Today’s words to to us from A. Hamilton. Nice word choice. Looks like a challenge indeed.
BET YOU CAN’T do this writing prompt. Take the 10 random words below and, in the comments, crush writer’s block by creating a cohesive, creative short story tying all of them together! And remember: after (if) you finish, highlight your words and click the bold button to make them stand out and help you determine if you forgot any words. (If you’ve missed previous writing prompts, we BET YOU CAN’T do those, either.)
- Bellybutton
- Digital
- Ding-a-ling
- Guacamole
- Iceburg
- Kangaroo
- Nail
- Percent
- Speed
- Vacuum
NOTE: Don’t copy and paste from MS Word. Use a program like notepad that removes formatting or just type in the comment field itself. Also, finish your submission, THEN bold the words. Thanks. (And don’t forget to tweet this and share it with your friends.)
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Resources you should check out:
Thesis: Best Damn Theme on the Web
Collective Ink Well: Personalize Your Thesis Theme
Third Tribe Marketing: Marketing done the right way
Story Structure Demystified: Best damn writing book out there
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{ 68 comments… read them below or add one }
I once saw a Kangaroo wearing a digital watch, eating guacamole, rubbing his ding-a-ling with one hand and his bellybutton with the other, and tripping on speed—all while standing on an iceburg while vacuuming up nails using his tail.
I was one of the rare 2 percent of students who tried mushrooms at college and had a bad trip.
HAHAHAHAHA
This is great! I love it. At first I was wondering where you were going…but the ending is brilliant.
@Evelyn: Thanks. It’s the “And now you know the rest of the story” technique.
I think I’ve seen that movie
Fantastic!
@shane – *snort* that was funny!
buwahaha
scary but funny!
@Shane-classic, simply classic. LOL!
@Cathy: I do love this style I’m working with lately.
I’d rather eat lint from my bellybutton
than to dine on bunny or deer or mutton.
My digital stove is trained to sing, instead of
alarming by dingaling.
Guacamole is best when eaten cold
skip the iceburg lettuce and ditch the mold.
Kangaroo over tween fridge and stove and
when cooking don’t let your attention rove.
Put a nail in potatoes before you bake them
but body fat percentage is how you intake them.
Cooking tips in the kitchen might help you succeed
with your weight loss program and its speed.
Don’t eat out too much….just stay where you’re at
and the plastic surgeon won’t vacuum your fat!
(in order and rhyming and my first contest weigh- in is on Wednesday!)
@Ma: Outstanding! Wonderful write.
@ma: I agree with Shane.
thanks, guys!
Great line;
“I’d rather eat lint from my bellybutton
than to dine on bunny or deer or mutton”.
Vintage Maragret
Thanks, A….your words made it possible. (by the way, guess I hadn’t fully woken up and misspelled my own name this morning!!!) it really is margaret! (and you’re right, I AM vintage!
)
Margaret, that is great! Don’t know how you do it. Those words seemed so difficult.
@margaret – I just love your rhymes!
Thank you, Sylvia and Kool Aid….I’ve always had a thing for rhyming…read Shel Silverstein to my kids when they were little and made up silly stuff for them all the time.
@margaret ~ it certainly shows. Especially when you and Sean get together in your rhyming
@Margaret-we love our Margaret! Can always count on a smile-thank you for that!
Thank you, and you’re quite welcome, Cathy.
!!!!
In no particular order for this fantasy:
The kangaroo was picking the lint out of his bellybutton with the long nail of his right hand claw. As he was unable to get more than about seventy-five percent of the lint, while eating guacamole wrapped in iceburg lettuce, he decided to use a vacuum, set on a very high speed.
Using the high speed vacuum was such a good idea to this ding-a-ling that he just had to record the process using his new digital video recorder.
While recording the process, his own ding-a-ling was drawn up and out of his bellybutton, and the guacamole and lettuce were drawn down and out. What a mess!
He prudently decided not to post the video to YouTube, to become the laughing stock of the herd.
Moral:
Kangaroos are no smarter than most humans, and always try out new ideas on someone else first.
Sefcug; What a great line;
“While recording the process, his own ding-a-ling was drawn up and out of his bellybutton, and the guacamole and lettuce were drawn down and out. What a mess!”
Fun to read, thanks
Sounds painful and dangerous, but veeeeerrrry in-ter-es-ting !!
