Updates from January, 2010 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

  • promptmonkey 9:12 pm on January 31, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Sunday Update 1/31/10 

    Hello all, and welcome to Sunday Update #4. I hope you’ve all enjoyed Dream Week over the past seven days. I think that the idea was quite the success, so I’ll continue to have a theme week once per month in the future. I’ve added a blogroll on the righthand sidebar, so if you know a writing resource or have a writing blog that you’d like me to reference, leave a comment! Also, I’ve been busy trying to figure out how to sell Promptmonkey merchandise, and I should have that figured out in the next few weeks. Lastly, don’t forget to tell your friends about the site!  Thanks for reading my super-short update, and happy writing!

    Nathan Engel

    How Many Prompts Could A Promptmonkey Prompt if a Promptmonkey Could Prompt Prompts?

     

    • Travis 2:05 pm on February 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      I just want to say that I dont use that blog. My other one (that i actually use) is a tumblr under supercockroach

    • Care 6:32 pm on February 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Hey Nathan! I now have a blog here as well (just click on the blue “Care” name thing above this comment). It’s kind of a random, whatever I feel like writing thing that is updated whenever there’s inspiration. =) I really love promptmonkey though! XD

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 31, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/31/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 7, the final day of Dream Week! In The Tempest, William Shakespeare wrote:

    “We are such stuff
    As dreams are made on; and our little life
    Is rounded with a sleep.”

    Write a short story or poem using this quote as inspiration.

     

    • Travis 2:27 pm on February 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      THe life of a man is short to say
      He dreams of sleep but finds no way
      Today he wont and today he will
      Decide to die or live here still

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/30/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 6 of Dream Week! Write a poem about dreams today: haiku, acrostic, limerick, ode, ballad, narrative, free verse… whatever floats your boat, so long as the subject is dreams.

     

    • Care 12:08 pm on January 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Wisps of shadows flitter across my mind. I am in my dream world again, playing with the imaginary creatures that fill my fantasies. It is unhealthy, they say, to live so absolutely in a place of frivolities and flightless fancies. But I know better. It is a release, one might call it. A place of escape. Of comfort. I live in my dreams, truly live. There’s a recklessness in me during these delusions, a recklessness that does not, cannot, reside in reality. And there’s a freedom, a freedom from worry and from stress.

      But it’s only temporary. Because as much as it is wished to be otherwise, dreams are flighty things and can dance away in seconds, teasing and beckoning, but always just out of grasp. It is always tempting, holding promises of an endless ebullience, but by dawn, it will always flitter away, and the dream world disappears. It is disheartening and sometimes downright painful. It is a bittersweet pain because the dream world is such an amazing place, but reality can never, will never match up to it. And reality is the world that is concrete, absolute, and forever.

      But nevertheless, I live for dreams.

    • Travis 2:25 pm on February 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Words flicker across my mind
      Telling all Ive left behind
      Fire burns and fires light
      Will come into my dream to night

      Nightmare of the time before
      Nightmares conquer dreams, than more
      Hellish night in blackish light
      Im stuck inside a dream tonight

      The sky is dark and hell froze over
      The luck ran out of a four leaf clover
      The rainbow is gone and so is day
      And ghost speak in whispers, heres what they say

      “Long ago and not far away
      The prophets told what would come today
      The time future will come to pass
      will never change and never last”

      The world is weird and full of dreams
      And hopes are crushed and nightmares gleam
      Will we escape our dreams and live a life
      Or will our fears drive us to the knife

  • promptmonkey 6:42 am on January 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/29/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 5 of Dream Week! What if instead of dreaming one night, you found yourself stumbling into the dreams of others? Write a short story about someone who experiences this phenomenon.

     

