96. The Write Idea

There are three ways to become a good writer.  The first is to write every day.  The second is to write every day.  And the third?  Write.  Every.  Day. 

 

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trifecta writing challenge

95. Gold Medalist

Michael was bad at tennis.  The coach advised him to quit.  Michael was even worse at baseball.  His teammates shook their heads.   

Finally, Mrs. Phelps thought, “Well, perhaps my son can try swimming?” 


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trifecta writing challenge

94. Underneath the Surface

She swam to the deep end and back, less than 20 seconds by her count.  Mike’s words still burned in her ears:  Sophie asked me to the prom and I’d rather go with her. 

While he did earn points for honesty, those were quickly obliterated by his alarming lack of tact. 

Sophie.  Why would Sophie ask Mike when she knew that Deidre liked him?  Sophie and Deidre were not friends, but everyone knew that Deidre and Mike were dating. 

Well.  Deidre knew.  And Mike knew.  Didn’t he? 

Didn’t the movies with five other friends register as a date?  Or being study partners for the chemistry exam?  The teacher let them pick their own partners, and he’d asked her.  Sure, she was the top student in the class, but still.  Then Deidre had assumed they’d go to prom together, and Mike didn’t run out the door when she brought it up. 

“I bought my prom dress,” she had said coyly in between reciting chemistry formulas.  “It’s red.” 

“Who are you going with?” she remembers him asking. 

“You, silly!”

He blushed, and he kissed her.  Well, if Deidre was being honest, she kissed him.  But he didn’t resist.  He had kissed her back for a second or two.  It was a good kiss as kisses go, not that Deidre had anything to compare it to.    

When he ran into her at the local club's pool a week later, she was excited.  A new place they hadn’t been together!  That brought their total dates to three—four if she added the time he dropped off her jacket.     

But at the club his words tumbled out like nickels from a loose slot machine:  Deidre-I’m-sorry-we-need-to-talk-it-will-only-take-a-minute. 

And it did only take a minute.  Just like that, he was done:  I’d rather go with her.    

She swam the length of the pool again, faster.  I’ll show him, she thought. 

She felt the ice-cold water against her skin as she kicked hard, and the space seemed infinite in front of her.   

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trifecta writing challenge/ exactly 333 words/ required word is "club" 

93. Thirty-three Words About Summer Treats

Brownies
in the pan
I saw you
take one
when you thought I wasn’t looking (you’d already had three)
it is
still strange
to me
to remember
that you
said they
tasted
dry

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trifecta writing challenge

 

92. Three Sentences About A Life

You are at work when the call comes you have been expecting it and your sister says you better get on the plane RIGHT NOW and you are like oh God this is it and the whole flight you are praying for her not to die you want her to at least live long enough that you can see her one more time and say goodbye at least say goodbye and apologize to her not for one specific thing but you guess for your entire relationship and you swear it is the longest flight ever and then when you get there and your brother picks you up he tells you how bad it really is and when you finally FINALLY get to the house she can barely breathe but she is alive still alive and talking a little bit and she totally knows who you are and you sit up with her all night even though the hospice nurse is there by this point and you get no sleep and the nurse says you should really consider giving her some morphine but your sister doesn’t want to and your brother does you are on the fence the whole thing is such a blur so fast and yet so slow and so many memories in that house too. 

Your mom dies five days later. 

You are there. 

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trifecta writing challenge/ tell a complete story in 3 sentences