Compose Yourself Mondays

Creatively Named by Annie
from http://explanniefyfed.blogspot.com/

A weekly writer's link-up

As promised, my first link-up for writers. Whether you link-up or not (of course I would love you if you did) please leave your thoughts on my contribution! :) 

Guidelines:

• A prompt will be posted every Monday

• Use the prompt or not but write something, any genre or topic you please and post it by the following Monday
• No unnecessary vulgarity or violence for violence's sake. Keep it classy, or at least include a warning
• Link-up
• Once you have linked up, read a fellow author's contribution and leave some feedback
• General rule of thumb: mention both what does and doesn't work. Constructive criticism is key.

If you have prompt suggestions, please leave them in the comment section or email me directly.

Prompt 1:

This first one comes from a creative writing class I took a couple years ago that was a lot of fun to write on:

Make something conventionally beautiful seem ugly, or something ugly seem beautiful.

My contribution:

Rose

On a white windowsill a vase sits, in this vase rests a rose. This rose, once red and fragrant has lost all forms of its once outward beauty. Its petals are cracked and rigid, a few of which have settled at the base of the encasement its parent still resides in. They have been lost in the gusts of open windows and closing doors. The stem of this rose is now lined like a tree trunk, the point in which stem meets flower has lost its structure and now bends with the weight of the bud. The leaves have morphed from their vibrant green to yellow and brown rimmed. The crystal clear water that provided life to the blossom, is now murky, with a film of fuzzy mold growing from the decomposing gift. While most would throw it away, I cannot. In its broken remnants lies the ghost of the giver and for that it will always appear the same way it did when it was received.

Writing News:

I have recently come across a writing contest for those interested.

Brevity Magazine is hosting a flash nonfiction essay contest. If you think you can answer their prompt in 500 words or less, there is $50 and some writing books for the winner. Read more about it here.

Happy Writing, I look forward to reading everyone's stuff this week!