Light and Shade Challenge

Are you ready to start the week?  Below you will find two prompts, one a picture and one a quote.  Have a look and see what story they inspire you to tell and then go for it - in 500 words or less!  You can use one or both and you don't need to refer to them directly in your writing, just follow that spark of inspiration whether it is fact, fiction or poetry.   Here's the picture prompt: Picture by chidseyc on rgbstock.com and here's the quote: A dream has power to poison sleep   - Mutability, Percy Bysshe Shelley You have until next Sunday at noon GMT so go for it.  Have fun, write some stuff and then use the link tool underneath to let people see it - if you can put a link on your blog pointing back here, so much the better.   It is really encouraging to have comments on your work and it can give people a real lift.  Sometimes it is nice to just let someone know that their writing hit the spot.  Sometimes you can give a little help with a

Lyssa and I have spent the last few days discussing how best to organise things for the site and brainstorming potential prompts and ideas.    One of the things we were mulling over was the time that each challenge should close - we were torn between having plenty of time for the actual act of writing and the need for us to have time to read all the contributions before the next challenge was posted. In the end we reached a happy compromise and all our challenges will end on the Sunday following the prompt being posted at twelve noon  (since Lyssa and I are both based in England, that's twelve noon GMT by the way). The first prompt will be up very soon - one picture and one quotation - and we hope you will take a look at them and that either or both will stir up some inspiration.    We've both really enjoyed coming up with these prompts and hope that you'll enjoy them too. Hope to see you soon -TM

Lyssa here.  It is quite a responsibility to write the first post in a new joint adventure.  Tom is working hard on getting together some picture prompts at the moment, so it seems only fair that I take my share and introduce Light and Shade Challenge. We have known each other a long time, and both love writing.  Tom introduced me to the different writer's challenges and I found it really helpful.  I always found Trifecta tough as the short word count was exacting, but I loved it.  When I read that Trifecta were no longer continuing I was so sad and of course started talking things over with Tom.  I think everyone has had those conversations, the sort that wander and wind around subjects without direction and one thing leads to another.  As we talked we found ourselves talking about how to set challenges, how to generate them and what we would include.  The discussion wandered along some very strange byways and as we were near a computer Tom checked to see if what we were