Thursday Inspiration

The Right to Remain Silent

Fandango11 Comments

“It wasn’t my fault, detective,” Steve insisted.

Detective Morrisey was interviewing Steve McDougal, the prime suspect, at the crime scene on the street in front of the apartment building. He looked at Steve. “What we’re you doing on the roof of this building with the victim?”

“Well, it was a clear night and they were calling for meteor showers, so I suggested that we go up on the roof, smoke a few joints, and watch the night sky’s show.”

“So you lured him up there,” the detective said.

“No, I didn’t lure him up there,” Steve said. “I just invited him to join me is all.”

“So what happened next?” Morrisey asked.

“Well,” Steve said, “we sat on the ledge, shared a doobie, and were looking at the sky. Ivan was kneeling on the ledge and I told him to be careful but he leaned forward and suddenly he was gone.”

“I see,” Morrisey said. “How did you know the victim?”

“Ivan? He managed my investments,” Steve explained.

“Didn’t he recently retire?” Morrisey asked.

“Yeah,” Steve said, “he finally decided to put himself out to pasture, so to speak.”

“And isn’t it true that he embezzled money from you and basically looted your portfolio?” Morrisey asked.

“Well, yeah,” Steve admitted, “but you know how it is. You win some, you lose some, right?”

Morrisey pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “Please put out your hands, Steve,” he said. “Your under arrest for putting your former investment banker, Ivan Imhoff, permanently out to pasture. You have the right to remain silent….”

Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt. Also for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (fault), Ragtag Daily prompt (on the roof), Your Daily Word Prompt (kneel), The Daily Spur (investment), MMA Storytime (pasture), and Word of the Day Challenge (loot).

Thursday Inspiration — A Bundle of Joy

Fandango5 Comments

Jack walked through the door of their apartment. “Honey, I’m home,” he called out.

Sharon ran up to him and threw her arms around his shoulders, kissed him deeply on his mouth, and said, “Guess what, honey? We’re going to have a baby.” Then she showed Jack the pregnancy test stick.

Jack stepped back from Sharon and said, “Wait, aren’t you on the pill?”

“I was,” Sharon said, but I started to get some spotting so I called my gynecologist and she suggested that I stop taking them.”

Jack scratched his head. “That’s weird, Sharon,” he said. “We only just got married last month. I thought we agreed that we were going to wait at least a year before having a baby.”

“We did, Jack, but I went off the pill on my doctors advice and, well, you’re just so virile that I got pregnant right away,” Sharon said. “Good for you. My man is such a hunk!”

“Well, when you put it that way, Sharon,” Jack said, “woo-hoo! We’re gonna have a baby!”

Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt, where the prompt word is “baby.” Also for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (scratch) and The Daily Spur (weird).

Thursday Inspiration — I Hang My Head in Shame

Fandango10 Comments

She is blossoming into a beautiful young woman
As I grow older and have become washed out
The whole world is her oyster
She is so full of passion about what lies ahead
While my world has been ransacked
And my zest for life has been muzzled
I hang my head in shame
As I search my empty soul
It’s so wrong to be jealous of my own daughter

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (blossoming), Ragtag Daily Prompt (washed out), The Daily Spur (passion), Your Daily Word Prompt (ransack), MMA Storytime (muzzle), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (search).

Also for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration, where the prompt is “hang.”

Pillow Talk

Fandango9 Comments

“How did you sleep last night?” Frank’s wife asked him when he walked into the kitchen.

“I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow,” Frank replied. “But I had a really strange dream.”

“Are you going to share it with me?” Diane asked.

“Well, I was alone in the desert and my throat was parched and I felt like I was dying of thirst,” Frank said, “when I spotted a large, purple plume of smoke on the horizon. I used what little strength I had left to climb to the zenith of a hill, hoping to find an oasis or something, but instead I saw you, standing in our kitchen making a salad. You were slicing some radishes and I ran down to where you were standing and said, ‘What are you doing? I hate radishes.’ You looked at me and said, ‘Duly noted’ and continued to slice the radishes and toss them into the salad.”

“Oh, poor Frank,” Diane said, a sarcastic look on her face, “that wasn’t a dream, that must have been a nightmare because I wouldn’t dream of adding radishes to your salad. Even though I love radishes in my salads.”

Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt, where the theme is “pillow.” Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (share), Word of the Day Challenge (thirst), Ragtag Daily Prompt (plume), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (zenith), MMA Storytime (salad), and Your Daily Word Prompt (duly).

zenith share duly plume thirst salad

Thursday Inspiration — Words Matter

Fandango23 Comments

When I first started blogging way back in 2005, I wrote long, rambling, meandering posts. My average post length back then probably ranged from around 1100 to 1400 words. To say that I was verbose would have been an understatement. I was never at a loss for words.

I enjoyed writing those long winded posts, but no one — other than me — ever seemed to read them. I put a lot of time and effort into my posts and I thought most of them were pretty plum.

So I asked myself why I wasn’t getting either traffic or traction on my blog. Was I on the wrong blogging platform? Was I letting my words runaway with me, resulting in boring, meandering posts? I decided it was time to set in motion some fundamental changes to the way I blogged. If I were to continue blogging, I needed to give my blog a shot in the arm, kind of like a vaccine.

First, I moved my blog to WordPress. Then I decided to write more concise, focused posts. No more rambling, multi-topic posts. I was going to keep my posts short and simple. Ideal for the short-attention-span blogging community.

The results of these adjustment were illuminating. My shorter posts — rarely exceeding 300 words — published on WordPress began to get read. They started receiving likes. And comments. And followers. I started interacting with people from all around the globe via our blogs. Woo hoo!

Lesson learned: words matter…and apparently so do word counts.

Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt, where the word is “why” and the musical inspiration in Del Shannon’s song, “Runaway.”motion never verbose plum vaccine illuminate
Also for these daily prompts: Your Daily Word Prompt (verbose) , The Daily Spur (never), Ragtag Daily Prompt (plum), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (motion), Word of the Day Challenge (vaccine), and MMA Storytime (illuminate).