Eliabeth Hawthorne's Blog
December 8, 2012
Better then a Yellow Brick Road | Picture it & Write
Picture it & Write is a weekly creative writing exercise. We invite you to join in by continuing the story or starting your own based on inspiration from the image. Poetry and foreign languages are welcome (please provide a translation).
Want to be a published author Contributions to this post qualify for the Picture it & Write Publication.
Pop. My neon glasses protected my eyes from the blast of colored powder, but the rest of my face now shimmered in a green even Envy would be jealous of. Impatient children rolled through the colored puddles and fairies fluttered about in pinks, orange, and white. Color fell from my cupped hands as we waited for the countdown. 3... 2... 1... Throwing the dust into the air, we were engulfed in a rainbow cloud that settled on the brick beneath our feet. My painted nails and red lipstick no longer looked out of place. To us, the colored powder brought out a childish glee as if at any moment it would pick us off the path we ran and carry us to Neverland. For others, it had the power to grant wishes.
Contribute to this creative writing exercise on ErmiliaBlog!
Want to be a published author Contributions to this post qualify for the Picture it & Write Publication.
Pop. My neon glasses protected my eyes from the blast of colored powder, but the rest of my face now shimmered in a green even Envy would be jealous of. Impatient children rolled through the colored puddles and fairies fluttered about in pinks, orange, and white. Color fell from my cupped hands as we waited for the countdown. 3... 2... 1... Throwing the dust into the air, we were engulfed in a rainbow cloud that settled on the brick beneath our feet. My painted nails and red lipstick no longer looked out of place. To us, the colored powder brought out a childish glee as if at any moment it would pick us off the path we ran and carry us to Neverland. For others, it had the power to grant wishes.
Contribute to this creative writing exercise on ErmiliaBlog!
November 23, 2012
Picture it & Write
Image by Zemni
Box Full of Doubt
by Eliabeth Hawthorne
Skeletons don't always stay in closets. No matter how hard you push the door closed, no matter how well hidden you kept them while you're alive, someone has to go through the closet when you die.
I found a box, a box full of doubt. It was not in your closet but under your bed, a box full of lies. Lies you told and I believed, things you said were lost or broken, things you said you mailed. What else did you lie about? Like a single loose thread that when pulled unravels the whole sweater, so my reality came unraveled and I began to doubt. How much of your stories were made up? It hurt to doubt you, especially because you're not here to explain it away.
Then I closed the box full of doubt. I can never close Pandora's box; I can never unsee what I saw. But, I can choose what I remember. I can choose to focus on the good memories, the cooking lessons, watching movies, listening to your stories. True or not, they are good memories, and focusing on the box will only taint them. It will only hurt me.
FIN
Picture it & Write is a creative writing exercise on our blog. Contribute to this prompt and learn how your work could be included in a publication on Ermiliablog.
October 6, 2012
Picture it & write
"Must you take pictures of your food at the dinner table?" my mother asked after the white flash from my birthday present lit up our table for the en-teenth time that night."You would rather I take pictures of it somewhere else?"
My mother sighed and rolled her eyes. Could she not understand I was simply showing my appreciation for my birthday gift? It was bad enough to be born on Thanksgiving, when everyone thinks you should be giving to charities rather than wanting gifts for yourself. Ironic that Christmas is not far behind.
I stare down at the digital screen. The brown slab of meat arches like a title wave over a serene puddle of gravy. This camera is amazing. It picks up everything and makes me feel like a Lilliputian ready to climb the green boulders and squishy orange logs.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
Picture it & Write is a creative writing exercise being turned into a publication. Sales will benefit The Girl Effect, a movement to change the world by unlocking the unique potential of girls in developing countries. To learn more, go to ErmiliaBlog.
September 29, 2012
Picture it & Write
Does this photo inspire you? Once a week, my coauthor and I post an image and an accompanying paragraph. We encourage everyone to join in with writing of their own inspired by that week's image.
Picture by Belovodchenko Anton
What a show off. I thought about Lorelai Gilmore breaking her leg. "I took the blonde pretzel chick down with me," she explained to her mother, admitting she was "too competitive for yoga." If only I could bring this woman down, but even the blond pretzel chick was not at her level. Who shows up for yoga in high healed boots? Her figure was perfect, but something about the poses she did were disjointed and awkward. Her face was a blank canvas, not in pain, but not serene either. Was she one of those rich people who moved mechanically through life without enjoying it? Even though I envied her body, I did not envy her life.