    • Travis 2:21 pm on January 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      As my eyes lay open at night, I stared at the roof of our bedroom. My sleeping wife, Emma, lay curled up at my side, her chest rising in long deep breaths. I couldnt sleep, in fact Io couldn’t remember the last time that I had a good night sleep.
      Emma looked so peaceful beside me, I ran my hands through her hair and brushed a strand out of her eyes. My finger brushed her noes and then the whole world went black.
      My eyes oppenned to see my self swirling in a vortext of blinding lights and winds. THe ground flew up beneath me and everything went black once more.
      I openned my eyes to see an apocalyptic scene around me. Buildings lay in rubble and martial soldiers were marching in lines, Ak-47s folded across their chest. Fires burned up in infernos rising from piles of dead carcases. Warthogs flew through the air above us, machine gun chatter cutting through the drum beat of boots upon the soil.
      A throne of Stone was rising up before me. Slowly, my eyes climbed up the steps to see My wife, Emma, sitting upon the seat. Her hair was dyed black with red streaks lining the brow of her head.
      It was terrible sight, but she looked strangely beautiful with the burning sun behind her head.
      She threw her head back and cackled into the night sky. Soldiers were lining up in rows around her. No one appeared to see me, but I soon found two hands upon my back. They were of a civilian. He looked desperately into my eyes and he mouthed the words “Help me” before a soldier behind him blew his brains out, scattering them on my shirt.
      The soldier looked down at me, hate filling his eyes. “Do you serve the regime of Emma?’
      “No…”
      “Then you must die!” He raised his gun up to my head and I went cross eyed staring down the barrel. His finger tightened on the trigger. Then suddenly, his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped limply down to the ground. A man clothed completely in black battle armor was standing behind him, sword in hand with another tied to his waist. “Come,” he spoke as he darted back into the shadows of the building.
      I knew that I didnt have any time to waste, so I rushed after him. He was fast and nimble and he managed to negotiate the huge jumps between the sections of the buildign that had colapsed.
      He led me down a series of basement pasages that I assumed were old wine celars. It stunk of mold, but I could still manage to breath well enough.
      The room began to constrict around us and we burst through a door into hole with a runged, rusty ladder. He jumped the hole and I folowed in suit.
      We finally arrived in a room with near zero illumination. Dark pits of eyes stared back at me and I counted twenty in the room.
      “Welcome to the resistance,” the man said.

    • Gaby 2:52 pm on January 29, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      to bed, to bed, to bed.
      The weight of his blue down comforter eased his worn muscles in to the worn shape of his twin mattres. His weary eyelids fluterred, slowly adjusting to the darkness of his small room. he slid his lum pof a pillow down to support his sore neck, and turned halfway, awkwardly on his side. As his breathing deepened and steadied, he began to replay the mundane occurences the day had brought him, and guiltily recalling the unfinished reading he abandonded in his dusty locker. After a few minutes of thinking drowsily, the line between conscious thinking and the blurry horizons to the pools of his mind faded gradually.
      He dipped a toe in. Too cold. Colder than usual. These pools were always warm. The impressions in the wet earth were curiously small .As he uncertainly seeked to find any similarities in this place, he saw old superheroes and dragons crowding the grey sky. He saw beautiful girls fleeing fast as fiery snowballs reigned down on them. But wait, why was he throwing them? And how did he get on top of this dragon? He suddenly, but not painfully seemed to grow and he made an impossible leap to the blue mountains were the grils were headed. As he made his quick ascent, he stepped into a warm pool. I know this place he thought. He impulsively swam down to an undersea cave where he sat on an oyster throne and was tended to by beautiful mermaids.
      Mmmmmm. NNNNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. mhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuumm. nehneh neh. phhhhhhhhh. fifififif. His hot, dizzy head turned on his moist pillow, as his spinning furniture made their way back into the laws of gravity. Tiny round toes scratched madly at his knees. Witha boost of adrenaline he turned to find his brother yelling, “Cooties. COOOOOTies!! Go get’em superman, they’ve got my brother!” Hm.
      Interesting.
      ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.

    • Care 4:18 pm on January 30, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      It was a strange dream, a very strange one, stranger than any other dream she’d ever had, and that was saying something. There was this strange sense of displacement, of discord, almost as if she didn’t belong there, as if it weren’t hers. But that was silly, how could she not belong in her own dream? She felt disoriented though, and as aforementioned, very, very displaced. But she ignored those feelings, and simply gave herself over to the myriad of images.

