Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Writing Exercise

Mary from Mary's Writing Nook posted a writing exercise from her writing group.

You were to write a story starting with this sentence:

I knew it was a mistake to travel by ---- when . . .

Fill in a mode of transportation such as a tricycle, red wagon, truck, motorcycle, etc.

She told me to use red wagon. Here is my story.

I knew it was a mistake to travel by red wagon when I saw the bull in the cow pasture glare at me. He snorted and pawed the ground. He shook his head and swished the flies off his back with his long black tail.

My short legs shuffled across the field. I wiped the sweat from my face and watched the bull out of the corner of my eye. He snorted again, lowered his head and pawed the ground with his sharp hooves.

"Why did I take the short cut home from the store?" I muttered to myself.

I picked up my pace and I streaked across the field. The wheels of my red wagon sailed over the bumps behind me. I raced toward the nearest tree. My hand let go of the wagon handle and grabbed hold of the sturdy oak limb. I scrambled up the tree just as the bull ran underneath me.


"Na, na, na, na, na," I shouted to the animal below.

I shouldn't have done that. He took aim and charged toward my red wagon. His horns slid between the open slats and he flung it over his head. It twirled in the air and landed with a thud. The eggs and bread, smashed and shattered, fell to the ground.


Content with his rampage on the red wagon, the bull turned and lumbered across the field. I climbed down from the oak tree and looked at the mess. I reached into my pocket and counted my change. Pulling my red wagon behind me, I returned to the store taking the long way this time, and bought more eggs and bread.

My little red wagon and I traveled down the winding road, around the cow pasture, toward home.

Now, it's your turn. If you would like to do this, fill in the blank with a mode of transportation and write a short story.

Have fun!


4 comments:

  1. That first sentence made me laugh out loud! How fun.

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  2. Loved your story! Your blog is so interesting!

    I knew it was a mistake to [try to] travel by computer quickly past your blog when I saw this exercise and realized I was hooked. Once an addict for writing exercises, always an addict for writing exercises, I guess.

    Realizing I had many other places to go, people to see, posts to get ready, I lingered longer than I should have! Suddenly there I was, caught in the act, by a current of wind so strong it blew me away from my computer. And...and I was unable to complete my story.

    Still, I couldn't just leave it until it was complete. So I closed my eyes and wished as hard as I could that my fingers would do the work for me as I clawed my way back to the waiting keys.

    And, miracle, upon miracles! It worked. I was able to return and write...are you ready:

    THE END

    P.S. Thanks for such a fun post!

    P.S.S. My word verification word is indspere. Can you believe it? I think it's saying "in despair." I don't know...what do you think?

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  3. This was very fun to read, Janet! What a neat little exercise. I may try it in a day or two! Thanks for the enjoyable read.

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  4. Janet,
    Thanks for the writing prompt and for the idea. I'll try that out with a story. I sure was glad to have an idea to write a story. Thanks for the tip.

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Thank you for your comments. I love comments!