Sunday, January 10, 2010

Entry #95

One Is For Sorrow
by Angela L. F. Coleman


He says the storyline must focus on one solitary crow flying through the bare branches of a tree and, from what one can only surmise, through the sky of King Winter himself.

He says, after I’ve already written over 500 words, that there is a cap of 250 words. So, as I begin the process of editing, perched on the branch just above the roof top where I live, the crow is patient.

“What do you want from me, black crow?” I say, sotto voce through the frost that clings to the window in front of my writing table.

“Caw. Caw.” And without so much as a shiver, he screams it again, “Caw, Caw.”

As my words have now dwindled down to a mere 184, I glance out the window where the crow has begun his flight through the night, and as I walk out the door, the screen on my writing table flickers. Not exactly a surrendering surprise. The prospect of any resemblance of comprehension is lost on those that even make the slightest attempt. One does not attempt to comprehend. One either does or one does not.

If I didn’t know better I’d say the ’words’ were having a bit of a snort at my expense. I will not beleaguer further this subject.

“Caw”

29 comments:

Preeti said...

Hahaha... very cleverly done.
Many of us might have gone through the same process of overdoing the number of words and then sitting down for the ever-so-difficult task of editing. Sigh...so tough to delete words you've so lovingly written.

Nice one. :-) Liked it.

Lena said...

:)
Liked it. It was an enjoyable read and very clever to combine the writing process itself with the prompt.

Nicely done.

Preeti said...

That last Caw.... was it the only word available to complete 250???

*grins*

Bernita said...

Geese,and I had to work to get up to a mere 200 words.

AM-C said...

Unusual...and lovely!

JaneyV said...

We've all been there Angela. CAW! indeed!

Aimee Laine said...

That was cool! Completely different! Great job!

Craig said...

Too true ;-)

Aniket Thakkar said...

Well you get all our sympathy votes now.

We've all been there. :)

No one can take away your points for originality. :D

Sarah Laurenson said...

Ah. A story for the writer. Excellent!

PJD said...

A pretty good description of writer's block...

word verification: purevels
what justis cat seeks out and destroys, lolz

Kurt Hendricks said...

I too have a frost-lined window by my writing desk. I love it - so Dickensian!

Scribblers Inc said...

you prolly went TADA! after finishing this! :D

great take on the prompt...and the way it wraps up is grand to say the least!

Mithun Mukherjee.

AngelConradie said...

Oh that was so neatly unexpected!

Kartik said...

Very witty!!

laughingwolf said...

do, or not do... there is no try! ;)

Laurel said...

Very tongue in cheek take! This made me grin.

austere said...

Very different.
That flicker threw me for a minute.

DILLIGAF said...

Yeah!!! Only 250!!!! No fair!!!

The most original perspective yet. Thoroughly enjoyed that!

You listening Jason?...;-)

Anonymous said...

Four Dinners, yes.

;)

I know I've read well over 1000 comments by now.

Deb Smythe said...

Ha!
I think we can all relate.

Amias (ljm and liquidplastic) said...

Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Definately different, enjoyed every bit too

McKoala said...

LOL! Love a bit of self-reference. Nice work.

Anonymous said...

i expected at least one entry with this concept. thankfully there is no cap on the comments :)

james r. tomlinson said...

I don't know so much about writer's block. Seems to me that I'm getting reader's block. I'm still scrolling downward, making my way through all the entries. Your story has brought me back to reality, back to the task at hand.

Chris Eldin said...

AHAHAHAH! Nice one! Thanks for the levity. I like your sense of humor.
:-)

catvibe said...

Are you a singer Angela? The sotto voce reference made me wonder...

I loved this piece actually. My first piece, (I wrote 3, submitted the last), was also about writing this piece. Not as inventive as yours tho, I love this.

Anonymous said...

Dear Entrants #1-105,

I have read your pieces so that I can fairly participate in the Readers' Choice vote. (I read all of them through last week, before I started commenting.) I will be coming back around to offer my keep/tweak comment, but I didn't want anyone to snark.

Cheers,
Aerin (#236)

BTW, it's perfectly fine if you still want to snark, but this way you can choose a more appropriate subject, like the Golden Globes or those wretched Old Navy dummies.