Today’s writing theme is: blue. And it will help you practice writing metaphors. Keep reading to see the full writing prompt and my completed version of it.
Today’s Writing Prompt: All I See is Blue
Today, write about something we typically associate with blue, or that is blue (e.g. the sky, ice, water, cold, sadness, freedom, etc.). But don’t use the word “blue” (or various shades of it like cerulean, cobalt, navy, sapphire, etc.) in what you write. Try to focus on using metaphors in your writing today if possible.
Completed Version of Today’s Writing Prompt
Water-Sky, by K.E. Creighton
After Jane received the call she had been dreading for months, she grabbed her favorite throw blanket and headed toward the beach mere meters from her back door.
It was a bright Wednesday with the sun directly overhead. The hues of the ocean were melding with the tones of the sky on the distant horizon. And as she continued to stare at it, Jane began to believe that if she jumped in and kept swimming, she just might be able to fly away. Maybe escape her impending new reality. A reality that hadn’t arrived yet, but would still be here much sooner than she had planned. Tomorrow.
Finally, Jane reached her favorite spot in the thick sand near a collection of boulders. She placed her blanket on the sand, sat down, and looked out over the water-sky into the distance. Her sullen mood lifted as she lost herself in daydreaming about being somewhere else far away, on the other side of her current view, anywhere other than where she would have to go in less than one sleep from now.
[All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton and Creighton’s Compositions LLC. The above work is a piece of fiction. All names and locations referred to are the product of the author’s imagination and are used entirely for fictional purposes. Any similarities to real-life persons or places are purely coincidental.]
Notes on Completing this Writing Prompt
I’ve completed a writing prompt like this before, All I See is Green (You can find what I wrote in the 150 Days of Writing Prompts Ebook). It’s one of my favorite types of writing prompts to complete because it brings your creativity to the surface. It encourages you to say what you want to say in a more creative way without saying it outright. And it encourages you to play with language until you find word arrangements that bring more vibrancy to what you want to say, making it more interesting.
It was supposed to be the best family vacation ever. My boss had decided to let my family use his mountain lodge for the holiday weekend and my wife and two sons were ecstatic. This would be our first vacation in 5 years, and with both leaving for college in two years, I felt the timing was great, and I knew the fishing and hunting were supposed to be great this time of year.
We picked up plenty of food and hunting/fishing supplies, and took the three-hour drive as a blessing. The scenery and family sing-a-longs were so fun, and we were all impressed at the terrific cabin. The rooms all had satellite TV and computers, and the family room off the kitchen had a 54″ LCD with a great gaming system. The boys dove in, and I unpacked as Sharon started dinner.
I knew some of the best hunting spots would be best near sundown, so after getting settled in and eating dinner, we grabbed our bow and arrows and headed out. The boys were hoping for some deer, but I told them that the guy I talked to in town assured me that rabbits would be in abundance. Besides, Sharon hated the idea of me killing anything like a deer.
We managed to bag 4 cottontails, and I even got a pheasant. We decided to head home, when I heard something that made my blood go cold. The unmistakable sound of a cougar! I could tell he was about 1 mile away, but we were only 500 yards from the cabin.
I took out my pistol, and told the boys to run to the cabin. It was clear that the cat smelled the rabbits and bird in my hunting bag. I could see the front door and all seemed okay. Then, out from behind a stump, the old man I talked to in town came from a crouch and took down the cat with a rifle, just as it was bearing down on the boys.
I recovered quickly, and as Sharon came out the front door, I hugged her. I shook the old man’s hand, and invited him to dinner. He accepted, and Sharon prepared the rabbits and put the pheasant in the freezer.
Dinner was delicious, and the hunter introduced himself as Pete. Apparently, he ran a hunting lodge in town, and it was for members only. He spent all of dinner entertaining us with hunting stories, some amazing, some scary, and some funny. After dinner, he thanked us and took off in his SUV, promising to join us for fishing the next day.
I remember being awakened by some gunshots around 3 AM, and looked out the window. I saw someone walking along the ridge about 5 miles away, but it seemed they were looking into the river bed below. I wondered if this was another hunter from the lodge, but decided to go back to bed.
Pete met us in his SUV at 6 AM, and we fished the morning away. I caught 5 bullheads, the boys each caught 4, and Pete caught 8. He showed me his bait, just doughballs. I really thought a lure would work, but apparently Pete knew this part of the river better than I did. As we packed up, I caught sight of what looked like blood stains on the boulder across the river.
I decided to say nothing, and Pete dropped us off at the cabin. Our last day of vacation was tomorrow, and Sharon wanted to take the day and do some kayaking. The boys were excited, and I thanked Pete for the fishing trip. He told me to make sure and drop by the lodge tomorrow and say good-bye to him and the members, since there was a big gala that afternoon.
I used my cell phone and called local sheriff to report the boulders. He told me he would be sure and pick me up around 4 PM, so I could show him where it was. I decided to let Sharon in on it, but assured her the sheriff would keep us safe.
I rode with the sheriff and his deputy to the river, and he surprised me when he told his deputy to take some samples of the blood on the boulder. He said he would be in contact with me if anything came up.
The next morning, we took our kayaks and found a great place to enter the river. I told Sharon not to let the boys in on the blood issue. I also took my camera, just in case. As we paddled past the boulder, I took 10 frames of the boulder, telling the boys I loved the trees and flowers just beyond.
As we finished the trip, and were eddying out of the river, I saw something that I was glad Sharon and the boys had not noticed, A hunter’s cap stuck in between two rocks, and the same type of blood on the brim. I snapped another round of shots, and decided to show the shots to the sheriff as we left town. Luckily, the sheriff’s office was next to the diner Sharon and the boys wanted to eat lunch at before we left for home.
We packed up and headed into town around 1 PM. I told Sharon I wanted to shop at the store, but I ducked into the sheriff’s office, and showed the pictures to his deputy. He took my statement, and the sheriff walked in, and his deputy updated him. The sheriff told me a hunter disappeared 2 days ago near our cabin, and the blood sample matched his DNA.
I thanked the sheriff and his deputy, and went back to the diner, where Sharon had ordered chicken for me. We enjoyed the lunch with the boys and were getting ready to leave, when the sheriff asked me to talk with him in his office. Sharon looked concerned, but I told her it would be just a few moments.
The sheriff showed me a ballistics report, matching the bullet that was found in the hunter’s body to the same gun used to kill the cougar. Pete had killed the hunter, and the sheriff and his deputy were looking forward to arresting him in front of his fancy friends and family at the big gala. He told me they never would have even found the body had it not been for my pictures and the blood samples.
I went back to the car and told Sharon it was just a routine question about the cougar. As we drove home, and were unpacking, I took Sharon into the bedroom, and showed her the pictures I had taken during the kayaking trip. She was starting to cry, knowing how close we came to a murderer. I assured her that the sheriff had everything taken care of.
3 months later, the sheriff called me during lunch. I was told that my family and I were now unknown legends of their little town. It turned out that Pete’s private hunting lodge was a cover for a poaching and drug ring, and the murder was only one of many that had taken place for over 20 years. He assured me that our names would stay classified, since the state patrol had completed the cases over the last 3 months. The next week, I received a thank you letter from the sheriff and the state attorney general. I showed them to Sharon, then put them in our safe!