- Eliabeth Hawthorne
Contribute to this creative writing exercise on Ermiliablog.
Picture by Belovodchenko Anton
What a show off. I thought about Lorelai Gilmore breaking her leg. "I took the blonde pretzel chick down with me," she explained to her mother, admitting she was "too competitive for yoga." If only I could bring this woman down, but even the blond pretzel chick was not at her level. Who shows up for yoga in high healed boots? Her figure was perfect, but something about the poses she did were disjointed and awkward. Her face was a blank canvas, not in pain, but not serene either. Was she one of those rich people who moved mechanically through life without enjoying it? Even though I envied her body, I did not envy her life.
- Eliabeth Hawthorne
Contribute to this creative writing exercise on Ermiliablog.
January 4, 2012
New Seasons on Hulu
I don’t have television, so everything I watch is either a movie or found on Hulu. With the start of a new year comes a bunch of new seasons of my favorite shows. With limited time, I’ve already lost interest in some of them.
Take Once Upon a Time. It took me a little time to get into it, and now that other shows like The Bachelor are back on, I just don’t have time to keep up with it or Pretty Little Liars, another show I really liked for a time but have lost interest in.
So what do I watch? The Biggest Loser! I don’t know when I started watching “reality” TV, but I know Fearfactor was what started it. I’m also very addicted to House. I wish the girl from Joan of Arcadia had lasted a bit longer, but her character couldn’t have stood House for very long without compromising too much of her character, so I’ve accepted it. Sometimes I watch Parenthood, more because Lauren Grahm is in it than anything. Waiting to see if there’s another America’s Next Top Model because you already know I’m an addict. (Why oh WHY did Alison not win? *pouts*)
What do you watch? Do you have any shows you’re waiting for that haven’t aired yet? What about movies? Anyone else really excited for The Hunger Games? The trailer was good enough that I’ve actually gotten the book and started reading it because I’m determined to finish the book before the movie. Even though Ermisenda has already reviewed it, I’ll be throwing in my two cents as well.
-Eliabeth
Take Once Upon a Time. It took me a little time to get into it, and now that other shows like The Bachelor are back on, I just don’t have time to keep up with it or Pretty Little Liars, another show I really liked for a time but have lost interest in.
So what do I watch? The Biggest Loser! I don’t know when I started watching “reality” TV, but I know Fearfactor was what started it. I’m also very addicted to House. I wish the girl from Joan of Arcadia had lasted a bit longer, but her character couldn’t have stood House for very long without compromising too much of her character, so I’ve accepted it. Sometimes I watch Parenthood, more because Lauren Grahm is in it than anything. Waiting to see if there’s another America’s Next Top Model because you already know I’m an addict. (Why oh WHY did Alison not win? *pouts*)
What do you watch? Do you have any shows you’re waiting for that haven’t aired yet? What about movies? Anyone else really excited for The Hunger Games? The trailer was good enough that I’ve actually gotten the book and started reading it because I’m determined to finish the book before the movie. Even though Ermisenda has already reviewed it, I’ll be throwing in my two cents as well.
-Eliabeth
December 30, 2011
Eternally Lucky Bamboo
I don't know how long bamboo usually lives, but between my boyfriend and I, it's lucky if it lasts a few months. When I asked my boyfriend what he wanted for Christmas, he told me to "be creative" because he knows I live on a budget. This is what I came up with: the eternally lucky bamboo.
I dripped candle wax over paper towel rolls for the base of the bamboo. The leaves are plastic leaves cut from a branch in the Hobby Lobby flower department and though you can't see both colors very well in the ceramic bowl, there are blue and dark purple glass beads in a square bowl. The beads are from Pets Mart and the bowl from Hobby Lobby.
Lucky bamboo you can't kill. Merry Christmas.
I dripped candle wax over paper towel rolls for the base of the bamboo. The leaves are plastic leaves cut from a branch in the Hobby Lobby flower department and though you can't see both colors very well in the ceramic bowl, there are blue and dark purple glass beads in a square bowl. The beads are from Pets Mart and the bowl from Hobby Lobby.
