Jane strode into her grandmother’s bedroom, her steps echoing her determination. The rumor was that she had kept a diary, and Jane was determined to find it. She had many questions about the family that needed answering since her friends were asking her about her grandmother’s life. Jane had been complaining about never meeting her grandmother, and they fired up her enthusiasm to learn more about her. Her mother refused to talk about her. She said they weren’t on great terms at the end of her grandmother’s life, and she didn’t want to talk about it, and it wasn’t any of Jane’s business.
Jane couldn’t understand why her mother was so secretive, but one day, her mother slipped and told her that her grandmother was always writing in a diary. Jane made it her quest to find the diary if possible. She hoped to learn more about her somehow.
She looked under the pillow, which was a very obvious place to hide a diary. Everyone would look there first. Of course, it wasn’t there.
She then tried under the mattress, and again, no sign of a diary. Now, in the dim light, a shadow of doubt crept in. Where would she hide it if not in the places everyone thinks to look first? She looked around the room again.
As she scanned the room, she saw a jewelry box perched on top of a chest of drawers. Intrigued, she made her way to it and lifted the lid. Among the glimmering jewels, her fingers brushed against something flat and leathery. She pulled out a small book. The book that would soon change her understanding of her past, she hoped.
Upon opening the book, she found what looked to be cursive writing in a long flowing script. This had to be the elusive diary.
She took the book to the lounge and settled down to read it. Her grandmother had died not long after her 5th birthday, so they never had a relationship, and she always felt sorry for herself when her friends would talk about their grandparents.
Maybe this book would tell her something that would answer some of her questions, but if her grandmother had been writing in a diary all her life, she would have many of these books lying around. Perhaps in the attic, Jane thought. And who knew which book would contain the information she sought?
On page one, she saw the book’s starting date—the year she died. This must be the last one she kept. She scanned the entries quickly and found they abruptly stopped the day before her death.
She went to page one and began to read. Her grandmother talked about the estrangement between her mother and herself. She wanted a relationship with her daughter, but her daughter, Jane’s mother, refused to allow her into her life. Her grandmother seemed to have overstepped her bounds and tried to tell her daughter how to raise her child, and that was unforgivable, according to Jane’s mother. She knew what was best for her child.
She mentioned several confrontations between the two and then the day her mother told her mother to butt out of her life, and if she didn’t stop it, she would make her find another place to stay. Jane couldn’t imagine being estranged from her mother for any reason.
Her grandmother mentioned that the friends she grew up with had started to come around, and they were talking about where they had all grown up in a local orphanage. Jane was surprised to find out that her grandmother had been an orphan. She wondered if her mother knew about it. Maybe she would have felt differently if she had known her mother had been an orphan. Obviously, her grandmother didn’t want anyone to know, and these friends pressed her to tell others about her life in the orphanage. The pressure from these women must have brought on her anxiety that had sprung up during the days before the car accident that took her life.
Jane hopped up from the lounge, clutching the book, and went searching for her mother. She found her in the kitchen making dinner.
“Mom, I found grandmother’s diary, which says she grew up in an orphanage. Did you know this? That must have been horrible for her.”
“What are you talking about, Jane? My mother had a family. She never mentioned being in an orphanage. Although I never did meet her parents, who would have been my grandparents. Maybe she did grow up in an orphanage. Oh I had been so horrible to her. I never should have forced her to stay away from you. I thought she was just a busybody who didn’t think I knew how to raise a child on my own and here she had no one to help her. I can’t even ask her for forgiveness now. What have I done?”
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Write a Hermit Crab story – that is a story which is told in another form. Write a story about a character who has just received some unexpectedly good news.
Susie stared unbelievingly at the small stick in her hand. She wasn’t completely shocked at the results because, let’s face it, the symptoms were all there. She felt her breakfast begin to rise in her throat, and she ran to the bathroom just in time. She vomited her breakfast as she did each and every morning.
After cleaning herself up, she returned to the small stick and decided to do another test. She had been trying to get pregnant again for years, and she simply couldn’t believe she might finally be pregnant with her second child. She definitely felt pregnant; she remembered the horrible morning sickness from before. She quit eating breakfast for months until the morning sickness had finally stopped. Thankfully, it was only three months out of her life.
The pregnancy test came with two tests. She opened the second test, repeated the steps, and ended by peeing on the stick. She anxiously waited for the result. The second test also showed up positive.
She was very excited and called her husband at work and told him. She couldn’t wait for him to come home. He was surprised but happy. He knew this meant a lot to Susie, and he was ready for a new baby as well.
Next on her list to call was her mother. She knew her mother would be happy to be a new grandmother again. This would be her second grandchild, as her siblings hadn’t started having children yet. She concluded the conversation and ended up running to the bathroom yet again to vomit. This was her least favorite part of being pregnant.
