Well Wishes from a Prompt
()
About this ebook
Are you struggling to capture the attention of your readers? Have you browsed hundreds of books and still are unable to find the balance between showing and telling? If this sounds familiar, Well Wishes from a Prompt is the book you need—in a format you have not encountered. A mixture of education, entertainment, and thought-provoking questions, you will learn to write better while sitting back and enjoying short stories from a variety of genres.
Ashleigh Bonner
Deon Ashleigh (formerly Ashleigh Bonner) is a professional book editor and writer, avid reader, educational video game developer, and nerd.She loves to write sci-fi and dabbles in romance novels. She's friendly, has a quirky humor, and loves writing prompts.Chat with her on Twitter at twitter.com/editorashbonner.Here are links to leave reviews:GoodreadsWell Wishes from a Prompt: https://tinyurl.com/WellWishesFromAPromptThe Price of a Beating Heart: https://tinyurl.com/PriceOfABeatingHeartAmazonWell Wishes from a Prompt: https://www.amzn.com/B077W2T417The Price of a Beating Heart: https://www.amzn.com/B09L6GJNWDThank you for reading, sharing, and reviewing!
Related to Well Wishes from a Prompt
Related ebooks
Looking Glass Bullet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQueen Of Secrets: God Save The Beauty Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlayke: Chosen By Destiny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSorrow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Perfect Life: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Curves Around Campus: Flings to Rings, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEenie, Meanie, Minie, No! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsValentine Frenzy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Meaning of Birds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kissing Midnight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFragile Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnnabelle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTime to Say Goodbye Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDowsing through the Dark: Sometimes, the More Answers Sought, the More Questions Raised Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Theory of Dreams Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCafe of Villainy - Chapter Two: Non-human Series, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Kwerekwere Saga, Vol. 1: Kwerekwere Saga, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFluidity: An Other Worldy LGBTQ+ Fantasy Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDrawing The Line Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMind Donor: A mind bending psychological thriller about regression hypnosis, a love relationship and alternate reality. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVampire Girl: Vampire Girl, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Telescope Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Forever is Mine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evanescent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Unexpected Turn: That's A Trope, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaying it Bare with an Ex-Con (Laying it Bare Series Book 2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove Thy Neighbor Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Awake: Awake Series, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lupie Warrior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoul Stone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Composition & Creative Writing For You
The Emotion Thesaurus (Second Edition): A Writer's Guide to Character Expression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Creative Journal: The Art of Finding Yourself: 35th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Writing to Learn: How to Write - and Think - Clearly About Any Subject at All Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Exercises Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE EMOTIONAL WOUND THESAURUS: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels: How to Write Kissing Books, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better Grammar in 30 Minutes a Day Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style: The Original Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot Whisperer Book of Writing Prompts: Easy Exercises to Get You Writing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Writing Poetry Book: A Practical Guide To Style, Structure, Form, And Expression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Write Useful Books: A modern approach to designing and refining recommendable nonfiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Take Off Your Pants! Outline Your Books for Faster, Better Writing (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing to Wake the Soul: Opening the Sacred Conversation Within Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rewrite Your Life: Discover Your Truth through the Healing Power of Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Letters to a Young Poet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Writing Series You'll Ever Need - Grant Writing: A Complete Resource for Proposal Writers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Writer's Diary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Power of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Well Wishes from a Prompt
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Well Wishes from a Prompt - Ashleigh Bonner
Thank you for choosing this collection of stories created from writing prompts. The genres range from romance to tragedy and are connected through the themes of mortality and the bittersweet journey.
With writing tips, discussion questions to stimulate thoughtful discourse, and dynamic characters, this book was crafted to give you an edutainment experience that will inspire you to tell your once-in-a-lifetime story.
If you discover any errors, email me at ashanauthor@gmail.com. I’d love to fix them.
Finally, please share and leave reviews.
DEDICATION
To Mom:
Your love gave me the words.
Your sacrifice gave me the courage.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
To My Readers
Dedication
1 • Kendra’s Sun
2 • Forever Never
3 • From Dead Men
If you’re thinking about suicide…
4 • An Unusual Smoke
5 • Counting Cars
6 • Death And His Sister
7 • The Elected
8 • Gloria After Jack
9 • And Down Will Come
Where To Find Writing Prompts
Acknowledgments
About The Author
1 • Kendra’s Sun
Last night, the Sun didn’t set. It fell.
I don’t watch the news, so I knew nothing about it until 4:17 a.m. the next morning.
I would have had a clue at 3:45 because my older sister understands the sun, its predictability and sometimes, its unpredictability, but I told her many years ago to wake me at twilight, not at nautical twilight, and definitely not at astronomical twilight.
