Creativity Mini-Challenge + New, Exclusive Short Story by Me!
A quick, 5-minute creative hit to kick off your weekend
Hello, Protagonists!
It’s a common myth that creativity has to be a huge undertaking. I actually believe we can spark it with just small moments, and anyone can do it, not just professional artists.
Also, these little bursts of creativity can lead to larger inspiration or simply bring a smile. Both are wonderful and enough in their own ways.
So here is your Creativity Mini-Challenge for this month. It’s based on a picture I took and will only take you five minutes. (Below, you’ll find my take on it.)
Look at the photo of the fence segment below (alt text available for accessibility).
Where did this piece of fence come from? Tell yourself a super short story or doodle something about it.
REMEMBER—This is supposed to be whimsically rough! It’s not about perfection. It’s five minutes to dream—just for you. Have fun!
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My whimsically rough, super short story:
63-year-old Celia lived alone on the top of a mountain. Not the lush green kind made of pines that whispered as their boughs shifted in the breeze, but a dry, parched heap of towering rock, so isolated from any other human being, she’d nearly forgotten what they looked like.
But early one May morning—when she was crouched on the front porch, sighing again at a large hole in the railing that had been broken for a decade—her son Michael appeared on the dirt path before her. He had left ten years ago to find something to mend the railing with and never returned.
Celia blinked, unsure for a moment what she was seeing, the loneliness she’d barricaded in the back of her heart suddenly bursting free. She held her hope in her breath that he might be real.
“I know I’ve been gone a long time, Mama,” he said. “But I swear, I got a good reason.”
A mule crested the hill behind him. Michael hurried over to unstrap a rectangle of white metal about a meter tall and half as wide. Was it a piece of a gate? There was a large ornate ring in the center, like a wreath, with leaves and berries garlanded around the hole.
He patted the mule on its haunches, then brought the white section of fencing to the porch. It fit perfectly in the missing part of the railing she’d asked him to fix so long ago.
“Have a seat, Mama.” He gestured at her well-loved porch swing, a little rickety but still comfortable. When she’d settled in, he said, “Take a peek.”
A soft wind danced through the white ring, bringing with it the smell of sand and brine, as well as laughter and waves shushing against a shore. She leaned forward, and instead of dull rock on the other side of the fencing, she saw sunbathers on a beach. A little girl building a sand castle and giggling every time the water hit it. A young couple under an umbrella, eating ice cream and waving at her through the fence ring.
She gasped.
“Happy Mother’s Day,” Michael said, sitting next to her on the swing. He took her small hand into his. “Now we’ll never be lonely again.”
* the photo is actually of San Sebastián in Spain, from my trip there a couple years ago.
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Reader Spotlight
Every week, I’ll feature a few books or essays that WORDPLAY readers have loved or written. Check out this week’s recommendations from your fellow subscribers:
Dana Elmendorf's Newsletter explains what it’s like to work with a writing coach. (I mentioned Dana’s experience with
writing coach in our most recent WORDPLAY Book Club meeting.) If you’re a writer looking to level up your career, read Dana’s essay to find out if a writing coach is right for you. shares: “I recently published my latest book, The Strange Case of Guaritori Diolco (World Unbalanced, Book 1). It's the story of a man who wakes up after an accident to discover that he's been in a coma for twenty years. In a world in which magic is now powerful, but he has none, he struggles to survive.” Congrats, Bill!Want to share something that you’ve recently read or written?
Just reply to this email or drop a comment below with a 1-2 sentence description. I can’t wait to hear from you!
Whimsical with a touch of foreboding. I wonder if her son had died and she was looking for him on the beach through her soul’s memory. The “missing part of the railing”
Evelyn, this is so lovely and poignant! I wonder what experiences the son had over the past decade.