Friday 29 August 2014

Write about a favourite summer night from your childhood

The days stretch on in summer and the evenings creep up on you with sticky fingers, casting shadows as long as the day. The heat plays tricks on your brain as you walk back up the street, hair dripping, boogie board under one arm. Feet drag on the bitumen, and you jump at every rattle in the grass. Snake? No, just grasshoppers and butterflies bending long, yellow stalks in the dying sun. There is a chorus of birds and cicadas in the background, mixed in with the gentle whoosh of the waves you've not long left behind. Your mind singles out the whoosh of the tide, focuses on it, and reflects…

Anticipation builds as you wait, board at the ready, head turned as you seek out the perfect wave. This one you say to yourself. You jump forward onto the board, kick-kick-kicking as a wet roar grows louder in your ears. You look back - it's coming! You look forward once more and feel your lips press together, your brows knitting in concentration and determination. Your legs are pounding up and down, and then the wave hits you, picks you up and carries you toward the shore! Your face widens in elation, butterflies do somersaults in your stomach and you feel free! You twist your body to the right, wrenching your board with you to follow the wave down the line. The shoreline looms closer as the wave begins to fizzle out. You awaken from your reflection, hair still dripping, board under one arm and look up at the dying sun. The birds and cicadas come back into focus. The rumble of the ocean is replaced with a rumble in your tummy. A smile spreads across your face as you continue onwards, homebound.

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Creative writing is something I've wanted to do a lot more of on the blog for quite some time, but I never seem to know just where to start. I recently found this prompt through Kate's new Write It Out series, which I came across on Tori's blog. With my new look, and desire for an update in blogging direction, it seemed like the perfect time to give something like this a go. If you're interested, head on over to Kate's blog to link up your own post, and find more like-minded, creative bloggers to follow. This is actually last month's prompt, but I will be posting this month's soon, in an effort to catch up!

This little reflection has me yearning for the long summer nights it describes. I'm sitting here in my big, fluffy dressing gown late at night with my skin tingling from an imaginary sun's touch. The summers here are long and dry and hot, but I wouldn't trade them for anything! I've recently swapped my boogie board for a surf board, but  ache too much in winter to head out into the deep blue, even with a wetsuit. Bring on summer, big, floppy hats and long days in the surf chasing the rush that only a roaring wave and a plank of fibreglass can give you. I'm craving the long awaited (our three months of cooler weather drags on forever) return to my second home, beyond the sand. 



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