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. 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 day.”

So how to proceed? For the most part, I’m using my character inspiration, Dorothy Astoria’s The Name Book. Today, I turned toward the back of Dorothy’s book and found Umi. Here’s the quote that comes with the name Umi: “Fo I’m going to do a brand new thing. See, I have already begun!”

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.”

Umi bends over her kitten; so tiny she fits in Umi’s eight-year-old palm.

“I’m going to name her Hydrangea,” she says, painstakingly spelling hydrangea.“Because they’re all white, like her.”

“White cats are deaf.” Umi’s mother sucks her teeth as she passes forefinger between mouth and ear.

“I’ll teach her to sign.”

“Of course.”

Ooooh. I’m not sure I communicated their situation in so few words.

Wednesdays are super-fun and challenging because paring down to 50 words is really hard. And so much fun. I never know what’s going to flow directly from my brain to my fingertips and onto the virtual page.

I 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 feel free to copy this picture and caption into your blog to lead your readers back here.