by Matt Herron
Wordsmith’s Warmup: Homonyms. Mix up a batch of these entertaining words into a single paragraph and see what happens.
air, heir, err
He was high on the air in the mountains. He savored each breath. And every night for a week, sitting by a roaring campfire, he imagined he was the heir to a new dawn. Then he would fall asleep in a warm sleeping bag that smelled of woodsmoke and smokies, and would awake with eyes sandy from sleep to gaze at an unmarred, baby blue blanket spread a thousand miles over his head. But each bird that flies must eventually return to a less perfect world, where man may err and all creatures must die, and so too he descended from his rocky playground, where among the folly of kings and the pain of mankind, the memory of his mountains sustains him.
by Matt Herron
Wordsmith’s Warmup: Homonyms. Mix up a batch of these entertaining words into a single paragraph and see what happens.
rein, rain, reign
The drought’s reign of terror lasted three long years. Not a single drop of rain fell on the cracked earth from April to April to April again, although dark clouds hovered permanently on the horizon. People left in droves, bound for a more fertile country, wherever that was. The government enforced ration laws, they pulled up hard on the reins, but the wild mustang of the people was dying of thirst and when they bucked the politicians lost control. Folks fled in panic towards the oceans flanking our wide land, emptying the mountains and plains in the middle, abandoning the industrial network connecting the coasts… The comfort of water was such a relief, even full of salt, that not a few days passed before we heard news on the radio that another dehydrated man had drowned himself in overzealous immersion. But we stayed put, us hardy few. We dug deep wells in the middle of our country, we guarded the dried up lakes with our lives, not a few of which were lost. And most recently we were rewarded: after three starving summers and three desperate winters, the tight-fisted clouds finally loosened their grip and dumped rain in the middle. On our land and the surrounding area we received five blessed minutes of a thorough downpour. The water dropped in sheets and the cracked earth greedily swallowed. Although we were skeptical at first, wary of the change, it was enough. It has rained in our area five times since the first cleansing. The grass at last begins to sprout and the sight of green gives us hope. But the rest of the country remains dry. As before, people begin to journey in pursuit of greener pastures… and I fear a new reign of terror has begun.
by Matt Herron
Write a scene that depends on the failure of a reasonable expectation
Jeremiah has a recurring dream in which he steps out of a steaming hot shower and reaches for his towel, and while he is standing there drying off he notices his reflection in the mirror and there is – nothing except the towel. —Read on »
by Matt Herron
Write about the one who refuses to fit in
M. Hello, my name is M. and I’m a private investigator. *holds up badge*
S. Hi. Can I help you?
M. You went to high school with a man named Darius Kineco.
S. Uhm… yeah… so what?
M. I’ve been hired to track him down. Do you remember him?
S. I see.. is he in trouble?
M. Actually, he’s missing. Do you remember him?
S. Oh, man…. Remember him? How could anyone forget that kid? —Read on »
by Matt Herron
Write about the inexplicable menace in a seemingly neutral object.
To anyone else it looks like every other can of soda. It gleams in the light and is perfectly cylindrical. There is a tab on the top which, when pressure is applied correctly, frees a satisfying sigh from the contents within.
But for Beth it’s different. She has declared war on all processed, caffeinated, and sugar-infused beverages, or any combination thereof. She believes that these beverages, of which the can currently gleaming on the table is a jealous green color, are the bane of her existence. —Read on »
by Matt Herron
Write about something on the verge of collapse: building, bridge, marriage, contest, institution, alliance, certainty
The phones are busy, the screens are red, and that’s nothing unusual. There is always work to be done in tech support because there are always customers with problems, real or self-caused, to be dealt with. But today, no one is answering the phones. —Read on »
by Matt Herron
Open an imaginary door. What do you see?
The door is solid metal, without decoration or detail, finished but unadorned. It has a simple handle, a bar of aluminum sticking out and bent at a right angle on the left side about level with my stomach. The handle doesn’t rotate, exists only for leverage, and I use it to pull the door from it’s depressed frame of a similar make. There is a slight resistance, at first, like it is shut from the other side by the force of a vacuum. I apply more force, put my weight into it, and when it gives there is a whoosh of cool air that brushes past me, causing me to shiver involuntarily. —Read on »
by Matt Herron
How will you spend this day?
I will spend this day, the day after a long weekend camping at a BMX competition in Cologne, a hot sunny day at the peak of summer, a day where I don’t have to debase myself in front of rude customers at the restaurant, in recovery. —Read on »
Nietzsche on Freedom: “First principle: one must need strength, otherwise one will never have it.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols
