I sit quietly and think of revenge.
The revenge I took against you for betraying me.
The revenge you then took against me.
There is more to come. I can feel it. My mind is already musing over the possibilities.
This is a dark cycle we are in. We are forces of destruction, you and I. Powerful creatures, bent on reducing our world to ruins.
Human no longer, but spirits of vengeance.
Written for: Weekend Writing Prompt #287 – Revenge | Word count: 72
For the third year I’m hosting 13 Days of Samhain, a Horror / Halloween writing prompt challenge. I’ve enjoyed it the past two years and I hope those who have joined it with it have too! (For those interested, you can find the previous years’ prompts here and here).
So, without further ado, here are the 13 prompts for 2022, with the first prompt beginning tomorrow, 20th October, and the last prompt, Day 13, falling on November 1st:
If you do decide to join in, I hope you have lots and lots of fun. Write whatever you wish, as long as it is inspired by that day’s prompt. Here’s a little graphic / badge for anyone who wants it:
For the first year, I wrote a tanka in response to each prompt. Last year I wrote the serial story Damon the Demon, which I enjoyed so much and have begun turning it into a novella. For this year, I plan to write another Damon the Demon story, though I plan to cap my daily efforts to around 500-600 words max…I don’t want to tire myself out before NaNoWriMo starts next month!
I’m a little late sharing this year’s Samhain writing prompts but after the fun of last year I thought it was a chance I couldn’t pass up. (For those interested, you can find last year’s prompts here).
So, without further ado, here are the 13 prompts for 2021, with the first prompt beginning tomorrow, 20th October, and the last prompt, Day 13, falling on November 1st:
If you do decide to join in, I hope you have lots and lots of fun. Write whatever you wish, as long as it is inspired by that day’s prompt. Here’s a little graphic / badge for anyone who wants it:
For last year’s challenge, I wrote a tanka in response to each prompt. For this year…I’m still undecided as to what I will write. We shall have to wait and see what tomorrow brings 😀
Up, up, up…the steps narrowly cut into the hillside were never ending. Higher and higher we climbed, my breaths coming in ever deeper gasps. From the bottom, the hill looked like any other. So why hadn’t we reached the top yet?
‘Aren’t we there yet, master?’ I uttered, pausing a moment to catch my breath.
I hated how childlike I had sounded, but I needed to ask because I couldn’t grasp what was taking us so long. I was expected at the hilltop temple for my final test before I could ascend to the next level of my training. Being late would give the impression I didn’t care. It wouldn’t look good at all.
Before my master could answer, I carefully turned about so I could see how far we had come. I scratched my head. How…?
We had been climbing for an hour, of that I was sure. But we were only ten steps from where we had started.
‘I don’t understand…’ I mumbled.
‘The lesson is a simple one,’ my master said quietly behind me.
I turned to face him. He was ancient, with a long grey beard, braided down to his waist. I noticed, feeling terribly annoyed, that there wasn’t a single bead of sweat on his forehead and his breath was as steady as if he had just woken from sleep.
I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes, clearing my mind as I had been taught to do. It didn’t take more than a few heartbeats for realisation to dawn.
‘This is the test,’ I said aloud.
‘Good. Now tell me what the lesson is.’
‘Rushing won’t get me to the top of the hill. I will get there only when I am ready. When I have understood the lesson.’
‘And the lesson is…?’ My master prompted.
‘Patience.’
‘Good,’ he said again. ‘Now shall we see how you have faired?’ He turned about and began climbing the hill once more.
With a lighter heart and even lighter tread, I followed.
Written for: Crimson’s Creative Challenge #128 from 21 April 2021. At 320 words I’m quite a way over the 150 word limit, so apologies for that…
The cavalier wasn’t laughing. His wig was all askew as he drew his sword and charged at the intruder. How dare anyone enter his home without his leave? He seethed, he raged, at their audacity.
‘Name yourself!’ he cried. ‘State your business!’
No answer.
‘Who sent you?’
Waving the point of his blade menacingly, he charged at the figure, before passing through the wall.
This post was first shared on this site in July 2020. You can find the original post here.
You’ll find her words
Hidden in the shades
Of nature’s colour wheel
In the nuances of the season
In the cracks between
Air, fire, water and earth
And here they wait patiently
At rainbow’s end
To be discovered
This was first shared on this site in July 2020. You can find the original post here.
Another geography poem 😉
Here at the margins
Where two plates meet
Nature’s crucible
Works her magic
A battle is fought
Jagged and jarring
Building in power
Until the earth shakes
Yet occasionally the clash
Is less of a dash and more of a charge
Mountains forming, pushing, heaving upwards
Neither one relenting, in a reach for the sky
But sometimes the direction is downwards, not up
Where power unseen stirs the cauldron of transformation
One plate giving way to the other
And destruction is only the next step on the path
To creation, formation, construction, generation
Written for Weekend Writing Prompt #190 – Marginal in 31 words (I used “margins”), and Weekend Writing Prompt #191 – Crucible in 100 | Word Count: 96 – because this was written for two separate prompts, my aim was to simply write under the most generous word limit of the two.
I wrote 14,005 words in Week 4, or rather between 22 – 30 November, bringing my total for the month up to 50,053. This week’s numbers were divided amongst the following projects because, as I stated here, I am a NaNo Rebel (again) this year:
So that’s a quick review of my final week. Over all, I’m pleased with the numbers and progress made across the two projects I worked on, and it has helped set my focus for the coming month’s writing.
My December goals:
If you joined in, how did you get on? What are your writing goals for December? Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to message me over on the NaNoWriMo site if you’d prefer! You can find me by searching for my username: Sammi Cox.
Happy writing!
Sammi x
Week 3 of my NaNoWriMo efforts saw me write fewer words than last week, but a quick glance over them showed the quality was fairly impressive (for a first draft), so in terms of long term writing goals, I’ll lose fewer of them to editing. Sounds like a win to me! 🙂
I wrote 11,472 words in Week 3, bringing my total for the month up to 36,048. This week’s numbers were divided amongst the following projects because, as I stated here, I am a NaNo Rebel (again) this year:
So that’s a quick review of my third week. If you joined in, how are you getting on? Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to message me over on the NaNoWriMo site if you’d prefer! You can find me by searching for my username: Sammi Cox.
Wishing everyone who’s participating lots of good luck and best wishes for Week 4!
Sammi x
Week 2 of my NaNoWriMo efforts surpassed my expectations, which is always nice 😉
I wrote 12,794 words in Week 2, bringing my total for the month up to 24,576. This week’s numbers were divided amongst the following projects because, as I stated here, I am a NaNo Rebel (again) this year:
So that’s a quick review of my second week. If you joined in, how are you getting on? Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to message me over on the NaNoWriMo site if you’d prefer!
Wishing everyone who’s participating lots of good luck and best wishes for Week 3!
Sammi x
Sammi Cox 