After cleaning herself up, she ate some crackers in an effort to stop the morning sickness. She prepared herself to call her doctor to make an appointment. She knew he would have to verify the test results, but she was fairly confident now that she was indeed pregnant.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Liz stared at the screen of her lap top. The sounds of the coffee shop faded out of her consiousness as she chewed on the nail of her right thumb. She chewed her nails when she was nervous.
She had just put “The End” on the last page of her memoir, but she now faced the decision on whether to publish it or not. Her life, had been everything, but happy and she didn’t want her family to know her true feelings on how she felt about them and what had transpired throughout her lifetime.
She never felt close to any of them and she had no one she really felt she could talk to about her feelings. This memoir would tell it like it was, no holds barred. Was she ready for someone to see it and confront her about how she felt and would they be upset with her airing her feelings for the world to see. Some of them would definitely be embarrassed to see it in writing.
Writing it had been cathartic and she definitely felt better to have expressed it all in words, but was she ready to face them? She didn’t feel she had a need to apologize to them because she had been the one who had gotten hurt, but they pretended that all was well within the family and if she published it, everyone would see things as she saw them all these years and not the pretty picture they liked to paint for their family and friends to see.
The longer she sat there, the more she worried about publishing it. She had full intentions of publishing it when she had started writing it. Now, she simply wasn’t sure.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Write a story that starts when your character enters a new environment with a plan to achieve something that matters to them…and immediately faces an obstacle.
When you have finished writing, go back and put a new opening on your story.
Maddie entered the crowded classroom. There wasn’t an empty seat. She looked around, wondering what she was supposed to do. She dropped the knapsack with her textbooks on the ground at her feet as it was too heavy to hold for long.
Despite the lack of available seats, Maddie’s determination didn’t waver. She had chosen the earliest class, hoping it would be less crowded than the later ones, typically filled with people who had day jobs and couldn’t attend a morning class.
She spied a desk in the corner and noticed a chair behind it. She grabbed the chair and placed it next to the other students.
When the teacher entered and headed to the desk, she noticed the chair was gone. “Where is my seat?” she exclaimed in an aggravated tone. “I need my chair back.”
Maddie raised her hand and said,” I’m sorry. I have your chair as there wasn’t an empty seat available for me.”
“Who are you,” she asked, taking out the list of students in the class.
“Maddie Collins,” she replied, wondering what the teacher was going to do.
“Well, Maddie Collins, you don’t have a seat because you are not on the list of students for this class. Please let me see your schedule.”
Maddie stood up and walked over to the teacher and handed her the schedule the office had provided to her. She didn’t bother to look at the schedule herself since she was sure she was in the right place.
“Well, Maddie, it seems you should be in classroom 403 and not 408. You are in the wrong classroom. Please bring the chair back to my desk and get yourself over to the right classroom where I am sure they have a seat waiting for you. Next time, check your schedule carefully.”
Mortified, Maddie stood up, moved the chair back to the desk, grabbed her knapsack, and left the room.
When she arrived at room 408, she found the class had already started. She entered, and the teacher said, “You are late. I don’t tolerate lateness in my classroom.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie said, taking the empty seat. I was in the wrong classroom just now.”
“OK, but don’t let it happen again. If you are late again, I will mark you absent, and the day won’t count, and I won’t accept your homework as completed.”
Maddie couldn’t believe how terribly she was being treated for a few minutes of tardiness. She took out her textbook and opened it to the page the teacher had written on the board. She wanted to cry, but she was sure the teacher would also have a complaint about that.
Maddie finished reading the section of text and then picked up the sheet of questions the teacher had placed on her desk. The questions were due at the next scheduled class. She shoved the book and sheet of questions into her knapsack and prepared to leave for her next class.
“Remember, the class starts promptly at 8 PM,” the teacher told her as she walked past her to leave.
“Yes, thank you. I will be here on time for the next class,” Maddie said quietly, although she wanted to shout at the teacher.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Write a story that starts with your character in one place. Then they go through a series of events or experiences that leads them to a moment where everything changes for them.
Then let us follow them back through a series of events that mirror those that happened before, and show us how the world looks different to the character now.
Valerie looked forward to her last day of high school. She would be an adult now, and no one could tell her what to do or when to do it. This is going to be great, she thought. I will stay out all night if I want to, sleep all day, and forget about studying. She didn’t plan on attending college and successfully convinced her parents that she would sign up for the county college, although she had no plans to attend it.
“Get up, Valerie, and get dressed,” her mother said from the doorway.
“I am an adult now, and you can’t tell me what to do. I intend to party every night, come home late, and sleep all day.”
“Valerie, I have news for you. As long as you live under my roof, you will follow my rules. You get up, get dressed, and start looking for a job. You will work this summer before you go to college in the fall. You will pay some rent for this room until the fall college starts.”
“What do you mean I have to get a job. I am not following your rules because I am an adult now.”
“OK Valerie, suit yourself. Pack your things up and move out. My house, my rules.”
“Fine, I will find my own apartment and then you can’t tell me what to do.”
“What do you intend to pay for this apartment with, not to mention food and clothes, utilities like electricity and heat, etc.”
“What do you mean pay for all those things?”
“You seriously don’t think they are free now, do you?”
“But all of my friends are moving out, and the ones who stay with their parents don’t have to pay to live there or follow their rules.”
“I don’t care what your friends are doing. We can’t afford to support you forever. While you are in college, we will pay your expenses so you don’t have to work and can study in your downtime away from classes.”
“Move or get a job. Those are your choices.”
Valerie started to get up and headed to the shower. Once dressed, she went to her computer and looked up a job website. She started to peruse the list of openings, but nothing appealed to her. She tried another site. Again, she didn’t find anything she wanted to apply for. She was stumped.” She finally decided to head the industrial park and go to every one of the factories that were there. Hopefully, some of them were hiring.
She was tired and planned to hit the local Mall tomorrow. Those stores always had help-wanted signs in the windows.
She headed home for the day. Upon arrival, she went to her room and got the applications for the local college. “Mom, can you help me with these applications for the fall college session? I want to go to college. I can see now that being an adult would be much easier with a career to support me. I want to live here with you and will get a job as soon as possible and go to work so I can pay the rent.”
“I am happy to hear that, Valerie. You only have to pay rent if you aren’t working and going to school. As long as you apply to college and get a job, we will be happy to let you live here, just like you have throughout high school.”
Mom and daughter hugged and then settled down to fill out the applications. Valerie was starting to get excited as she looked at the college’s programs.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Write a story about a character who is engaged in a contest that matters very much to them. You may or may not reveal the result, at the end. Your choice.
Debbie and her best friend, Aggie, were lined up with the rest of the runners. Both of them were warming up. They had a friendly wager going as to who would win today’s marathon. They were pretty evenly matched so it is usually a toss up as to who would win.
The gun was fired, and they were off. Debbie was out in front right away, with Aggie trailing on her heels almost. They started out slow so as not to tire themselves too quickly. Aggie started to slowly pull away from Debbie. They would do this off and on the whole race.
Just then Aggie twisted her ankle and fell. Debbie was torn between stopping to help her friend and continuing the race because she wanted to win. She ran a little bit further looking back to see if Aggie got up to finish the race, but she was still down.
Debbie couldn’t do it. She had to go back and help her friend. They had always run together. The other runners made their way around the two friends. Debbie and one of the EMT’s on the side of the road helped Aggie up and placed her on the stretcher that was brought out from one of the ambulances on the side.
Since there was a possibility that she had broken her foot or ankle they thought it best to take her to the hospital for x-rays. Aggle started crying and apologizing to Debbie for making her lose her spot in the race. “I am so sorry, Debbie.”
Debbie brushed off her apology. “You are my best friend and we do this together or not at all.”
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
This is not the total prompt as stated, but it is similar to conflict.
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The nurse gave me a perfunctory nod of her head and went back to perusing the medications on her cart. It was past time for my medication and she was simply ignoring me as usual. We aren’t happy with a lot of the nurses here as they simply do not care about us or their jobs. They are simply here for a paycheck.
I remained where I was, starting at her back that was turned to me. She continued to ignore me. “I should have had my medications 2 hours ago,” I said to her.
“Look, I am the only nurse on this floor and I will get to you when I get to you and not a minute before. Go back to your room and wait. You can’t stand here.
I finally went back to my room and waited a couple of hours before she finally showed up with my medication that should have been taken hours ago.
I didn’t bother to say a word to her. It wouldn’t have made the situation any better. It would just earn me another sarcastic comment.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
The Hackers Made a Mockery of my Social Media Account, Convincing Some of my Followers That I Was the One Who Was Posting The Messages Designed to Lure Them Into a Scam and Bilking Them Out of Money, Thereby Ruining My Good Name and Making Me Lose My Reputation and My Followers
The social media company refused to take down the account even with proof that it was my account.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
I love writing prompts with a list of unrelated words. It is a challenge and one I do everyday for one of my daily prompts. This was definitely challenging with 10 words. I came up with a piece of 193 words. It could use some more work, but it is doable as is.
The Concert
By Tessa Dean
Grandmother’s pallor was paler than normal. She appeared to be in misery, much to our consternation. Her cancer had been in remission, but it seemed to be returning with a vengeance.
She had sent her entry into a contest for a local orchestra ticket that she had wanted to attend for a long time but couldn’t afford the tickets. The paper in my hand pronounced her the winner and included two tickets.
She would never forgive me if I did anything to stop her from attending that show. She didn’t understand why we were trying to prevent her from attending due to a flare-up of her cancer. We felt she needed rest and that the excitement of the concert would be too much for her to conquer. She didn’t see it that way.
The tickets were for the day’s first show, a matinee. That would be an early show rather than a late one, and she would have to be escorted by one of us. None of us were interested in that particular orchestra, but we would have to choose one of us to attend with her. This meant a lot to her.
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Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Tessa Dean - Author 