Writers' Platform Building Campaign First Challenge

Okay, it's not technically Monday yet, but this is counting as my Monday post.

Rules for Challenge #1:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)

For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!


So, for mine, I managed to make it exactly 200 words :)

By the way, this is loosely inspired by Haruki Murakami's short story On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning.

(Oh, and because no one commented on it, yes, I did intentionally write this in 2nd person perspective 

just to make it a little harder/different.)

The Girl You Like

The door swung open, and you see her, the girl you like. And you realize you’re staring, so you look away before she notices. It could be on a bus, at school, or in the park. The first time you see her, or the fiftieth. Something about her just catches your eye, the way she laughs, her hair skipping over her shoulder, or her hands fumbling with the knotted scarf around her neck. It’s never big. No flash of lightning. Just something small that you connect with. That makes you smile. But the girl you like looks past you, through you.

You’re so nervous when the girl you like is finally on your bed. She’s so perfect, so soft, but she’s crying and pushing and struggling against your hands, and all you want is for her to say your name. Say she loves you, but she can’t. You want to kiss her lips and hear her voice, but if you peel the tape from her mouth, she won’t say your name or say she loves you. She’ll scream. 

There’ll be other times, other loves, but in this moment, it’s just the two of you. Together with the girl you like.

Six Sentence Sunday 12

Wow, September already! The summer certainly flies by when you're out of town almost every single weekend... and it looks like that's not going to change anytime soon :)

Welcome back all you SSS participants!

For those who don't know what that is, go check out the link and read some more snippets. Warning: not every submission (or site) should be read by those under the age of 18.

Last time, Simon fled the room when he couldn't take anymore of Faith's screaming and pushed his brother out into the hallway.

Hector’s face was white, but Simon stood staring at the frosted, grey glass door, one hand braced against the metal rails. The echos of her shrieks were still ringing through his ears, cutting through the veins and shredding the meat of his brain. After five days he had yet to meet a person in that room, only an empty shell or a raging squall, and each time he was stunned at how quickly she swung between the two extremes.

“This isn’t working, Simon, she’s just getting worse. What will we do? The madam said - ”

The Roar of the Crowd

...by the time this goes up, I'll be on my way to The Clipper (a ferry which sails from the Victoria, BC harbour to the Seattle, WA harbour)...

The reason?

The last Seahawks pre-season game is tonight!!

...I'm so excited

I've seen a lot of live baseball games, but only one NFL game... the San Diego Chargers first pre-season game, and that was a couple of years ago. I've never been to see the Seahawks play live before. In fact, I haven't really been following them at all since my favourite player retired a couple years ago (#97 Patrick Kerney).

I love going to sporting events. In fact, I'll be at the Mariner's baseball game next weekend (Sept. 10th), and I saw them play (and beat) the Blue Jays on August 15th.

My husband travels a fair bit for work, and I usually tag along. In every major city (that has a team) we try to make it to a game. I've seen the Toronto Blue Jays get stomped by the White Sox, the Washington Nationals squeeze in a victory over Philly, the Yankees lose against Boston during their last year in the old stadium, and lose again to them in their new stadium. I've watched both the Padres and the Mariners a couple of times, sometimes win, sometimes lose. But I enjoy every game.

Though I'm not a die-hard fan by any stretch of the imagination, I do have certain *allegiances* to West Coast teams (since I live on the West Coast), or teams I've seen play in their home stadiums.

Generally I have two rules about sporting events. The first is to always buy a hat and cheer loudly for the home team (whoever it is). The second is to always cheer extra loud for whoever is #13 (my favourite number). I try to learn #13's name on every home team I've seen play live, but don't quiz me :)

What I love is the atmosphere of the stadium. I love getting right in the middle of all the excitement, how the crowd feeds off the plays, then the players feed off the crowd. The shared disappointment of losing or winning unites thousands of people in a single moment. At music concerts, I can never get into the crowd atmosphere, even if it's an artist I am really into... but at a baseball game, I fall right into the energy.

If you're at the Seahawks game tonight, I'll be down at the 50 yard line wearing my Kerney jersey and screaming my fool-head off. Beer and hotdogs will also likely make an appearance...

