Writing Exercise: "Oops!" As Last Words Go . . .

We participated in yet another writing exercise this week. We had an opening sentence, and we had to let our minds - and pens - do the rest of the work. Here's what I churned out in the 10 minute gap we had allocated.

Exercise: "Oops!" As Last Words Go . . .

"Oops!" As last words go it's not inspirational, but it is apt as I've just pushed the wrong button.

I was only supposed to slap him. The torture device had been designed specifically to give different levels of torture. The basic was a slap. Push the right button and a synthetic hand appears and slaps the fellow inmate. This could be anything from the threat of a slap, one stinging blow, or an entire period of being slapped senseless.

Next to the slap button is the big red button that completely obliterates the fellow inmate.

I had never been left in control of this contraption before - had never even been left in the room on my own with it - but today was the day I was to take my first step towards that responsibility.

My commander had explained everything to me. He had explained about the slap button and all the levels in between, and he also told me about the big red button.

Now, when someone presents to you a `Big Red Button` and says to you that you mustn't - no matter what - push it, something in the mind triggers, and all you want to do is put your finger on it and press.

I had one job to do - to press the slap button and give my fellow inmate a single stinging blow. I didn't exactly do that. My fingers tricked me. Just millimetres from the slap button it changed direction and exerted its pressure on the big red button.

My fellow inmate was obliterated, and all I could do was stand back, look at the empty seat, and say "Oops . . ."

Pic of the Week . . .

This week's Pic of the Week is by an unknown artist. I'm not a hundred percent sure who they are, but I'm certain after a little investigation across the great wide web, that person can be found. This is on my 'to-do' list, but unfortunately today I don't have the time.

I will, however, give the link from which I found this piece. It also provides you with a few more pieces that are quite interesting. You might like them just as much as this piece - if you like this piece, that is . . .

Creative Selling Tactics . . .

I have to share this blog with you. It's one of my favourite work blogs that I wrote about a year ago . . . and I think it's a shame that it's now disappeared into the deep blue depths of cyberspace.

Let me enlighten you on what I fill - or used to fill - my professional time with. I work for an internet retail company, and after they discovered my passion for writing, they handed me the company blog to nurture and nurse back to health after a slow start in life. (I can now call myself a web copywriter. I just love that title . . . lol).

But what they didn't bargain for was my creative juices. Occasionally they were flowing with a vengeance, and so on some days the company blog become slightly . . . fictional. But the challenge I loved was writing something fictional about a product we sold.

I've always had a love of the mythical legends of ancient Greece, and so when I decided to blog about our Hot Stone Massage Kits that we were selling at the time, I just couldn't resist it. And you know what? It must have worked because we soon sold out . . . lol. So now, presenting to you the creative selling post I once wrote. (The facts may not be quite true with the original legends, but when you only have a short section of time in which to write something, they were the best that I could remember.)

The Greek Legend of Hotstones . . .

Once, many years ago, there was a Seer, who foretold a tale of a brave young man who would travel the lands and slay the beast Medusa. Medusa was originally a beautiful woman who used her long tresses to woo and seduce men. Outraged that her temple had been violated, the goddess Athena set a curse upon her, turning her luscious locks into snakes, and making it so that if her eyes were to fall upon any man again, they would instantly be turned to stone. People feared this vile beast, and so preyed that the Seer's words would become truth.

One day, upon his travels, the Seer came across a curious young man, basking in the sun. This man was called Iydalnis Basalt, and instantly the Seer saw his hero within, despite the sneers from his neighbours and rumours of his stubbornness and laziness. He tried to persuade Iydalnis that he had a destiny to fulfill, but all Iydalnis wanted to do was lay in the sun. Eventually the Seer had to resort to burning his home down on a quest to get Iydalnis into action, and it worked.

Together, Iydalnis and the Seer traveled across the land in hunt for the legendary fem-fatal, Medusa. Many adventures were shared, until eventually they came across the ruined temple where Medusa was said to reside. Iydalnis insisted on a sleep before entering to fulfill his destiny and slay the beast, but the Seer refused him, and so dubiously and lethargically, Iydalnis entered.

