Meet Liv

Remember the sentence prompts I did a week or so ago? (You can see my answers here.) My friend Turkey took it to a new level, filling in the blanks as a character from her new project would. (I'd link, but the talented turd doesn't maintain a blog anymore. Hint hint. I'm lookin' at you, turk.)

It's a super way to brainstorm, and it helped me figure out whether my main character and plot (and sub-plots too) are developing as I need them to. I think I'm headed the right direction.

Here's what Liv would say...

Outside my window... I see the February winds blowing. They kick up thoughts about my thirtieth birthday, just around the corner.

I am thinking... about my mother again. Why’d she have to send that letter? And why now? I’ve been fine without her, for all these years.

I am thankful for... Aunt Therese and Uncle Rye. If not for them, if they hadn’t taken me in so long ago, where would I be today?

From the kitchen... comes the smell of just-brewed coffee. Hot as it is, though, I know it won’t be enough to warm me through.

I am wearing... the locket I told you about, the one that was my mother’s. I promised myself I wouldn’t, that it would stay tucked away. But now it hides beneath my sweater, so no one will question its existence. I’m still getting used to how it feels against my collarbone; so heavy, like it’s filled with the past.

I am creating... a new me—the real me.

I am going... to the hospital later.

I am reading... a pamphlet I picked up at the doctor’s office. Maybe it will answer some of my questions.

I am hoping... for the best. I just wish I knew what to expect.

I hear... the phone ringing, but I won’t answer it. I'm too busy soul-searching.

Around the house... are the things I’ve had all my adulthood. But I really wish I had something, anything, that used to be my dad’s.

Plans for the weekend... may upset my best friend. Someone else – someone I didn’t invite – is going to join us for dinner.

I think I'm pleased with where all this leads me.

Would an exercise like this help you? What would your MC say?

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And it's not too late to turn a letter into fiction! Get your entry in before midnight CST tomorrow, for a chance to win James Patterson's Sam's Letters to Jennifer.

Good luck!

A Second Prompt

From the prompts I asked my readers to give me, is this one from Turkey Lurkey:

You are riding home from school in a school bus. You look out of the window and notice something very odd. A two headed cow. Something else appears... a tractor floating five feet in the air. What happens next?



The vinyl was sticky under my bare, sweaty legs. Oh, how I wished a cool breeze would gust through my open window, there at the back of the bus. It seemed I was stuck in a pocket of stale, humid air.

Ignoring the chattering voices around me, I placed my forehead against the cool glass of the window, hoping for a respite from the heat. My gaze fell on the passing cattle field, and I began counting the heifers in twos. Two... four... six...

Something caught my eye.

"What?" I whispered to my reflection.

I leaned as close to the window as I could, nose pressing against the glass, and squinted my near-sighted eyes.

"I don't believe it," I said to no one but myself. "That cow has two heads."

I knew it was possible; I'd seen pictures, heard stories. But never had I seen one with my own eyes. I wondered if the farmer knew. He should be calling the news station. Maybe I'd call the news station. I'd tell them--

Wait. "What the... ?"

I rubbed my eyes, sure they were playing tricks on me. But when I looked to the field once more, it was still there. An old John Deere - hovering mid-air. No driver. No explanation. But there it hung, as if suspended by unseen cables.

Maybe the heat's worse than I think, I thought, swiping at my wet brow with the back of my hand.

I craned my neck, keeping my eyes on the tractor as the bus drove on.

"Samantha?"

A deep voice interrupted my thoughts. But I couldn't make my head turn, to find the voice. Too fascinated by the things I'd just seen.

I felt the shaking of my shoulder. "Sam? Sam, wake up."

The motion gave me a jolt, and I realized the bus driver was standing over me.

"You fell asleep," Bus Driver Bob said. "You're home now."

A disbelieving look out the window proved him right; I was looking down the length of my gravel driveway, at the end of which sat my house, waiting.

"Sorry," I mumbled in a groggy voice. I gathered my things and shuffled from the bus, trying to shake remnants of the surreal dream from my mind...