you're leaving us here? in a small bright light and gooey-handed?? Why you... you... Quixmickle, you! LOL

giraffe

321 without title. I'm not certain how to count hyphenated words like micro-organisms so I count them as 2 words. There's wiggle room.

IT'S ALL GOOD

Hallelujah! We were scuba diving off the southern coast of Cuba and we found the perfect estuary for our needs. Right there where the fresh water had a vague connection to the salt water, was a small cove covered with breeding shrimp. They looked like prickly crystals clinging to the rocks and waiting to mature before going out to sea.

These shrimp were going to be the perfect addition to the beverage we were creating. It was going to be called Quixmickle - a tasty gourmet drink composed of powdered chocolate (Nestle's Quick), micro-organisms like these tiny shrimp, and fresh lemon. Quixmickle - the drink of the elite. Mix it with Vodka and you will experience a euphoria you have never known.

I (and my fellow divers) kicked with joy at the sight of our final ingredient. It was hard to contain our elation since showing affection is difficult in diving gear, but the mutual love was understood. We would all soon be millionaires.

The next step was to scrape some of these babies by hand into our sea buckets and get them back to the boat before their sweetness ebbed. Then we had to mark this exact location on our GPS devices so we could find our way back to harvest the next batch. So far, so good.

Back on the boat, we couldn't wait to make up our first batch of Quixmickle. Larry was mixing the Nestle's Quick with the lemon juice that Pam was freshly squeezing while Bryan and I were rendering the micro-shrimp in a centrifuge to extract the finest juices. We added the shrimp juice to their blend and stood solemly waiting for Pam to pour the Vodka in so we could toast to our future.

"To the good life!" I said as we all sipped our drink. One taste and I was high as a kite. Two sips and I became Mick Jagger. Pam was Madonna - only she thought she was Beverly Sills. "It's all good"

marius

I LOVE it! Love the title too and how it fits in at the end! Wait till I tell sis about the new definition for quixmickle! She lol for sure! Thanks, giraffe! Oh - like the shrimp looking like "prickly crystals" too! : )

giraffe

I noticed that I missed "graduated". so replace one sentence.

They looked like prickly crystals clinging to the graduated rock formations............. Then take out 2 words somewhere else.

Qsilv

What an upbeat hoot! I love this!

--and yes there's wiggle room but, for the record, as soon as you hyphenate a pair of words they become one.

marius

Okay, put in your new sentence, giraffe, and that gave me a question. My word count shows 334 words, not counting title. Is my word count on "word" counting correctly? Am I counting correctly? Confused.

IT'S ALL GOOD by giraffe

Hallelujah! We were scuba diving off the southern coast of Cuba and we found the perfect estuary for our needs. Right there where the fresh water had a vague connection to the salt water, was a small cove covered with breeding shrimp. They looked like prickly crystals clinging to the graduated rock formations, waiting to mature before going out to sea.

These shrimp were going to be the perfect addition to the beverage we were creating. It was going to be called Quixmickle - a tasty gourmet drink composed of powdered chocolate (Nestle's Quick), micro-organisms like these tiny shrimp, and fresh lemon. Quixmickle - the drink of the elite. Mix it with Vodka and you will experience a euphoria you have never known.

I (and my fellow divers) kicked with joy at the sight of our final ingredient. It was hard to contain our elation since showing affection is difficult in diving gear, but the mutual love was understood. We would all soon be millionaires.

The next step was to scrape some of these babies by hand into our sea buckets and get them back to the boat before their sweetness ebbed. Then we had to mark this exact location on our GPS devices so we could find our way back to harvest the next batch. So far, so good.

Back on the boat, we couldn't wait to make up our first batch of Quixmickle. Larry was mixing the Nestle's Quick with the lemon juice that Pam was freshly squeezing while Bryan and I were rendering the micro-shrimp in a centrifuge to extract the finest juices. We added the shrimp juice to their blend and stood solemly waiting for Pam to pour the Vodka in so we could toast to our future.

"To the good life!" I said as we all sipped our drink. One taste and I was high as a kite. Two sips and I became Mick Jagger. Pam was Madonna - only she thought she was Beverly Sills. "It's all good"

Note: And, um, giraffe, I liked the sentence better *without* graduated in there. It changes the flow or something. Seems like leaving out one word is not a crime, but changing a good sentence might be. tee hee!

marius

And I had 333 words on the first story, giraffe. btw, I am sometimes picky and sometimes not. What are the rules here and does it matter if someone is one word over the limit, uses 9 words from the list instead of ten? Personally, I look at those as guidelines. What about the rest of you?

Just checking because as you already know, I am not familiar with ThinkWrite except for reading the stories now and then. : )

giraffe

Thanks, Marius. I don't count so well by hand and since I was 9 off, I must have missed my thumbs a few times - or maybe just once.

And Qsilv, It kind of reminds me of something Vonnegut would write. I'm humbled.

Qsilv

à chacun son goût -- it's really just guidelines. Games are partly enjoyable for trying to achieve goals/limitations. The ThinkWrite leader, however, has always been allowed to choose the next one based on pure personal whim.

Doug

Good explanation Q. The torchbearer has the sole responsibility of deciding whether they want a "hard" word count or maybe a story is so deeply felt that "it" is the one you choose. Also, grammar, etc. can be a bugaboo for some torchbearers and then sometimes that gets thrown out the window with a certain style of writing or someone's attempt to make a statement or create a certain mood with a piece. Like Q said it is totally up to you. We have the responsibility to write! And so we will and I'll get started with this juicy word list ASAP.

giraffe

Can't wait, Doug and Qsilv. This list is wide open for many iterpretations.

marius

Thanks much for explanations Doug and Qsilv! I'm with giraffe, can't wait for more stories.

Also giraffe, and anyone else, I'm voting for rules as guidelines. This means giraffe's first story stands perfectly on it's own. (Thank goodness cause putting in that extra word bothered me, think it bothered the sentence too.) ; )

Have fun everyone!