10 Random Facts

Since there's a round of these going on amongst my fellow Platform Building Campaigners, I thought I'd throw this out real quick before I have to leave :)

1. When dining on my own in a city, I tend to eat like a 80 year old Japanese man (not my own words). I'll order hot sake (which is the cheapest sake), unagi (that's eel) on rice and a variety of appetizers like grilled quid with soy, etc.

2. I have probably 2 dozen baseball hats (conservative estimate). I'm not into souvenirs/dust collectors, so whenever I travel, I buy a hat.

3. My current black cat is the 4th black cat I've had in my life. I have had a weakness for them since learning that, statistically, they are the cats that get gassed 'cause no one will adopt them.

4. I'm the only one in my entire extended family whose hair stayed that childhood-blonde colour. Everyone else's turned brown before they hit the age of 10.

5. Since my hair is basically like a child's hair, I donate it every 2-3 years (when it gets long enough) to a program that makes wigs for children with cancer/etc and whose families can't afford to buy their child a wig.

6. One of the 2 reasons I quit university to do animation training is because one of my professors gave me a 'D' on a paper I worked incredibly hard on and actually said to my face that she thought I was too stupid to have written it. The reason? Being dyslexic can make teachers/professors easily misunderstand you.

7. I can milk a cow, ride a horse, build a rock wall, do plumbing, electrical work, drywall, etc and know my way around almost every power tool out there.

8. I had pet chickens as a kid that I trained to come, to fly up and land on my arm, and a few other tricks.

9. I met my husband in high-school. Yup, that's right.

10. I have double-jointed knees.

Pinch, Punch, First Day of the Month

...and no returns.

Do you have any quirky traditions that almost don't make sense anymore, but you continue to hold on?

The 'pinch punch' thing I've been doing since I was a little kid. I don't even remember who started it... but I remember doing it as early as 7 or 8 on a holiday when my family was with my aunt/uncle/cousin.

Basically, on the first day of the month, whoever remembers first is allowed to pinch and punch every person they meet... and as long as they remember to say, 'and no returns', no one is allowed to pinch/punch back. If the person forgets to say it, the victim can then pinch/punch back five times in retaliation.

Definitely sounds like a kid tradition, right? Little sociopaths, every last one :)

...and I am including myself in that definition. You do have to teach kids not to beat up on others, that there are social rules they must follow, sharing, patience, all that good stuff that ensures our society doesn't descend into anarchy.

...okay, it was probably my cousin who started it.

But back to my original question... why keep this tradition when I am no longer a kid? I don't even live in the same city as my family... and I'm not going to run up to random strangers in the street and pinch/punch them (again, good stuff, no anarchy, etc, etc).

This tradition lapsed in our family for many years, and I was the one to bring it back. Though now we do it via e-mail or texting.

(my mom won this morning, emailing me at 6:54am PST, then called on the phone an hour later to gloat)

Traditions often remind us of our warm, fuzzy childhood memories when everything was safe and exciting. The old rose-coloured-glasses of the past where we forget the daily tensions and petty fights of reality.

I re-started the tradition about seven years ago when I moved from British Columbia to Alberta.

Our family (including aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents) has always been pretty close. even after my sister got married (she's the oldest of the cousins), everyone would still all get together for every single cousin's birthday.

And after I moved, I missed out. I only saw my parents a couple times a year and my extended family I only saw at Christmas.

Re-starting the first day of the month tradition was partially a way to re-connect, enjoy the goofy memories of childhood, but it was also a way to ensure I would contact them every month. Like sending a 'Thinking of you' card in the mail (or an e-card online), sometimes it's nice to lightly remind someone that you still exist without the big conversation to *catch-up*.

I think since humans develop their world-views through their experiences and memories, that having those tiny glimpses of warm, fuzzy traditions is an awesome thing to include, so they always seem to slip into my characters. Like best friends will often have certain phrases or words they use together that touch back to shared experiences, siblings and other family members will also have those secret habits or traditions that make them smile, or will defuse a tension-riddled moment. Simon & Hector (Project #2) have a couple... as do other characters in my stories.

Do you have any traditions like that? What about your characters?