Daily Prompt: Being Intrigued!

Daily Prompt: You’re sitting at a café when a stranger approaches you. This person asks what your name is, and, for some reason, you reply. The stranger nods, “I’ve been looking for you.” What happens next?

“Right. You’ve been looking for me?” I have an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

“Yes, you.”

I look at the man and assess the situation that has arisen. The stranger wears his dark hair short and fiddles with the bottom button of his suit. Almost as if he is nervous. He awaits my response with intense grey eyes.

“Sorry, I – I don’t think I know you,” I utter as surely as I can. I tap the side of my mug nervously.

“Will you come with me? I need to show you something. And it’s important.” The gunpowder eyes glisten and seem so sure of themselves. But I don’t know this man.

“Sorry, but no thanks.”

He nods and smiles quickly. “No problem. Thanks anyway.” And like that, he’s gone.

I sit for precisely ten seconds, counting each second with a tap of my nail on the mug. Chink Chink Chink. My eyes follow the stranger as he trots across the road, hands shoved into his suit pockets as protection against the autumnal chill outside.

I can’t help myself. I grab my coat and swish out of the café, keeping my distance as I follow the man round the corner.

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Daily Prompt: Being Celebratory!

Daily Prompt: Since many are marking their country’s “birthday” in the US today, we wanted to ask: How do you celebrate yours? Are you all for a big bash, or more of a low-key birthday boy/girl?

Happy Birthday America!

I have never really had a ‘big bash’. When I was younger, I was quite happy with a traditional party at home with pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and buffet food. When I was about five or six, I had a disco which I remember was brilliant, (dancing to the hokey cokey), and when I was eleven I went to laser quest and lost miserably. But other than that, it’s usually a family affair. I suppose I would like to experience a birthday house party, but I couldn’t have it in my house. I’d have to wrap everything in cling film, include the carpets and walls, then I’d take down every ornament and valuable in our house. It would just be too stressful – I think I’ll stick to my Chinese takeaway and cider for my eighteenth!

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Daily Prompt: Being Instrumental!

Daily Prompt: Do you play an instrument? Is there a musical instrument whose sound you find particularly pleasing? Tell us a story about your experience or relationship with an instrument of your choice.

I play the trumpet, or at least I did until a few months ago. I liked being able to play it but I suppose I’m just not as committed as other people are – I just didn’t practice enough. I’m still glad I can play it and at the end of the day I got up to a grade four on it, but I absolutely hated the exams. There’s a boy I’ve known since year three and he can play the saxophone amazingly. I’m sure he was a grade eight when he was seven –  he has always been that good. Unlike him, I’m just not that devoted.

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Daily Prompt: Being Punctuated!

Daily Prompt: We all have strange relationships with punctuation — do you overuse exclamation marks? Do you avoid semicolons like the plague? What type of punctuation could you never live without? Tell us all about your punctuation quirks!

I love exclamation marks! I try not to use too many, but they seem to add so much enthusiasm to a piece of writing – I also like dashes! I don’t actually know why, but it’s probably to do with the fact I like writing a lot in one sentence. I don’t really dislike any punctuation now I think about it. They all seem to come in handy one way or another, (I only really use semi-colons in essays!)

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Daily Prompt: Being Inspired!

Daily Prompt: Where do you produce your best writing — at your desk, on your phone, at a noisy café? Tell us how the environment affects your creativity.

Unfortunately, I limit myself to the confines of my bedroom. When I have a great idea for a story, I can spend hours just typing or scribbling away on my bed – but this sometimes leaves me with writer’s block when I realise I haven’t planned past a certain part! I don’t really write as well as I can when I’m stuck in a classroom. I’ve never actually tried writing in a public place – I think if I was sat outside a boutique café in Paris overlooking a busy street with the Eiffel tower in the background, my creative juices would start flowing. I just haven’t tried it yet!

Daily Prompt: Being Flavoursome!

Daily Prompt: A local ice cream parlor invites you to create a new wacky flavor. It needs to channel the very essence of your personality. What’s in it?

I’m sure almost every flavour of ice cream possible has already been created – nowadays when you go into an ice cream shop there is so much choice! But, after thinking long and hard, I have finally come to a decision. On Mother’s Day, I made a raspberry Eton mess, but because my sister doesn’t like raspberries, I melted Cadbury chocolate into hers instead. Then, because I had so much left over, I added it to everyone else’s – and it was amazing! Honestly, try it. It’s delicious. So that would be my ice cream flavour – I’d call it ‘Chocoberry Mess’!

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Daily Prompt: Being Fruity!

Daily Prompt: Soft drinks, electronics, nutrient-free snacks — you can get all of those from a vending machine. But what type of vending machine is sorely needed but doesn’t yet exist? Share your automated retail fantasies with us!

I don’t know if these exist already, but I’ve never seen a vending machine selling pots of fresh fruit. I always crave fruit salad when it’s sunny out and although it’d probably be difficult in terms of freshness and preserving, how great would it be? They should also sell cream and yoghurt in the vending machine so you could make a nice snack out of it – strawberries and cream, mmm!

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Daily Prompt: Being Seasonal!

Daily Prompt: S’mores, salty ocean breezes, veggie burgers on the grill, sweaty people on the bus — what’s the smell you associate the most with summer?

I don’t know if anyone else can relate with this, but it’s that smell when you stand out in the garden or lean out of the window at night. It’s a weird combination of flowers and rain and summery things – it’s a bit hard to describe but it always reminds me of summer!

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Daily Prompt: Being Repetitive!

Daily Prompt: If you could relive the past week, would you? Would you change anything?

No, I wouldn’t relive any past week I don’t think, (except perhaps Christmas time). I think if we could all relive past weeks we’d take what we do for granted. Plus there’s usually always a stressful or frustrating or just generally hard part of the week which I don’t often want to relive!

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Daily Prompt: Being Sleepy!

Daily Prompt: More and more of us go to bed too late because of sleep procrastination. What are the night time rituals that keep you up before finally dozing off?

I’m usually pretty good at getting into bed by ten. Then I spend the next fifteen minutes on my phone, (usually looking at Sherlock fanart on Instagram), and the more I tell myself to put it down, the more I feel the need to check through everything again. So at around quarter past ten, I finally turn it off and curl up in bed. Then I tell myself that I should read for a bit, just a page… and of course that turns into two chapters! A lot of the time I just end up watching YouTube videos, (whether it be roomspirations or gaming videos!), and I usually fall asleep watching them! As long as I’m in bed by eleven, I’m happy!

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