Fire and Ice ~ August AW Blog Chain

Time for the August AW Blog Chain. This month's prompt is Fire & Ice. As usual, the post can be fiction or non-fiction. For those of you unfamiliar with the chain, please read my fictional post and then take a look at what the other participants had to say. The links are listed below. Thanks!


Pain shot through her fingers as she gripped the door handle.  She let go, thankful her hands weren’t numb yet.  She rubbed them together.  Maybe there was no use trying to get out.  Even if she wanted, she’d never be able to open the door.  The freak storm which had left behind several inches of ice had her trapped.  The room she now occupied was a mere four degrees warmer than outside.  She’d never experienced such an extreme cold.  But she didn’t really mind.  The rage that burned within her was enough.  For now.

She could no longer walk, so she crawled across the floor in search of anything she could use to break a window and the layer of ice which covered it.  If she survived, her feet would be amputated because of frostbite.  Perhaps her hands would be, too.  It wouldn’t be long before she could no longer use them.  Still, she was determined.

Finally, she located a hammer and eased her way back to the window.  Her first swing barely cracked the glass.  Gritting her teeth against the pain and the cold, she swung again.  And again.  And again.  But her arms soon gave out; the ice was thicker than she thought.  Slumping against the door, she imagined him lying on the ground somewhere.  Was he suffering worse than she? She hoped so as she gasped for one more breath.  He deserved no less for leaving her to die.



Now, check out the following:
orion_mk3
Ralph Pines
areteus
Catherine Hall
bmadsen
pyrosama
meowzbark
BBBurke
writingismypassion (YOU ARE HERE)
wonderactivist
SuzanneSeese
randi.lee
Proach
BigWords

May's Absolute Write Blog Chain ~ Zombie Apocalypse

New month, new theme! During the month of May, Absolute Write's Bloggers are taking on the Zombie Apocalypse.  Check out my post below, and let me know what you think.  Then take a look at the other creative slayings.  Thanks!

****

He peered out the window one more time before returning to his choices.  There weren't many.  The serrated knife with the curved blade could slice any human but wouldn't stop even the least vicious corpse.  Unless he had the time to cut away the decaying flesh piece by piece.  But that would take too long; there would be no time for that.  Same for the machete.  He needed something else, something...well, what would be deadly against a zombie? Zombies were already dead. 

Something pounded on the door, drawing his attention.  It wouldn't be long now.  Soon the door would give way to the insatiable creatures waiting outside.  He longed for a better weapon.  But he wasn't locked inside his arsenal at home and only had the few items he'd been able to carry when he fled the house.  He should have grabbed his shotgun at least, but she'd been too close.  She.  The girl he loved and had hoped to settle down with.  Get your act together! he told himself as the pounding intensified.  No use thinking about her when he was facing his own death.  Or undeath.

The door finally broke, allowing the infected brain eaters entry to the room.  He'd be cornered soon.  What kind of idiot locks himself in a room with only one door anyway? There was no time to point a finger at himself.  He reached for the baseball bat and locked his eyes on the zombie leading the charge.  The bat wouldn't help him win the battle, he knew.  Resigned to die fighting, he swung the bat, making contact with the first creature's head. 

"Sorry, babe."

****

Hope you enjoyed it! Now please check out the following:

dclary
orion_mk3
randi.lee
Ralph Pines
writingismypassion (you're here; remaining links will be posted as they become available)
dclary
SinisterCola
PragmaticPimp
magicmint
SuzanneSeese
J. W. Alden
AFord
Diana_Rajchel
pyrosama
areteus
Nissie
MonkeyQueen
pangalactic
Penelope
kimberlycreates

Writing and the Imagination

I woke up this morning not fully myself; part of me was still participating in the dream I woke up from.  The dream lingered in my mind for quite some time, which isn't at all unusual.  I have always been a vivid dreamer with the ability to recall the slightest details.  In fact, I've always wanted to keep a dream journal.  But I think that's a lost cause for me.  They just take too long to write due to the amount of detail.  As I was considering the dream this morning, I began thinking about the imagination and writing.  I rarely dream about things that are going on in my life or about people I know.  And although I am aware of all the dream studies that have been done and how much information there is that suggests our dreams reflect our sub-conscious mind, for the most part I think my dreams are a figment of my imagination, except on the rare occasion when I can connect the dots and see why I dreamed about a particular thing/person/etc.  And this makes me wonder about the writing abilities of people with highly active imaginations. 

For me, I believe creating a story has a lot to do with my imagination.  What usually happens is I get an idea for a story, and the majority of it just takes shape.  I don't have to think about what the characters to look like.  I see them in my mind first and then write them down.  I don't wonder too much what the characters are going to do; their "lives" play out in my mind without much thought from me.  Now making all the pieces fit isn't necessarily easy just as figuring out how to word it all isn't.  In other words, the writing part isn't a piece of cake, but the story itself comes to life on its own.  I've never had a problem "picturing" a scene, that's for sure.  All this makes me wonder about the correlation between writing and the imagination. 

Now all that being said, I do not think a person has to have a great imagination to produce a great story.  My opinion is that some people have no trouble at all with the creative or technical aspect of writing; some people struggle with all of it.  And more than likely, the majority falls somewhere in between the spectrum.  I'm curious what everyone else thinks.  Feel free to leave a comment, and thanks in advance.