So long
December 31, 2013
Well, this year long writing challenge finally reaches its conclusion. As the late Douglas Adams once wrote, “There was a point to this story, but it has temporarily escaped the chronicler’s mind.” Much love to you all, your support kept me going. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
** this is for my mum and dad, and indeed everyone else who probably thought I was crazy when I started Fifty Words a Day. They were, undoubtedly, right.
The top five regrets of the dying
December 30, 2013
She read somewhere that people in their dying days cite this as their biggest regret: I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. This struck a chord, so she made some changes. And at last she found happiness.
** if you missed it, the other four regrets are here.
Identify the essential
December 29, 2013
A friend of mine says he is applying Zen minimalism to his life, in order to achieve greater fulfilment. His teacher states, “Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.” I think this is all well and good, as long as he doesn’t accidentally eliminate me.
** thanks for this one, Mark.
It doesn’t hurt to dream
December 28, 2013
At times like this I want to run away. I don’t really care where to. Maybe a mountain top cabin, or a tree house in a forest. But today I choose a tropical island. Sun bleached sand, palms for shade and the clearest, bluest ocean. It doesn’t hurt to dream.
** after today there will be only three more stories till this challenge is complete.
The falling
December 27, 2013
Wind battered. Rain sodden. Sun baked. For two hundred years the tree had braved the elements. But then the great storm came. Arms waving like a man overboard, the tree held on for dear life, hoping to be saved. Until finally it conceded it was time. Time to let go.
** thanks to Daisy for setting me the challenge of writing about a tree today.
Where there’s a will
December 26, 2013
A Christmas tale
December 25, 2013
The small child woke on Christmas morning. Confused at first, she soon remembered where she was. Or rather, where she wasn’t. They had been evicted from their flat only days before, with nowhere else to go. The temporary accommodation was scary. All she wanted for Christmas was to go home.
** 80,000 children in the UK are facing homelessness this Christmas.