      She was running. Which, in itself, was very strange seeing as she never ran before in her dreams. But that was probably her real, buoyant self finally making the appearance in her fantasy land. So, she continued running. She was really short though, shorter than her usual 5’9″. It seemed that if she leaned down just a bit, she could touch the ground.
      And she was…sniffing? Scents overthrew her mind, a wave of various aromas, all triggering different images in her brain. A tree to the right with a squirrel high up in the branches. Meat. Somewhere to the left behind her. A smell of highly acidic bitterness washed over her as she passed a Laundromat, and she realized with a start that that must have been the bleach. It was so strange, smelling all of these things; her sense of smell must have gotten sharper in this dream.
      She was still running. And it was strange, because instead of the usual bah-dum,bah-dum,bah-dum that happened when she was jogging, she heard a pat-pat(pat-pat), pat-pat(pat-pat) almost as if each foot was echoing. But, no matter how hard she tried, in this dream, she simply could not force her head to look down and examine what was the problem with her legs. She just kept running.
      There was a new scent in the air, a delectable, tangy, aromatic scent. Almost immediately she could feel her feet changing direction, running faster, faster, faster until she reached……..a butcher’s?
      There was a man outside of the butcher’s, dressed in a dirty, bloodstained apron, reaching out a big, bloody steak. She recoiled instantly, disgusted by the site, but strangely, her dream-body did not follow. She tried to turn around, all of her vegetarian instincts telling her to back away, to not eat the meat, but her dream-body refused to listen. Her mouth opened and the meat came closer and closer….

      Vivian shot up in bed with a start, gasping and gagging as she grasped at her throat and her mouth, still seeing the image of that raw hunk of bloody meat in her mind’s eye. A whimper came from over the side of her bed. Vivian leaned over to see Biff, her two year old German Shepherd twitching in his sleep, his long tongue lolling out of his mouth. Vivian sighed.
      “So, there’s where THAT came from,” she muttered, relieved, before flopping back on the bed exhaustedly.

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/28/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 4 of Dream Week. Halfway through your day, you discover that you’re in the middle of an extremely realistic lucid dream. Write a short first person narrative about what you do next.

     

    • supercockroach 5:47 pm on January 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      As I dropped the cup, I saw it slowly tumble to the ground, coffee sloshing around inside the brim. The cup hit the ground, but none of the liquid fell outside of the cup. It all stayed inside.
      It was at this time that I realised this must be a dream. I could do anything and no one could stop me.
      I stormed down the hall towards my bosses office. People looked at me like I was crazy, but i just ignored them.
      I burst through the door and I saw him staring back at me with cold dark eyes. I walked up to him, grabbed his mug, tore off the cap, and spilled it in his lap.
      He looked angrier than I had ever seen him. “Johnson your fired!”
      It turns out I hadnt been dreaming.

    • supercockroach 5:59 pm on January 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      I wasn’t quite sure if this was reality or a dream. I had never dreamed before, but everything here seemed so fantasmical.
      I walked down the silver streets will glass walls lining either side. The sun was out and for once I was happy about it. The golden birds hanging in the trees reflected the sun light in to a prysmic waterfall. I loved this place. It was amazing. I had a job to do, but I could stay here for a while

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/27/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 3 of Dream Week, and Wacky Wednesday! Write a short story or poem about the wildest, wackiest dream ever. Add Abe Lincoln as a major character for bonus points.

     

    • Travis 6:51 pm on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Slipping away, I oppened my eyes. An eerie pink sky oppened above my head, filled with clouds of black and filled with giant top hats. A monstrous Hersey’s kiss made out of whip cream was standing in front of me and crawling all over it were giant spiders with the heads of abe lincoln. They were all chanting in rhytmic tones “Hover! Hover! Hover!”
      Just then, a tiny dragon rose up out of the ground and began to recite the Gettysburg address. The Echinas sprouted wings and then began to toss eggs at the dragon, which spewed balls of ice at the Echinas. The Licolnspiders ate the kiss and then began to chant “Patton!”
      I woke up. THat was one weird dream.

    • Travis 7:48 pm on January 27, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Ok, here are all the quotes that I think may have potential for a shirt

      “Ugh, no, bad topic…. I got over it.” -Travis

      “Oh great mole rat!”- promptmonkey

      “When in doubt, sleep is the best option.” -Travis

      “Haha. Truly lazy.” -Amanda

      “I’m not sure if I should be flattered or annoyed…”- Ellen

      “Try not to light anything on fire.”- promptmonkey

      “Whatever, you big baby.” -Michaela

      “There was no need to feed the crocodiles that night.” -Travis

      “Jeff was very emotional, so he posted all of his feelings on Twitter.” -Travis

      “Can I change my destiny by some ancient remedy?” -Travis

      “Fate, matchbreaker. Fate, heartbreaker. Fate, risk-taker, Fate, dream-maker.” -Alice

      “Burn, Burn, and never come back again.” -Travis

      “I just want to say that Im sorry. But you cant hear me, because you’re dead.” -Travis

      “I want to see how many people cry at this.” “Travis, Travis, Travis….” –travis, Nathan