@A
Thank you for the words.
The image just jumped in to my mind, I could see it as I wrote it, and I had fun writing it.
I guess these words were too hard though, at least it looks that way due to the low number of submissions compared to usual.
@sefcug – that would make for an interesting video!
@sefeug-totally had fun reading this!
@Steve: Had a good chuckle reading this again.
I can’t nail down exactly when I went from the vacuum side of my bellybutton to the substance side, whereupon, I was given the name Joey, but it seems as though I went from an era of baby food, all of which resembled regurgitated guacamole, into the digital age at light speed .
Since then I’ve been living with my mom, which has it’s ups and downs, but the fact that I’m still hanging in there doesn’t make me a ding-a-ling dingo or an out of place iceberg in the outback. The truth is, nearly one hundred percent of same named kids have living quarters with their moms. That’s what kangaroos do.
didgeridoo !! (you kangaroo!!)
@A: Funny, creative write. Well done. Hope it was fun doing your own words.
@A
I like the way you worked the words in, but then again you had a lot more time to think about it than we did.
Always enjoy your submissions.
believe it or not, I had a hard time with my own words. I had to wait,(for the first time) to see what others did with them.
thanks all. It was fun
@A Since then I’ve been living with my mom, which has it’s ups and downs,…
I almost spewed coffee on my keyboard with that one
It was a little creepy writing that line, because in real time, I do live with my mom. She’s 95 and paralyzed on one side from stroke. I feed, bath, dress and change diapers 3 times a day. It’s like taking care of a kid who curses. It’s really an honor to be in this position.
“regurgitated guacamole” yuck lol – love the description of birth as going from the vacuum to the substance side of belly button!
@A–this is one of my very favorites-so many great lines as my fellow CCC’ers pointed out–Loved it with a capital L
Dude! Those were hard words!
Stacy Johnson was in her mid-30’s. She and her husband, Tom, had married in their 20’s and waited a few years before starting their family. Logan was born 4 years ago and was the pride and joy of his parents. Right now, he was at Kangaroo Kids Preschool and Stacy was still 2 miles or so away. She walked. As she moved around stalled vehicles, she noticed that a large percentage of people were just standing around with a dazed look on their faces. A few were chatting to each other and still others were trying to get their phones to work. Nothing digital seemed to be working. It was strange, the silence. No sounds of the ding-a-lings of open car doors. No horns or engines running. Only the noise of people talking and maybe a dog barking.
“… nothing. Nothing’s working…”
“… you hear anything? I thought I heard a …”
“… husband. He’s at work…”
“… hey, mom? I’m scared.”
That made Stacy pause, her blood running iceburg cold. She turned, looking for the child who said that. There was a little girl in a guacamole green dress and bright red hair holding tight to her mom with one hand and chewing on a nail of the other. She looked to be not much older than Logan, maybe 5 years old, and the tears in her eyes shone bright. Stacy watched, as though the three of them were in a vacuum, while the mother turned and squatted down to hold her daughter. The emotion of the moment hit Stacy in the gut, just behind her bellybutton, and she turned to run with as much speed as she could muster to get to her boy.
“He must be terrified,” she murmured to herself.
OOOoooooo OOooooooOOOOooooo (those are ghosty-spooky noises) can’t wait as the story unfolds!
The words aren’t really hard for tallent like your’s and the rest of the CCC crew.
Great cliff hanger – I hope there will be more!
@Kool Aid-what a creative use of these tough 10-outstanding!
@Cool Aid: Well done. I’m glad you carried this on without letting us know what’s going on yet.
@KoolAid
Interesting use of the challenge words. I think it worked nicely, and I was wondering when you would chime in.
We can always count on something interesting from you.
Well done! Looking forward to your next installment!
My computer will be down for the next few days, so nothing new from me this time. Catch you all next week!
“Mom, why do we have a bellybutton?”
Susan glanced at the digital clock over the stove, praying it would get to the hour when her husband got home. In what felt like her twelfth month of pregnancy, the 52-question game of her five-year-old wore on her more than her tired body.
“It’s shows me where to tickle you,” she smiled wearily.
“Dad says it was so the doctors knew where the middle was so they could put my ding-a-ling in the right place.”
The laugh escaped before Susan could prevent it, and that sent her son into gales of giggles.
“Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, my ding-a-ling was put on straight.”
