-Flash Fabulous- It's easy as a writer to get soft and not keep the brain muscle flexed. Writing something every day will keep you ready for action. The painting of the mysterious woman in red is our prompt today.
From time to time the cozy-mystery writer Veronica Cline Barton and I challenge each other to a free-style, flash fiction story by using a vibrant image as a writing prompt. This is not a competition or a race, rather it's a way for us to stay excited, as we both work on large-scale projects and take the journey of #amquerying. We are on the hunt to meet and connect with the literary agent of our dreams.
We don't share our story ideas in advance or talk about genre or tone, we simply write one hundred words and exchange these micro-stories to share with our blog subscribers and on social media. It's an exciting way to see how imagery can affect our creative voices and also interesting to see how she and I interpret the same image. I hope you enjoy reading them, I know I did.
Secrets by Bibiana Krall
I cradled your head, touch of a lover, meant to chase your cares away. Storms, they came raging. Silence was compliance, when you saw more than you ever would say.
Time rages on and memories slowly fade. I’m a woman of substance who’s had her heyday.
Once we laughed together, lawn parties, champagne-sweetened kisses, but summer was surely gone. You sank like the Titanic, adrift in the fathoms, my constellation no more.
Ashamed of my weakness, life was never the same. Ruby glass holds me hostage, a reflection of roses. Bound by secrets––this frozen heart does not sway.
*Secrets is a character study of Olivia, the matriarch in my current MS, which I will begin querying next week. Working title "The Boathouse" is a suspenseful, murder-mystery with a modern take on "The Dollhouse" and "The Swans of Fifth Avenue."
"Immersive writing in search of the heroine."
Novels, Short Stories, Book Trailers
Psychological suspense, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal, and Supernatural Realism
Evolutions by Veronica Cline Barton
I sit and I pose, the next version of me,
Threads of a former life unwind.
Whispers, memories, hopes and dreams,
Secured and pocketed away.
A new life beckons, drawing me near,
Promises a future yet lived.
Hesitations, doubts, contrive their last stand,
A final breath of the past.
Eschews, avoidance, elusions prove futile,
Destiny shan’t be denied.
Confidence, intelligence, stand by your side,
Impenetrable to all who would dare.
Stand tall, head high, determined stride,
Radiates to all who surround.
New worlds await you, brimming with promise,
Show them now darling, You Got This!
*A tribute to Gemma Lancaster Phillips, PhD—my muse, my heroine extraordinaire, currently residing in the #cozymystery halls of Mistletoe & Mayhem, Yuletide at Castlewood Manor, #AmQuerying
Veronica Cline Barton
Novels, Cozy Mysteries and Women's Fiction
Veronica Cline Barton, Author Site (My Almost American Cousin Series)
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Until next time find you Peace, Love, Hustle, then Read or Write. xox Bibiana