he decided the leak was minor,
inspected the mountings and then started back towards
the main camp. suddenly he found a
weapon thrust in his face. "do it
then" he shouted, suddenly sick of this game. That
threw the attacker off long enough for Sammy to grab for the gun.
it went off with a tremendous roar. he watched Hal go
down and baulked. Seemed the only way out was to kill
again. when will this end?

Entering writing challenges

I like the idea of entering more and more challenges, but I have missed the boat on this writing challenge, being that I have only just seen it and it was for a signup before the day before yesterday.

I know that the main idea is the community around such things, but I also just like the pure challenge aspect of them.

In fact, as I am not doing the official challenge, I have decided to add a couple of layers of complexity to the challenge as presented.

Which was to go to your 'home library' (I love that term) and pick a random shelf.
Take the seventh book, turn to the seventh page, and choose the seventh sentence.

Then write an undefined amount in an undefined manner using that sentence as an inspiration.

Not liking the vague nature of this last part, I decided to make two extra instructions.

• write each word of the sentence you found using the previous instructions on a new line, like the example here

write
each
word
on
a
new
line

Then flesh out each line only in the space available in the rest of that one line.
linking on to the next word as best you can.

• word count of 77 words total.

The resulting 'story' (although I accept the idea of any type of writing) may well be quite surreal or very straight forward)

I will do my first one here as an example.

I went to my (chaotic) and dusty (filthy) bookshelves (in my home library)(lol) and picked the shelf right at eye level.

The book is "Use of Weapons", one of the (third one I think) Culture series by the prolific and talented writer Iain M. Banks, now sadly deceased. (last year I think; but my temporal memory structures are deteriorating fast)

I turned to page seven as the seventh page is still before the book starts properly speaking. (depends how you count them, as the seventh leaf is a poem before the prologue even. If I take the seventh line of the poem, "Slight Mechanical Destruction" I get something else altogether. "You walked amongst the smashed machines"

I may do it too.

However, as stated, I turned instead to page 7 as marked.

Not counting the half a sentence that comes from the page before, the seventh sentence is "He inspected the weapon then, threw it down again"

It was when I made this discouraging discovery that I decided to change the rules.

:)

Under my new conditions I get to start with nine lines.

he
inspected
the
weapon
then
threw
it
down
again

And then I get to use what ever words I can fit into the lines, and into my total limit of 77 to flesh out something interesting.
Or perhaps sketch out better said, as it is of necessity very superficial.

so I came up with what you see above, at the start of today's post.

he decided the leak was minor,
inspected the mountings and then started back towards
the main camp. suddenly he found a
weapon thrust in his face. "Do it
then" he shouted, suddenly sick of this game. That
threw the attacker off long enough for Sammy to grab for the gun.
it went off with a tremendous roar. He watched Hal go
down and baulked. Seemed the only way out was to kill
again. When will this end?

If you feel inspired too, give it a go and make a post, link it here in a comment, and I will sure go look and give it my minnow love.

If you use the tag molaaspaingaroo it'll be easy to find everyone's too
(don't use it as your first tag, unless you only want us to find it.)

I'm going to have a go at the line from the poem too. Here goes, in real time

you casually leaned in towards your lovely companion as you
walked together through the beautiful fall afternoon. Lunch, a picnic
amongst the spectacular wildflowers in the deserted landscape and after;
the slow love-making, sometimes frantic during moments, before getting
smashed together. Now as you both lie there satiated, you try to not think of the
machines.

Since that final full stop is the point where the total is 777 words for this post, and I don't believe that I can fit another twenty words in that bit without spilling over into line breaks and it's my second one. I'll leave it at that. (it only has 57 words, but in six lines...)

Good luck with your sentences, may they be of an appropriate length and may the road rise up to meet you and the wind be at your back.

I hope I have inspired to similarly self challenge.

I can't leave that last one alone.

I wonder if I can fit the seventy seven words in after all.

you casually leaned in towards your lovely companion as you laughed, loved and
walked together through the beautiful fall afternoon. Lunch, a picnic on a towel
amongst the spectacular wildflowers in the deserted landscape and after;
the slow love-making, sometimes frantic during moments, before getting thoroughly
smashed together. Now quiet as you both lie there satiated, you try to not think of the
machines. There will be time enough , after all they weren't going to smash themselves!

OH, can't fit in the line wraps.

I write this in Ghostwriter which I highly recommend for writing your posts. It automatically saves, it allows markdown and html tags, (although it can be a little confusing to know the final result until you see the post preview) and like all the best things in life it's free.

I have no relationship with the makers of Ghostwriter and I only recently started using it, but I have no hesitation in recommending it.
I used to use Notepad++ but ghostwriter is far more inspiring to use.
It even has a Hemingway button which turns it into a typewriter. no going back, no deleting, until you turn that mode off of course.

It reminds me of the most dangerous writing app which is an insane experience. You set it for the time you choose, and from the time the counter starts, if you hesitate you lose your work.
Seriously.
If you stop typing for more than a few seconds, or sin of sins, try to go back, you lose everything you have written.
After that happens a couple of times you learn not to hesitate.
But in the end I don't like the stress, nor do I like losing stream of consciousness writings because of the dogs, for an example.

But if you like pressure, maybe it's for you.

I am sticking to ghostwriter, it's cute as heck too, and completely minimal, no tools or very few, very discrete, and you can make even those disappear.

anyway, the reason I mention it, is as it is where I am writing this.
The line breaks may be different on my blog, and the whole thing will come out bunged up.

I can't connect to the internet so I can't test.

I am going to leave this at one thousand, two hundred and seventy-seven words.