A good friend of mine posted a challenge in our writer’s group to try and emulate Ernest Hemingway’s 6-word story [For sale: baby shoes, never worn] by crafting our own story in less than 10 words.

Everyone contributed some AWESOME [mostly sad, surprisingly] short stories. It’s impressive what you can do with a limited economy of words.

This is what I ended up posting to the group:

The envelope was sealed, death certificate safely enclosed. Tomorrow’s post.

I found the exercise so exhilarating, however, that I continued to try and craft additional sub-ten word stories on a post-it note. Here are a few I came up with:

• Engine revs, brakes screech. The siren calls the race.
• The kite tugs. Sticky fingers release. Freedom awaits.
• Ring sitting in the pawn shop, second time’s the charm.

I could probably keep going with this exercise for hours! In fact, the more I did, the easier it became. Granted, I’m not sure how compelling these are and if they technically meet the quota of having a beginning, middle, and end – but each gave me an emotional response when I read them out loud, so I will call that a win.

If you have one you’d like to share, please post it in the comments!

Optimistic for some good writing on this dreary, rain-drenched day,

~ Victoria Elizabeth