“That’s enough, young man. Go wash up for dinner.”
“I’m clean – see?”
“John Michael, go wash your hands. And do a good job. I’ll check.”
Susan tuned out the exaggerated sigh her son released as he tromped up the stairs. It was another night of tacos. Anything more complicated was beyond Susan’s capabilities at this stage of her pregnancy.
She put the store-bought guacamole on the table. She felt as slow-moving and as huge as an iceburg.
John came bounding down the stairs, his stuffed kangaroo under one arm.
“I washed Kenny’s paws, too.”
“That’s nice, John,” Susan replied absently, putting her hand on her lower back. This baby could not come too soon.
“I can help, Mom.”
“Thanks, Sweetie. Why don’t you put the plates and silverware on the table. That would be a big help.”
With the sound of the front door opening, John let out an excited whoop.
“Daddy’s home. Daddy’s home.”
“Hey, big guy. Whatcha up to?”
“I’m helping Mom with dinner.”
“That’s my man – high five.”
Easing behind Susan, Mike wrapped his arms around his wife’s extended belly.
“I could nail you right here,” he whispered, kissing her behind her right ear.
“Right, I’d like to see you get around this,” she laughed, rubbing her belly.
“Is that a challenge?”
“Stop. You have less than a 50 percent chance of success.”
“I’ll take those odds and make you a believer,” he winked.
“Hey, Dad, look at me. I’m Speed Racer and this is my mean machine,” John shouted from the top of the cylinder-shaped vacuum.
“You sure you want another one?” Susan quipped.
“Too late to send him back,” he smiled.
Great slice of life, Cathy!
Thanks, Margaret.
I have to come back tomorrow and catch up on my reading.
That’s your longest. “I could nail you right here,” (nothing personal) I never dreamed that “nail,” was going to be used for that. Down to earth language. Sounds like me and the boys in old Southeast. D.C.
Nice
@A-
P.S.-I like to do something light after my Death & the Detective series (like previous entry #67). All I can say is I was glad I picked #67 for the Death series because I don’t know how the heck I would have used these 10 in death!
Love the easy give and take family feel of this. You “nailed” it!
@Dee-thanks-hope to see you back often!
@Cathy: What a super, fun, neat read! Fantastic description of events from all three viewpoints. The ding-a-ling, belly button part made me laugh out loud.
So totally real, and we have no trouble picturing this little scene in our minds. Great!
This is my first visit – I hope anyone can play. This was tricky but fun
Roz heard the irritating little ding-a-ling from upstairs. She sighed and glanced at her digital watch. It had to be the twentieth time today and it wasn’t noon yet. She still needed to vacuum and that old iceberg upstairs would want her lunch at exactly twelve-thirty, not one minute after or she would be ringing that blasted bell. She smoothed her pink nylon uniform and straightened the prissy little lace cap. It seemed to represent this entire house. Silly little useless things covered every surface and served no purpose other than to catch dust.
“Coming” Roz called as she trudged up the stairs. She started to chew on a nail and then remembered how Miss Alice lectured her the last time she noticed her nail polish was chipped. She could still hear that whiny high pitched voice. “If you are going to wear that atrocious color at least refrain from chewing your nails. Show some self control!” Every line punctuated by her little kangaroo arms waving bird like claws. Wouldn’t she have a fit if she knew about the bellybutton ring. The thought made Roz smile for a minute. She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Yes, Miss Alice?”
“Have you started lunch yet? You know I like my meals on time, and could you fluff my pillows please? Her little wrinkled nostrils flared and contracted as she tried to suck in enough air.
“Yes ma’am. I made some guacamole and salad. It is chilling and I will bring your tray at the regular time.” Roz held her bony shoulders up and fluffed the pillows though the skinny little thing barely made a dent. Ros smoothed the lace bed jacket and straightened the bow.
“Well, see that you are one hundred percent on time! Did you finish the downstairs yet?” Her baby bird neck vibrated as she spoke.
“No ma’am. I was just getting ready to vacuum.” Roz pushed her hair back.
“You are lazy. I won’t tolerate incompetence. You know there are other girls out there who need employment, and fix these pillows!”
“Certainly Miss Alice.” Roz reached for the pillow and with speed she didn’t know she possessed, crammed the pillow down over the old woman’s face. It didn’t take much strength or time before everything was silent and peaceful. Roz went downstairs and plugged in the vacuum cleaner. She hummed as she worked.
