The rain was becoming an anathema to the animals of the jungle.
Especially since so their habitat was being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations.
Huddling under the only shelter he could find, the orangutan thought “At least it isn’t literally raining cats and dogs. “Then we’d really be in trouble!”
By Sarah ©2019
Sammi Scribbles, Weekend Writing Prompt #99 – Anathema; and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Mad About Metaphor, 30 March 2019
The neon glow enveloped the city built by and for corporations.
It was late and Sandra sat alone in the cavernous office. Pounding the keyboard furiously she tried to finish the never-ending paperwork her boss delighted in giving her.
Bastard, she thought. He actually enjoyed the power, dictating when she could leave and knowing it was her weekend with her daughter.
Her email pinged.
She despaired as she saw yet another assignment.
Gazing out at the city lights, Sandra contemplated her reply. His eminence wouldn’t like it, but life was too short.
Smiling, she typed two words.
“I quit”.
By Sarah ©2019
Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, First Line Friday: March 29, 2019; and also, Carrot Ranch, March 28: Flash Fiction Challenge. Prompt – In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that uses the word eminence. It’s a rich word full of different meanings. Explore how it sounds or how you might play with it. Go where the prompt leads!
Welcome to the Saturday Mix – Mad About Metaphor, 30 March 2019!
This week we are dipping our toes into the pool of METAPHOR. Our challenge is all about the use of metaphor in our writing. You will need to use the metaphor provided in your response – which can be poetry or prose.
Our metaphor this week is:
– Raining cats and dogs.
You may be asking yourself, How can I use metaphor in my writing?
Luckily, yourdictionary.com has some examples for you.
Simply put, a metaphor is a figure of speech containing an implied comparison. With metaphors, words or phrases that are ordinarily applied to one thing are applied to something you wouldn’t necessarily pair it with. Metaphors are members of the figurative language family, which also include elements like similes, onomatopoeia, and personification.
Common Metaphor Examples
Some famous metaphors have become part of our everyday speech and are frequently used in writing…
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Dutch Goes The Photo, Tuesday Photo Challenge, Week 153 – Years
Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island SA
Dutch Goes The Photo, Tuesday Photo Challenge, Week 153 – Years
This life is such a mix.
One moment we’re wont to sing,
And in the next, we recoil –
feeling the sting.
Our spirits push and pull
Clouds over the moon.
Leaving us to bask in the chill.
None of us, are impervious
To this alchemy.
Add a pinch of salt
And a dash of pepper.
The final brew is unknown.
Thinking we must swallow it alone,
Is a tipping point of despair.
Until I feel another’s hand
reach out and hold me in the balance.
My heart did swell, when
Thick in the quagmire,
I found you.
Always you.
By Sarah ©2019
Sammi Scribbles, Weekend Writing Prompt #98 – Impervious and also, The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 396
Hiding behind God we praise beastily.
Upon others’ spirits we graze beastily.
“Be anything you want”, the craze decree.
Don’t take offence at this malaise imagery.
Allusive. Oblique. Innuendo, holidays free.
Surrender your ego, go as your days be.
Through the sorrow, through the haze see.
All that is splendour, upon you gaze me.
Let me tell you, exception weighs heavy.
So let whatever will be, yesterday’s be.
By Sarah ©2019
Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Music Challenge #46: Innuendo by Queen and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 23 March 2019
The staccato rhythm on the roof became a dull roar.
It was really coming down and the children’s focus had wandered from their work to the window.
“It’s just a little rain, we’ve all seen it before,” I redirected, whilst simultaneously reaching for the bucket for the roof’s long-standing leak.
Honestly, I thought, how hard was it for the school to fix this issue?
I watched with horror and awe, as it soon overflowed and the roof began to bow.
With a crash, the roof caved in and I witnessed my first ever indoor waterfall… right in my classroom!
By Sarah ©2019
Carrot Ranch, March 21: Flash Fiction Challenge, Prompt – In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that features a bucket of water. What is the condition of the water and what is the bucket for? Drop deep into the well and draw from where the prompt leads!
Welcome to the Saturday Mix – Lucky Dip, 23 March 2019!