For an hour he silently scouted the ruins in search, and just before he was about to leave he saw her, with a head full of withering snakes. As he approached her from behind with his gleaming sword poised for certain slaughter, she turned to glare at him. Horrified by the sheer ugliness of the creature, Iydalnis froze in mid attack . . . and was turned to stone.

Yep, you guessed it. The Seer had been wrong. He should have foreseen Perseus slaying the beast instead of the lazy Iydalnis.

But one thing he did discover was that Iydalnis Basalt was now made of the smoothest stone he had ever seen. Eventually he called it Basalt stone, and that once heated, to get it into action, the lazy characteristics with which Iydalnis possessed would come forth. When placed on the body in certain areas, these heated up characteristics would transfer through the skin, and were found to be very calming and therapeutic - and before long these hot stones became famous throughout the world for their fantastic and detoxing relaxation methods.

A much plausible theory to believe as opposed to volcanic rock cooling and scientific blah blah blahs . . .

(Did you notice the name, Iydalnis Basalt? Hot stones are made from Basalt rock, and Iydalnis came from being bone idol and lazy - ie relaxing. Get it? lol)

Pic of the Week . . .

Yep, this week - seeing as though I missed last week - we are back to Vistoria Frances. I'm now a sucker for her work. I love it, and I hope you'll love this weeks pic just as much as me . . .

Enjoy . . .

Exercise: Eventually It Came To Pass . . .

We're not a morbid group of writers, I can assure you . . . but the title of our latest writing exercise would beg to differ. A colleague had a book with them by - someone - and it was a compilation of short stories. A group of them started off with:

"Eventually it came to pass that no one had to die unless . . ."

and then the continuation was different for each; ie, unless they ran out of money, or unless they wanted to, or unless blah blah blah. You get the picture? Anyway, we had to choose one and write a quick, short piece with our chosen sentence as the opening. I chose:

"Eventually it came to pass that no one had to die unless they ran out money . . ."

Here's what I churned out in the 15 minute window that we had.

Exercise: Eventually It Came To Pass . . .

Eventually it came to pass that no one had to die unless they ran out of money. Who'd have thought that our new society could be bought? Life had never been the same since they made the invention of immortality public knowledge.

Those who could afford it went ahead with the procedure. Back then it was as fashionable as plastic surgery. It was something new; something to boast of; something to parade. But after signing the dotted line a price was placed on their heads. Immortality didn't mean forever. Life still ran out - but for a smaller fee a top up could be had every 20 - 30 years.

On and on they went, parading and living, living and parading, until they out-lived everyone who opted not to go for it. All the mortals died, old age taking its arthritic course, but they left behind a new race - a race of people who were so proud, who were so self-devoted. The world never returned to how it used to be.

People never worked and there were no people to work. Immortals were too proud to lower themselves, but they didn't need food and they didn't need water. Eventually there was nothing worth harvesting, nothing worth producing - except more top-up.

But that still had a price, and money doesn't last forever.

It wasn't long before it began to run out along with the collapse of society. No longer could they afford to pay for their top-ups. They went as long as they could, hoping, preying that they would get just one more day at least. And then they started dropping like flies, like their power cords were suddenly being ripped from them without prior warning.

And the worse part?

No one collected them from where they fell in the streets. What once had been a great society filled with pride had become a world of fear. People hid from the truth of what was happening as much as they could - but as much as they tried they couldn't hide from the terrible fact that they had unwittingly destroyed everything . . .

Pic of the Week . . .

This week has all been about Victoria Frances. I saw some of her puzzles last weekend and it reminded me that since starting up Pic of the Week, I haven't actually given her a mention (Hangs my head in shame).

She's a wonderful artist, with some extremely beautiful, dark, atmospheric pieces, many revolving around the Vampiric theme. Her work, I've found, has cropped up everywhere, and I've found myself in awe of a certain piece and then, later down the line, discovered that it is a Victoria Frances piece. I've then wondered why oh why did I not realise that before.

I blame it on the fact that I'm blonde . . .

Happy Friday!

Pic of the Week . . .

This week's Pic of the Week is by Yuehui-Tang. Here's a link to a gallery of his work (not necessarily his own gallery though).

I chose this particular pic because I thought it surmises pretty well how I'm feeling in my office at this moment in time. Yes, you guessed it. HOT!!! :D

Enjoy and have a great weekend.