SciFi Daily Prompt 1 This month, I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. My goal? I have never written science fiction, but would like to because anything can happen! I think it’s really fun and the type I will be writing is silly and non-sensical…likely with made up science and technology because I’ve never understood that stuff very well. I am aiming to write 500 first thought words each day in the morning to put my own writing projects first and get all the creative juices flowing. I’ll be using my Science Fiction Prompts resource I created for my clients and students.I’ll practice free writing so I will not be editing afterward or during. The only things I might change are if there are obvious spelling errors as I’m going along. Otherwise, this is purely straight from my wild mind and onto the page…eek!Feel free to join me or follow along.Day 1 Prompt: When the otter’s tail clicked into place with fine-tuned mechanical precision, I knew there was an issue.Photo by David Selbert from PexelsDaily Goal: 500Word Count: 940When the otter’s tail clicked into place with fine-tuned mechanical precision, I knew there was an issue. I had seen an inappropriately large amount of otters since I had moved into the area, but I thought it was simply because of the widely wooded area with swampy rivers. They need trees to build their dams and they need water to dam, right? That’s what I thought, at least. I had been minding my own business on a Monday morning, whistling my way to work, you know how it is. And I got to seeing that these otters then seemed on their way to work, too, which I thought was cute at first. I hadn’t had my coffee, you know? And then, I watched as they started to simultaneously thump their tails in time with each other. I saw that each thump of their tails seemed to call more and more woodland creatures and wildlife to the river, but now I don’t think that these were the creatures they appeared to be. I think that they are, well, I think that they are robots. I don’t know who to talk to and I am afraid that they are recording my cell phone, so I don’t feel like it’s safe to call anyone or text anyone about this. It feels like they are watching me all the time now. It’s been five days so far and it’s really creepy. So, that’s why I am keeping this journal. I’m glad I kept my dad’s NASA pen, I never knew where he got it from, but it helps to be able to write wherever and on whatever I can. The idea is that if something happens to me that at least there will be a record. Although I don’t know if it’d ever be found, at least I can write underwater. Come to think of it, I probably could write underwater since these otters can’t really live in water since they appear to be robots. Well, now that I think about it, I see that I’ve gotten rather confused and carried away with my words. These aren’t otters, these are beavers. Well, robot beavers. I know otters will hold hands with each other while they are in a group and that’s really sweet, which is what I thought I saw these otters, I mean beavers, doing. But, I wonder if there is some sort of network where they have to make a physical connection to be able to do something to upload data. So, I watched them from my walk to work at the local gas station. And then I saw how they slapped their tails, their giant leathery paddles of tails, but then one of them started to twitch after slapping some mud. I had discovered they were building dams on the sides of the roads after a couple days. I thought it was odd, but you know, I’ve never been an animal person. I think this might be better if I talk into a battery operated, portable, old-fashioned tape recorder things like I had when I was little, so I’ll switch to that when I get a chance to find it. It’s probably in an old bag in the cedar closet. Well, you see, I saw one of the beaver tails get all twitchy and off to the side, like it got all out of joint location. Then, after it did a buzzing of shivering motions, it’s tail just clicked back into place and then, my own body starting those buzzing, shivering motions, but I’m no robot, I was terrified. I tried to like, avert my eyes as soon as I’d seen it. Because then it turned toward me where I’d been in the gas station window and it fixed its beady little red eyes onto me and I turned away and began rearranging the cigarettes above the registers. Luckily, so I was told, there’d been an issue with shoplifting, so we had mirrors that faced outside as well as inside so no matter where I stand in the little cashier area at the gas station, I can see pretty much anywhere. So, I watched this little guy, after his clunky, thumpy tail clicked into place and he seemed to go back to normal. But, for me, watching him do that with his tail, or her tail, I guess, I can’t tell the difference between a man and lady beaver, but are they even beavers anyway? Robot beavers? It looks so stupid even to write it. But, I know what I saw. Well, I know that I saw something ridiculous, too ridiculous that it had to be true. Too ridiculous. I wanted to tell a couple of my buddies from the club, but now I’m not sure who I can trust. I’m just keeping my eyes peeled and I’m laying low to see what else I notice over the next few days. I’ll try my best to keep a record of what I see and learn. But, if it’s not safe for me to write something down, I won’t. I might try an old-fashioned voice recorder like I said, butttttt……oh no. Oh, no. I can see there are more of them. And what is that? What is that glinting in the sky? All of the beavers have stood up on their hind legs and are walking toward me. They are all walking, waddling in unison. They are moving toward the gas station. I have to act natural. I’ll just be putting my notebook in my inner pocket of my shirt. So, this is not how I thought today would go, I…Join my email list and get access to a free resource, “30 Science Fiction Prompts to Power Up Your Creative Writing Game.“Happy Writing! Molly x
Why are you doing this?(one way to think about goals) “Why?” I’ve always been curious. This annoyed my family. There’s a joke amongst my siblings and me, since I’m the youngest, that I have the biggest mouth. I was little when they teased me and I would widen my mouth to show them…I didn’t realize right away they meant I talked too much. One time my brother tape recorded me (remember those cassette players? push the red button for record!) without me realizing…and, then he played it back to me. Don’t worry, I’m not scarred for life–hah! But, so much of my talking as a little kid revolved around curiosity. As annoying as it is when a little kiddo drones or squeaks, “Why? Why? Whyyyyy?!” I think that it’s something we can take into our adulthood.Why are you doing what you’re doing?Try this: list out your big five time commitments within a week. (Did you do it? Okay. 😉 ) Then, literally write out the question, “Molly, why are you running for so many hours each week?” “Molly, why are you spending your time reading books?” So on and so forth. After you ask yourself the question, write out your answer. You can have many answers for each. For instance:I run because I am strong.I run because I want to grow in perseverance.I run because it’s something hard that I can actually do.I run because it’s really great to be outside and sweat.I run because it’s a way I connect with God.ORI read because I love collecting knowledge.I read because I feel happy when I do it.I read because it’s one of those things that I liked doing as a kid and I want to be more child-like.I read because I want to learn how to be a better writer.I dare you…let your curiosity get the best of you. 🙂When you understand your “why” then, your daily choices make more sense to go in that direction to re-inforce your “why” and your purpose. And, sometimes, you might find that you don’t know why you do something. This could be really great insight into something that isn’t how you actually need to be spending your time to become who you’re made to be. If this is the case, then writing your “because” statements can actually help you get back on track to be who you actually are.Are you struggling to answer your “why’s”? Let’s have a chat! Send me an email and we’ll be in touch.