      “I know you won’t forget my face.” -Amanda

      “Haha that was fun. Fictional, but fun(:” -Amanda

      “Insanity: the border of dreamland” -Travis

      “Amplifying what is truly wanted: Macaroni and cheese.” -Care

      “OH YES! VOCAB WORD!” -Amanda

      “You need to talk cool phrases and put them on T-shirts like this one.”-Travis

      “Protest! Proteset!” “Travis, Protoset is not a word.” –Travis and Promptmonkey

      “I’m happy that you’re leaving comments, but I don’t want them to end up hurting the integrity of the site.”- promptmonkey

      “Some called him a necromancer. Others called him ‘cook’”-Travis

      “Mondays don’t start much worse than this.” –Travis

      “And now for something completely different!” –Promptmonkey-Monty Python

    • supercockroach 7:08 pm on January 28, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      hey, i just started a blog and I want to see if any of you would be willing to follow it

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/26/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 2 of Dream Week! Write a short story in which the line separating dreams from reality begins to blur.

     

    • Travis 2:09 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Insanity (the border of dreamland)

      The whispers sneak out of the floor
      Of a time I haven’t left behind
      It’s dark and mad and filled with more
      Than terrors hiding in my mind

      I can’t remember that time ago
      When I was considered sane
      I sit hiding or left bellow
      My life, the madness game

      While fear slips in my mind slips out
      Thoughts tumble into a mess
      I babble on and twist about
      My consciousness is laid to rest

      Oh, when was I living? Did I have friends?
      Will I ever come to face amends?
      When was I hit and put in this vest,
      Left in this room and laid to rest?
      Did I have friends or even romance
      Or did I never stand a chance?
      When was the truth left behind?
      When did I lose my mind?
      When did you leave me to play this game?
      When was I considered insane?

      My present is useless and my future is gone
      Leaving my past to haunt the day
      My thoughts are drenched with dreams and fear
      The Fear has stopped my life and way

      My dreams are a hell inside my mind
      Nightmares of hells left behind
      I cannot speak or even think
      My life falls over the brink

      I shout and twist and burn and scream
      I do not think that you can see
      My life, it is a hellish dream
      My dreams returns to torture me

      Oh, when was I living? Did I have friends?
      Will I ever come to face amends?
      When was I hit and put in this vest,
      Left in this room and laid to rest?
      Did I have friends or even romance
      Or did I never stand a chance?
      When was the truth left behind?
      When did I lose my mind?
      When did you leave me to play this game?
      When was I considered insane?

      Where will you be when dreams torture me?
      Where will you be when truth ceases to be?
      Where will you be with I’m filled with fright?
      Where will you be when they douse my light?

      Oh, when was I living? Did I have friends?
      Will I ever come to face amends?
      When was I hit and put in this vest,
      Left in this room and laid to rest?
      Did I have friends or even romance
      Or did I never stand a chance?
      When was the truth left behind?
      When did I lose my mind?
      When did you leave me to play this game?
      When was I considered insane?

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/25/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: It’s Day 1 of Dream Week! Write an acrostic poem using the word DREAM. (If you’re unfamilar with acrostic poems, check here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrostic)

     

    • Travis 2:07 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Daring to think of things that
      Really could not
      Exist in real life
      Although it is our depest desire to
      Make them come true

    • dude 7:30 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      how do you do this

    • Nicole 7:40 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Dancing fantasies
      Race through your mind; reveal what’s inside.
      Eyes closed,
      Anything can happen.
      My world of possibility.

    • promptmonkey 8:37 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Drifting into slumber from hectic diurnal hours
      Rapidly, eyes flicker, an old cinema reel reveling in faded glories
      External and internal swirl into one dancing unity
      All is not what it seems; all is what you make it to be
      May all your dreams be good ones

    • Care 9:17 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Dervishes whirl across the mind’s eye
      Rifling through fantasies and dreams to
      Expose desires held dearest and nearest to the heart
      Amplifying what is truly wanted:
      Macaroni and cheese

    • Amanda 10:02 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Done with staying awake in class, might as well
      Run around in my own little world.
      Eating ice cream, getting into trouble, nothing matters right now, but
      A new problem arises:
      My homework.

      Don’t sleep in class, don’t dream.
      Realize that the material won’t be known.
      End those crazy imaginings.
      Abrogate (OH YES! VOCAB WORD!) the sleepiness.
      Move forward. Stay awake.

