Tag Archives: the lightning and the lightning bug

Unapologetically stolen from the blog of my friend, Mel …

I am linking up with The Lighting and the Lightning Bug “Flicker of Inspiration.” Their prompt caught my attention, plus they are a supportive writing community site. The prompt? Write. Write for ten minutes without stopping. Your topic can be anything. The important thing about this prompt is just writing. Get your thoughts down on paper and share them with us. Don’t edit. Don’t polish. Just write.

So here goes …. what I absolutely promise will be … nothing.

* * * * * * * * * *

Well, I guess it’s lucky I happened to stop by According to Mags to check in with my friend, Mel, and see what she’s up to lately. It was there that I found this interesting little writing exercise, a new one, where writers are supposed to write uninterruptedly for ten minutes on whatever subject their minds dictate.

Unfortunately, my mind doesn’t really work that way. When you tell me there’s no subject matter, my brain provides you with a Seinfeldian post about nothing.

So, these exercises prove to me that posting something without proofing and correcting it (multiple times) first is like telling me I have to leave the house without pants on.

It just isn’t done in my world.

Of course, these exercises also remind me of what a sucky typist I am. I am now painfully aware that my entry will undoubtedly be shorter than the others due to my limited typing skills. It even cost me a job once. A horrible, boring, crappy job that, frankly, I was lucky to not get.

5:10

Okay, so I’m half done and my spastic typing has produced less than 200 words. Pathetic. Too bad I can’t text this whole thing to you.  My texting skills are as sharp as a sixteen-year-old’s. I’m complimented daily on my two-handed, busy-thumb technique. I’m not sure if I should be proud of that one or not. But I guess as my kids enter their teenage years I’ll be glad to be able to communicate this way.

7:21

My brain is folding. Apparently, I’ve got about seven minutes worth of material before I need to start digging. I wonder if the other entrants will be writing stories like The Old Man with a Magic Shoe in under ten minutes. Actually, that sounds like an awesome story, doesn’t it?

But what would he DO with that shoe? What would he do?

Aww, crap. I’ve now gone more than nine minutes and have given you absolutely nothing to think about.  Let’s just decide that the old man’s name was Calvin and leave it at that.

5 seconds to go. Bye, Calvin.