@HOLY, BLEEPITY BLEEP, DEE! Fantastic write and a fantastic ending.
Welcome to the CCC. I KNOW people are going to love you here. Well done.
I’ll add your name and URL to the CCC Community Links page now. Sorry for the delay. This week has been a terrible week for me. I’m behind on my comments.
@Dee-Welcome to CCC!
More fun than a tickle to the bellybutton, CCC is a a delight waiting to happen. With the digital dexterity of a Word Magician, CCC conjures up a place to share your prose.
Each week you’ll hear the ding-a-ling of the next challenge of words calling you to play. Get out the guacamole and chips, and crack out the iceburg-cold margaritas. It’s time to get this party started.
So kangaroo-hop on over and nail us with your best shot. At CCC, we 100 percent guarantee you will never regret the speed of this roller coaster ride. Unseal the vacuum of your innermost thoughts and welcome to the greatest show on earth.
Welcome to CCC!
Thanks Cathy – great welcome using the prompts!
Thanks for the awesome welcome Shane! I may be a bit scarce the next few weeks as the new school year begins but as things settle into a routine I hope to become a regular. I love a good challenge!
OOOH, DARK!! Loved it, Dee…very descriptive and visual. great write. Welcome to our little coven!
Thank you – as the school year progresses I will feel the need to murder off characters on a regular basis – hopefully the prompt words will give me ideas for who and how!
That is a brilliant debut!
Looking forward to more of your stuff, and may you get as addicted as everyone else.
@A-thanks-yeah, it just kept on going- we like “earthy”
programming note:
I just did a marathon of comment catch up. This past week has been hell. I do believe I’ve caught up, but if I missed anything (or didn’t add something to a series page of yours) let me know.
GUAC-A-ROO
The kangaroo in the guacamole was really too much.
The ding-a-ling who put together the twins’ birthday party had no idea of the speed with which 7-year-olds can take apart plans that are too tightly wound. And this guy’s plans were tightly wound. Perfect for his sister-in-law’s wedding, but Joe realized now that taking referrals from a woman whose idea of loosening up would make an iceberg seem warm and fuzzy was wrong, wrong.
First one of the little monsters his kids had invited found a nail in the backyard and punctured the bouncy-house. Zzzzzzpfft. Hope at least a percentage of that was covered in the damage rider he got for the day. That damage rider was going to be stretched pretty thin.
Cake was found in the bellybutton of someone’s little brother, sleeping in a stroller by the snack table. Joe’s pleas for “our best party manners, children” went ignored… or maybe mocked. He couldn’t be sure.
The pony ride was a success, if only because the woman who took the kids around the yard was too scary-looking to mess with. Joe was wishing he was a bit more frightening, himself, when even the twins were taking digital pictures of each other’s butts on his cell phone (mercifully still in their Gap overalls… but what will teenage be like?) and sending them to horrified aunts who were wise enough not to accept the invite to the party. Now he knew why his wife had to spend a rare Saturday at the office on no notice. Too bad he was the work-at-home parent, nobody would believe he got called in.
The tent where the party games were set up, came down… courtesy of several of the little dears deciding that one game was to race up the tent poles and hang from the ropes that held the roof on. Though one kid was so filthy a vacuum couldn’t have helped after they were all trapped in the dirt under that tent, laughing and scrambling about, no one was injured.
Joe desperately wished the punch was spiked.
He headed over to the snack table, to get a glass of said punch, and discovered that the huge bowl of guacamole they’d set out for the kids’ chips earlier was missing. Who makes off with a bowl of mushy avocados?
Kids who want to see if the bowl’s big enough to fit the kangaroo’s foot do.
The poor animal, brought in for petting and intended to be watched over by Joe’s frazzled and everywhere-yet-nowhere-at-once party planner, was squelching about making green footprints on their front lawn when Joe found him, inches from the shattered bowl, with 10 four-foot tall dynamos around him planning their next moves.
Joe’s next move was to start calling parents. And his sister-in-law. And his dad.
“Nothing, Dad, I just called to talk…”
To talk about anything but the twins’ birthday party.
@Kelly: Man, that made me feel good about things at my house. Well done. Loved that write.
Shane – When kangaroos and guacmole meet, something’s bound to go strange. I had so much fun with these words!