For this week’s Lucky Dip, I have reached into my mystery bag and pulled out a Ghazal. The topic is up to you!
You may be thinking to yourself, What on earth is a Ghazal poem?
Luckily, Shadow Poetry has an explanation…
Ghazal Poem
A Ghazal is a poem that is made up like an odd numbered chain of couplets, where each couplet is an independent poem. It should be natural to put a comma at the end of the first line. The Ghazal has a refrain of one to three words that repeat, and an inline rhyme that preceedes the refrain. Lines 1 and 2, then every second line, has this refrain and inline rhyme, and the last couplet should refer to the authors pen-name… The rhyming scheme is AA bA cA dA eA etc.
Example of…
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Dutch Goes The Photo, Tuesday Photo Challenge, Week 152 – Wonder
Last year was the first time I participated in the A-Z Challenge (although my visit to the site today informs me that this challenge is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year!)
I thoroughly enjoyed the A-Z Challenge in 2018, as I blogged my way almost daily, through all 26 letters of my theme, “Anxiety“.
I have had many trials and changes over the last 6 months, and it is my hope that by joining in the challenge again this year, I can reinstate the blogging routine that has taken a hit in recent times.
And so….after much deliberation and finally deciding to join, I am “revealing” my theme as a taster of what’s to come.
As many of you know, I am an educator and love what I do. I also have a passion for writing and am a firm believer in writing what you know. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to combine the two and my theme in 2019 will be:
I anticipate this theme will illustrate the highs (and lows) of my profession, but more importantly hope that it will bring readers an understanding of the day to day life of teaching – warts and all. As such, I’m not sure how to classify this…whether to put it under entertainment, memoirs or education. It possibly fits all three but rest assured, none of it will be fiction!
Stay tuned for my first post on April 1!
~ Sarah
This path’s not easy.
Bumpy, twisting and turning
– the ride of your life!
Ronovan Writes, Weekly Haiku Poetry Prompt, Challenge #245 – easy and ride
By Sarah ©2019
My feet squelched in the thick mud, as I trudged the familiar track. Darkness had not yet been overcome by the new day and I urged the sunrise on.
Entering the thick trees, my nerves jangled. The inky light was unnerving, and my senses were on high alert, oozing adrenalin. I was ready to fly should anyone unexpectedly appear.
I sighed, realising that after tomorrow’s equinox, my morning wanderings would soon end. Winter’s days would dictate a new exercise regime.
Until September anyway…
By Sarah ©2019
Sammi Scribbles, Weekend Writing Prompt #97 – Equinox and also, Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Saturday Mix – Sound Bite, 16 March 2019
The djembe is West Africa’s best known instrument. This goblet-shaped drum is traditionally carved from a single piece of African hardwood and topped with animal skin. Its name is derived from “Dje” (gather) and “be” (everyone).
It is said, each drum contains three spirits – that of the tree, the animal whose skin is played, and the carver who chiseled and shaped the wood.
The djembe is a vessel for these spirits to come through. The sound is past, present and future; that which is not in us until it comes into consciousness through our hands and into the world.
By Sarah ©2019
Carrot Ranch, March 14: Flash Fiction Challenge. Prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes a chisel. Use chisel as a noun or a verb. Think about what might be chiseled, who is chiseling. Be the chisel. Go where the prompt leads!
Welcome to the Saturday Mix – Sound Bite, 16 March 2019!
This week we are hearing things, as we explore the use of ONOMATOPOEIA. You will need to use the THREE onomatopoeic words in your response – which can be poetry or prose.
Our three words, using onomatopoeia are:
You may be asking yourself, How can I use onomatopoeia in my writing?
Luckily, Your Dictionary has some examples for you.
The word onomatopoeia comes from the combination of two Greek words, onoma meaning “name” and poiein meaning “to make,” so onomatopoeia literally means “to make a name (or sound).” That is to say that the word means nothing more than the sound it makes. The word “boing,” for example, is simply a sound effect, but one that is very useful in making writing or storytelling more expressive and vivid.
Many onomatopoeic words can be verbs as well…
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By Sarah 