Sister,
she says, from Frostburg, Maryland, through the phone lines that strip away our miles.
Sister, it is June 26, 2015. It is 5:17 a.m. and ten seconds, my time, and 4:17 a.m. and ten seconds, your time. Twilight was set to occur at 5:17 a.m. and zero seconds, my time. I have been watching outside my window, and twilight did not come at 5:17 a.m. and zero seconds. I am waiting. It is late.
She sucks in a huge breath, and I laugh.
She’s been obsessed with the sun since she was young.
Good morning, Sister. It’s OK, sometimes the sun sleeps in.
She insists that we call each other Sister
because a name can change, but being related does not change.
I agree, but every day her name is harder and harder for me to recall. Even though her attendants repeat it every time I’m on the phone with her, her name fades from my mind almost immediately. I wanted to forget her name when I was young, but now I have no control over its misplacement.
The forgetting began when I understood that she would be different all of her — and my — life. As a child, I believed that if I misplaced her name I could misplace her. I could lose her, and when I found her she would be the same as me. I would take down everything with her name on it, and scrub my mind of all the letters. But, the letters always came back.
All six of them.
She takes another breath, softly, then says:
Good morning, I do not want the sun to sleep in, it should be awake. I do not think this is a good morning. What time did the sun go to bed in Disney? May I greet you again?
Yeah, greet me again.
I flip the switch on the old lamp next to my bed slowly, so it crackles; she likes the crackling noise. And then open my messy calendar and put the pen behind my ear. I’ve marked tiny numbers in each date charting the rising and falling of the sun.
Possibly bad morning, Sister,
she says, in her monotone voice.
Possibly bad morning, to you,
I answer, squinting at the blurry writing on my notebook. I reach over and put my glasses on. Even though we talk every morning and night I always forget them.
When we were kids her flat voice used to grate on my nerves because I could never tell if she was happy, sad, or getting angry. But, as the years have gone on, I’ve learned to look at her behavior to understand her emotions.
At the top of my calendar reads Disney, Oklahoma — Land of no Disneyland.
The sun went to bed at 8:46 p.m., June 25, 2015, in Disney. Four minutes late, Sister.
I say.
How many seconds?
I forgot to look. I contemplate making up a number, but she’ll know I’m lying.
Don’t know.
I blow into my hands to warm them, then wipe hard crust from my eye. Why is it so cold in here?
You should have checked. I will wait two more minutes,
she sighs and goes quiet, leaving me feeling a little guilty. Her roommate's snoring, the attendant’s sleep-deprived steps dragging across the hallway, and the guard outside of her door who clicks his pen when he’s bored, and when he isn’t bored, so you never know how he’s feeling, is a constant reminder of our differences.
My sister's watched, most of the day, but the guard won’t move until she, or her roommate, try to leave the room.
My bedroom is papered with charts and graphs of the sun’s rising and setting that she handwrote. Some letters are large, some are small, and others are backward, but I laminated all of them because I know she spent hours making them legible.
I wipe the cold sweat from my forehead. It’s too damn early to discuss a sun that set 7 hours and 31 minutes ago, my time, even if I do have a few days off of work. I run to the small kitchen and make a cup of coffee, wisely deciding on instant instead of brewed, as the seconds when she’ll be back tick down faster than I anticipated. Just in time, I make it back to the phone.
Sister, the sun is still not awake. It will never wake up,
she says.
The coffee is strong and light with tons of cream. I breathe in the liquid energy and feel my lungs perk up.
It will, don’t worry.
It will not, it will not.
The panic in her voice sounds like she’s stepping on seashells. The plastic of the phone squeaks a little as she grips it tight.
"It will."
Look for the moon, Sister.
I go to my window and glance out. The sky is dark. No moon, no stars, nothing. There should be a little less than half a moon. I know this because the sun powers the moon’s light, and that’s important. Well, at least to my sister. A moment of dread makes me shiver. It is very dark out.
I shake off the paranoia. Nothing’s wrong. Don’t be… I stop the thought but it slips through anyway. Strange. Don’t be strange.
My sister is… strange. Her voice screeches from the phone, and echoes in my room, and, a little after that, her roommate jumps up and runs to a corner. This is how things work in my sister’s world.
Kendra, dear. What’s wrong?
Angela, her favorite attendant says.
I write Kendra on the back of my hand. It sounds right.
The sun is dead. I want my laces, I want my laces, I need to go, my shoes will not stay with me as they are!
Remember when you had your laces, you kept tripping on them. That’s why we got the Velcro.
I go back to the phone, take a large swallow, and feel my taste buds die as the coffee scorches them. Damn it!
I want my laces, my shoes will not—