Once Upon a Time
It was a dark and stormy night
No scratch that
Zip
Crunch
Feed in new sheet of paper.
Once upon a midnight dreary
Erase dreary
Deep?
Return
Once upon a midday last.
New sheet of paper
All nice and blank
Stare
Sip coffee
The lonely writer sat.
First chapters are the hardest
Begin with number two
hmmmm
Sip
The bed where he had lain was cold.
Light streamed through the basement window
Erase that line
No
Chapter 3
How long had the sun been up?
How long had he been dead
Here in his basement office
Writing
Not Writing
Goodbye cruel world.
The suicide note began
Still rolled into the typewriter
Crumpled paper
Everywhere
Body on the bed across the room.
J. Binford-Bell
October 2011
I relally love this (although it's scotched my idea for a suicide note!).
ReplyDeleteIts sad but nicely penned...
ReplyDeleteJJRod'z
I certainly did not expect a dead body when I began reading your piece. Well done.
ReplyDeleteNaNoWriMo begins tomorrow. I may be reduced to a dead body before the month is over ;)
Writer's block in the extreme! Well written.
ReplyDeleteOne would hope that at the end of things there would be words to say so.
ReplyDeletea sad tale! :(
ReplyDeleteThis bit of noir humor was darkly entertaining, and smacked of uncomfortable familiarity -- enjoyed it...
ReplyDeleteAs the end approached I thought the Writer's Block might actually save him, that he wouldn't kill himself until he had finished. My Magpie this week is Poet.
ReplyDeletePretty bad writer's block when the narrator can't even finish the suicide note! I like your light touch with this possibly heavy topic.
ReplyDeletepowerful highlight on writers' life in a honest and beautiful way.
ReplyDeleteeverything has ups and downs, Thanks for the creative entry.
Who'd have guessed the ending in this? A terrific twist - well done!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is cool! Great twist!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, well worked out.
ReplyDeleteMy grasshopper mind recognised that way of thinking in fits and starts, but happily, minus the suicidal touch!
ReplyDeleteDear Jacqui: Very much in the mode of the angst-filled writer as I am sure all writer's here can so definitely relate!
ReplyDeleteThe writer's nightmare. Excellently done.
ReplyDeletesuch a twist at the end the dead body laying on the bed and the note he never finished and left in his typewriter. Well done
ReplyDeletehttp://gatelesspassage.com/2011/10/30/the-witch-is-transformed/
Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I must admit it wrote itself.
ReplyDeleteI had just written very deliberately the poem in the previous blog, then looked at the Magpie prompt. Decided to write something very short and frothy about writer's block but the muse had other ideas.
great write with a creepy twist ...loved it ...thank you x
ReplyDeletehaha...what a frustrating process this writing trying to get it just right....you capture that well in this...well penned...
ReplyDeletewriting's like that - ink or blood ...
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a joke about why the writer can't commit suicide. He starts working on the suicide note, and keeps going... there's a first draft, a second draft, a whole new ending. He changes the beginnings, adds characters and subplots, and before he knows it, he has a novel - a reason to live!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Arnab Majumdar on SribbleFest.com
Clever one, Jacqui, well done! Writer's block is dangerous for your health, it appears...
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why this one makes me laugh but it really did. I am so glad for computers. I am just old enough that my first job we used a typewriter and did not even have a computer in the office. Oh how I made mistakes back then.
ReplyDeleteVery clever with a great twist but you're good at that. Excellent in fact.
ReplyDeletehope all is well,
ReplyDeletejoin us today, bless you.
Ha! Very clever beginning--very clever end.
ReplyDeleteThis certainly takes you to a place you weren't expecting. Nice write. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I felt like I was going through a journey while reading yours. I was actually just smiling along following your witty work of words in the beginning, then it became dark. Nicely done! There's a transformation in there. You took your readers on quite a ride. I loved it. Thank you for sharing this. And thank you for stopping by to mine earlier in the week.
ReplyDelete