I started a personal challenge to write a story that is exactly 50 words! Thank you, Boy with a Hat. Not that he set up a formal challenge, but it was his idea. And his writing is worth checking out. And if you leave a comment, he’ll send you an invisible gift. So please click the link and find out what he’s up to. If you want to begin at my beginning, click here or search in the side panel with the words, “fifty word.”

This week, I opened my copy of Dorothy Astoria’s The Name Book to Ava. What a fitting name for this time of the year.

I thank my good friend, Diane, for suggesting I set up a formal Challenge. Almost everything she writes makes me smile. (Except when she makes me cry.) Check out her blog at “On the Border.”

“You’ll miss your bus.” Mom breathed panic from childhood into submission. For no tangible reason, Ava’s liquid gait and hair-toss annoyed her.  

“You need socks in this weather.”

“Not cool.”

Ava’s loafered feet glided her over the icy sidewalk. She winged open her arms, laughing.

Mom grinned as angst melted.

Wednesdays are super-fun and challenging because paring down to exactly 50 words is really hard.

I never know what’s going to flow directly from my brain to my fingertips and onto the virtual page. For some reason, teen girls are on my mind. Is it the season? Remembering childhood?

I do love finding out what you think.

Would you like to join me in for a 50-Word Wednesday Challenge? Please add your link in the comments section. I promise to pop over and read your stories. And I’ll give the best a shout-out next week.

Feel free to copy this picture. Please include the caption, or add my link, into your blog, so your readers can find me.