LUCY - WWBH Short Story

We seem to have been on a long break but we are back now and this is the first WWBH of 2015.

Welcome to the Writer Wednesday Blog Hop 2015! 

 
Writer Wednesday Blog Hop (WWBH) is a weekly writing prompt created to inspire you to: 

  ~ flex your creative muscles. 
  ~ practice the discipline of writing compelling material within specific perimeters. 
  ~ join a community of writers for the sake of encouragement, support, and audience growth.  

"Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we're all in this together." 

~Brene Brown 

Your blog hop hostesses (a.k.a. the people bringing you the prompts each week) are: Tena Carr, Heather Musk, and Leanne Sype. We have a lot of fun getting to know each other and new authors as they drop in throughout the year! 

You don't have to qualify to join our community or even wait until a certain time. Simply check here every Wednesday for the new prompt and if your muse gets excited, channel that energy into creating a story and submit it. You're always invited! And bring a friend! 

We post all the entries (as per the instructions below) for each prompt every Wednesday with the link to your blog so readers can easily hop on over to get to know you, your work, and your audience. Before we get to our first prompt of the year, how does one "do" the blog hop? (Bear with us as we post the long version):
 

1) You will see one of two prompts each week--either one photo with five mandatory words OR two photos to be incorporated together. Use the photo(s) and prompt to write a 500-word story; all elements of the prompt must be a feature in the brief story you create.

2) When 1 photo/5 words is the theme, the 5 words MUST be clearly referenced in your story. Variations on a word are allowed within reason (for example: adding s, ed, ing to the word to be grammatically correct); however, creating a new, unrelated, word is not okay... because it simply isn't part of the prompt. 

3) We ask that you keep your story to approximately 500 words (give or take). We aren't counting but, please, no 1000-word entries.

4) PHOTOS: Photos are the property of the hostess for the week, unless otherwise mentioned. In order to honor the community-purpose of the blog hop and to avoid confusion:

~ Please Do Not share photos and/or prompt words as your own.

~ Please include the photo(s) and reference the blog hop in your post so your blog audience and the blog hop community may all be connected.

~ Please do not include extra photos into your story... Thank you so much for understanding! Let us know if you have questions on this. :)

5) Link your story through the blue frog at the bottom of the prompt by the following Tuesday (direct link to story, not your whole blog, please). If you are unable or need help, contact your hop hostess via the comments: Leanne, Heather, or Tena.  

We do reserve the right to not publish your entry if your submission does not adhere to these instructions... not because we are mean, but because we want to keep this prompt fair for all participants. :)

6) Have Fun! Take your writing seriously, but let those creative juices flow! Don’t fret/panic/pass out/hyperventilate/lose sleep/run in fear over the blog hop, instead let this be an exercise in letting the imagination run wild while staying within the discipline of flash-fiction—short and compelling!

Here is your first prompt for 2015:

Mandatory (and randomly generated) words to include in your story: 

bottle

ostrich

schedule

binder

spoon

Lucy

Her tablet pinged; she looked at her schedule for the week.  How on earth was she going to fit everything in?  Jack needed her time, Simon needed her time, Melissa needed her time, everybody wanted a little bit of her and somehow there was the need for some ‘me’ time as well.  Lucy took a deep breath to calm herself down, give her mind some respite instead of feeling as though she was being squeezed through a bottle-neck and feeling wound up as tight as a piece of elastic that could go no further before it twanged and broke. 

Lucy glanced around the kitchen, the detritus  of a rushed breakfast was apparent, cereal bowls dumped in the sink, soaking in the frothy water, crumbs strewn across the tablecloth and a wayward spoon, sticky with dried on chocolate coated cereal.  Uggh! 

Setting to with a will Lucy cleaned up, loaded the dishwasher, satisfied with the hum of the machine as it did the job.  She pulled down her recipe binder from the shelf and laid it reverently on the counter top.  She would look at after returning from her walk on the beach.  She called Rover to her, interrupting his sleep; he stumbled from his bed and lazily wagged his tail half-heartedly. 

This walking every morning was a chore for the dog and herself but today was going to be different.  They would both enjoy it, she was determined, it was her new year’s resolution to enjoy each moment of her day because her time was precious, even if she didn't have a day job to go to, she was still a useful member of her family.  They wouldn't be able to cope without her, of that she was sure.

Wrapped up warmly, Lucy and Rover left the house and started along the lane.  Rover became quite excited once his old bones had warmed up and he bounded along with some semblance of the younger dog his brain wanted him to be.  

They turned down the slipway and started pounding along the pebble stones. Lucy’s mind wandered back to the discussion she’d had with her mother the other day who accused her of burying her head in the sand like an ostrich.  She was looking down, still thinking about this when she spied something shiny on the ground in front of her.

A penny, a shiny penny was just laying there; she looked around furtively and then stooped to pick it up.  She rubbed her thumb on it, felt the embossed head, turned it over and over in her palm, closed her fist over it and felt a surge of relief course through her body.  She was going to change her life and this was her lucky omen.  From now on things were going to get better, she would prioritise her life and give her time where it was needed and only when it was needed. 

Word count: 485