Lucky bamboo you can't kill. Merry Christmas.
December 18, 2011
I think my dog has OCD
Sophie is a foundling (found in the parking lot of a restaurant) and I think she has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
Have you ever seen those people who can't leave a room until they've clicked the light and and off several hundred times? Well, Sophie doesn't flick the light-switch, but she has similar quirks. When we first got her, she would not eat inside or when anyone was looking. While she's gotten over that, she still has to do her "eating dance." This is an almost choreographed production of pushing her food around exactly six times from various angles.
Do any of you have neurotic pets, and if so what do they do?
Have you ever seen those people who can't leave a room until they've clicked the light and and off several hundred times? Well, Sophie doesn't flick the light-switch, but she has similar quirks. When we first got her, she would not eat inside or when anyone was looking. While she's gotten over that, she still has to do her "eating dance." This is an almost choreographed production of pushing her food around exactly six times from various angles.
Do any of you have neurotic pets, and if so what do they do?
December 14, 2011
Cake is a lie, pi is forever.
You must have played Portal to feel giddy over this.
The CalTech prank club is responsible for the following:
Cake is a lie! Pi is forever!
Original sourse: Tumblr
The CalTech prank club is responsible for the following:
Cake is a lie! Pi is forever!
Original sourse: Tumblr
December 12, 2011
Memorable Commercials
The whole point of a commercial is usually to get you to buy something, but often to stick in your mind.
My all time favorite commercial is actually one designed to keep you FROM buying something:
An unshaven young man with his pants hanging low enough to see his boxers cracks eggs into a skillet startling the flies. He pours milk into the skillet and it comes out in clumps. Adding moldy cheese to the mix, I didn't think the mix could get any worse, until he stuck a fork down his pants, scratched his butt, and then stirred the eggs with it before removing a cockroach as it continued to kick on its back.
Horrified, it was impossible to peel my eyes from the screen. Three young men sporting long, greasy hair and tattoos sat around a table eating the eggs! A fourth male, not eating the eggs, pulls out a cigarette. The one who cooked the eggs looks at him completely stone faced and says the one line in the whole thing.
"Dude, that's gross."
What commercials have stuck in your mind?
My all time favorite commercial is actually one designed to keep you FROM buying something:
An unshaven young man with his pants hanging low enough to see his boxers cracks eggs into a skillet startling the flies. He pours milk into the skillet and it comes out in clumps. Adding moldy cheese to the mix, I didn't think the mix could get any worse, until he stuck a fork down his pants, scratched his butt, and then stirred the eggs with it before removing a cockroach as it continued to kick on its back.
Horrified, it was impossible to peel my eyes from the screen. Three young men sporting long, greasy hair and tattoos sat around a table eating the eggs! A fourth male, not eating the eggs, pulls out a cigarette. The one who cooked the eggs looks at him completely stone faced and says the one line in the whole thing.
"Dude, that's gross."
What commercials have stuck in your mind?
December 10, 2011
Picture it and Write 12/11/2011
I urge people to join in, comment with your paragraph of fiction to accompany the image. It doesn’t have to follow my story or reflect the same themes. It can be a poem or in a different language (provide a translation please :D). Anyone who wants to join in, is welcome. This photograph will be reblogged under Ermisenda on tumblr.
[image error]
Metal clashed against metal as the blade glanced off the warrior's armor. The battle field was stained with blood and the wind carried moans into the abyss of the deserted town. The dying were left to die with no one left to bury them. Angered by the drink it could not help but absorb, the earth decided to rebel. The fighting would end, one way or another. Just as the victorious warrior ran his blade through the wounded flesh of the other, they both turned into trees, locked together forever.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
image found on Facebook.
[image error]
Metal clashed against metal as the blade glanced off the warrior's armor. The battle field was stained with blood and the wind carried moans into the abyss of the deserted town. The dying were left to die with no one left to bury them. Angered by the drink it could not help but absorb, the earth decided to rebel. The fighting would end, one way or another. Just as the victorious warrior ran his blade through the wounded flesh of the other, they both turned into trees, locked together forever.
-Eliabeth Hawthorne
image found on Facebook.