    • EllenMarie 2:28 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Diving through a pool of pudding
      Radishes dance across the sky
      Everyone kind and inviting
      Absolute fantasies fill my head
      Morning comes and the world is gone

    • Alice 2:30 pm on January 26, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Don’t want to fall, not light nor deep
      Rapid shut-eye. I’m asleep.
      Every step farther in subconsciousness
      Alarm jolts. Awaken.
      Body stirring, mind not yet ready to.

      Duuuude. Everyone’s is awesome.

  • promptmonkey 3:53 pm on January 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Sunday Update 1/24/10 

    Hello again, and welcome to the third Sunday Update. Please accept my apologies for not posting updates for the past two weeks; that was a bit of laziness on my part. Not much has changed with the website for the past few weeks, but I’ve got a few things planned to make Promptmonkey better in the future. Here’s a list of things to look for in the near future:

    • ‘Donate’ button
    • Promptmonkey web store
    • Links to other writing blogs, resources, and websites (If you have one, leave a comment!)

    Today, I have two main topics that I have to mention. The first is a new idea that I’ll be trying out this upcoming week called Theme Weeks. Basically, every once in a while, an entire week of prompts will have a unifying theme. Tomorrow will be the start of the first theme week, so be sure to comment on whether/ how often you’d like to see theme weeks in the future.

    Secondly, I’d like to throw in a shameless little plug. As of now, the user base for Promptmonkey is rather small. However, it would be great if it could grow through you, the user. Try telling a few friends about the blog, and ask them to do the same with their friends. That way, more people will be able to use this writing resource.

    If you have any other things that you’d like to see changed on or added to this blog, feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for your time, and happy writing!

    Nathan Engel

    Webmonkey Preservation Advocate

     

    • Travis 2:06 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      this seems like pretty cool. I am a user. Seems like the only consistent one. You need to take cool phrases from some posts and put them on tshirts

    • Emil 7:45 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      THAT DAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY

    • Nicole 8:38 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      Hey, I’ve got a question – how do we change our little icon picture things? Are they just random? Because mine seems to be this blue geometric pattern (are they arabesques?!) and I feel un-unique.

      • promptmonkey 8:40 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink | Reply

        If you make your own wordpress account, you can change your profile image.

        • Nicole 8:42 pm on January 25, 2010 Permalink

          Ok…I’ll look at that. It might end up being more trouble than it’s worth 🙂

  • promptmonkey 6:00 am on January 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Prompt 1/24/10 

    Promptmonkey Says: Write a short story about someone who discovers that their hero is not all they thought them to be.

     

    • Travis 1:20 pm on January 24, 2010 Permalink | Reply

      I’m sure that you know how this is so i don’t need to bother telling you. i don’t really want a reply from you because there is nothing that you have to say that i want to hear. i know who are. I knew who you were for a long time but i didn’t want to believe it and like always i wanted to just ignore the problem and wait for it to go away but it won’t. it hasn’t. I do know. You can be a stupid d*** all you want behind my back and call me a b**** and dumber then your dog to Charlotte (yeah i found that out) but to my face you are a loser. And i was the one to figure it all out and tell McKenna and Charlotte. Best move I ever made. I should have listened to voices in my head that was telling me the real you. I should you listened to the end of my dream and not the beginning of it. I should have thought that maybe, just maybe, the reason that demons stalk me now is because of you and not because of me. I may never understand why you did the things that you do but I know one thing, the best day of my life was when I busted your a** to my friends McKenna and Charlotte. You’ve lied to me to me so much. It’s hurts. But what hurts me is what you’ve done to me. You never helped me, you crippled me. Julie knew what was best for me, she knew that if she waited long even I would become weak and break down from my Anorexia and take help but you kept pulling me back then pushing my forward. You’re stupid. I’m not keeping quiet about this. I am telling everyone. I am personally going to email all you’re friends and tell them that you are a f***ing player with a mouth full of s***. I can’t believe you. You are such a liar. You say stuff, stupid stuff, just so people take pity on you. Your dumber then your dumb ass dog. Your religion is stupid and I know that your God is made up. , i don’t want you to have anything from me. I’ll figure everything out for myself, I don’t need you. never have. I don’t really care that you are a bastard but I want you to know that you really hurt Charlotte. She took it alot worse then either McKenna or I did. you don’t deserve McKenna, you don’t deserve Charlotte and you don’t deserve me so don’t you dare sit there and think that you do. I told you that I would never use these words again unless i really meant them and there has never been a better time then now. I hate you.

      I wrote this from the perspective of a person that would be mad at her hero. i would hate to be this person

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