Writing exercise #1: Imagination

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

My eyes caught a glimpse of fluttering movement. Something sublty recognizable appeared just feet away. The whirring bur of its wings gave me instant recognition of what it was. I lay still, breathless and anticipatory of what it would do.
The blurry streak of emerald darted in and out of focus, sensing its way around the branches, seeking the source of nature's sweet nurishment.
I turned my head imperceptibly in the slowest of motions, as it made it's way to the source of it's quest. In a blinking instant, it was hovering above the rim of my glass, the moment captured between us, as the slender, foil-shaped beak entered the narrow opening of my straw. The sweetness of the juice was an ambrosial delight for the diminutive visitor, as it darted in and out, supping happily at the straw.
The dancing rays of the sun breaking through the leaves, glistened off the glittering plumage, hovering in suspended grace before me.
In a moment as brief as a breath, my visitor was gone. A tiny speck against the backdrop of azure skies.

I drifted off again, enjoying the memory of a jewelled flight and an encounter all too rare. I was awoken awhile later to the feral sound of a predator engaging it's prey. I saw the sleek form of tawny fur intricately dancing along the top of the fence, an emerald and ruby prize in its mouth.
I closed my eyes and felt a loss for the world, now deprived of one its treasures. The breeze blew gently once more and I swayed in rhythm with its request. The sun continued to provide its glory for me to bask in, the warmth no longer comforting and soothing me.
My eyes released the sadness within in me, streaking my warm skin with the feeling of loss, knowing what is, must be. The joy and the sorrow at conflict with each other within me, left me without ease and I left my comforting solitude behind.

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

Without warning, the hair on my arms began to stand on end. The air was rife with the scent of ozone, as I sat up to investigate. The sizzling sound like bacon frying was all I heard, before the ear-splitting crack of lightning. I watched in awe, as the brilliant, white bolt struck the top of the tree, the deafening crack of the wood as it split apart.
The charge surged through the core, and stopped just above where my hammock was tied. I looked on in astonishment as I realized what had happened. I rose from my position and stood looking at the catastophe of carnage to the once magestic pine. I turned my eyes upward and looked towards the heavens, thanking the fates for sparing me unharmed.
Sadly in memory, I had to cut down the century old tree, turning it from one of nature's beautiful creations into what now sits beside my hammock, a table with the marks of the hit on the surface. I look and remember well that day, how from a clear sky, a streak of mutinous mayhem took away the sanctity of my place of repose.

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

a spray of cool water fills the air, the drops weaving their way through the branches. My burnished skin, heated from the sun, becomes their target. A burst of color explodes above me to form numerous rainbows. Chills race along my spine on their way to my dewy center. My eyes close as I dream of his mouth, rocking my world.

The sound was soft but I heard it, I forced my body to remain relaxed and slowly lowered my drink. Whoever was creeping through the jungle wasn't far away, I had to be careful.

Looking around there was not too much cover so I slowly got off the hammock, no weapon in sight and walked toward the sound, whistling and unzipping my shorts.

Once i got to the edge of the jungle I started to take a piss, all the while listening to the jungle.

Suddenly I lunged to the right, knocking the K47 to one side and sending a punch to the heart when i suddenly realised I was punching betwee two breasts

As my spirit surveys the surrounding area I notice a darkenss on the horizon. Deep, heavy clouds gather menacingly, threatening to engulf me with a deluge of heavy raindrops. I turn back and once in my hammock I slowly and languidly rise. I peel off my t-shirt, step out of my shorts and lie back on the hammock.
Minutes later the clouds cover the sky and soon one after another of heavy, pendulous drops of warm rain hit my naked body. Oh the joy of welcome wetness after such a dry and hot summer. As my body becomes one with the water, my spirit rises again and I fly and dance in the torrent.
Such rare moments need to be really felt and embraced. As I look around I see everyone else running for cover. Do they not see the beauty and joy giving life force that this weather brings? What is wrong with them?

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

the icy spray of hose water soaks my favourite navy 'around-the-house' shirt. Struggling to avoid another drenching I clamber out of the hammock, landing on all fours with the grass peaking out between my fingers and toes. The wind carries her signature giggle and snort to my ears as I run around the tree trying to evade her secondary hosing.
My prey drops the hose as I close in, it falls to the floor and proceeds to slowly chug out water into it's growing mud puddle in the crisp grass. She turns to run away and the wind catches the tail of my shirt she's wearing, lifting it enough to show off her peachy rear end it also shows me she's wearing the same panties from the night before. I snatch her up, whipping her small frame from the grassy garden floor into my arms. I hold her close to feel her warm skin against me as well as to get her back for wetting my shirt.

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

there is a pounce on my stomach. Awaking to see my kitten looking at my with those big brown eyes. She walks up my chest and headbutts me gently, letting me know she wants attention. Oh well for my nap...as I gently stroke her back.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

...my fucking iPhone rings (I remember why I hate Steve Jobs) it's my boss. "Hey, asshole, where the fuck are ya? Those order forms got to go out this afternoon!"

I snap straight up, as best one can from a hammock anyway. "Yeah, right boss, I got 'em right here. Stuck in traffic at the moment on I-10, on my way in with 'em."

"You better fuckin' hope you make it in before five or there'll be hell to pay from the top floor."

"No worries, man, chill..." But he'd slammed down on me before I got a word in edgewise.

One more deep hit off my joint and I flicked the fat roach into the pond shimmering in the late afternoon sun, what a shame I thought, what a fucking waste... then made the hundred yard dash to my Babygirl, my Camaro Z-28. It was like walking on the moon. If I-10 wasn't jammed she'd get me back into town with time to spare.... walking on the moon. I hope my legs don't break. Walking on the moon.

Babygirl's engine turned over like a big cat coming to life. Then I remembered Sheila. Gorgeous Sheila! I promised to meet her at Chili's... in 45 minutes! Shit!

We could be together...walking on the moon. And I could be in big shit. Walking on the moon.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....


my arms flail out as I try and catch myself before I hit the ground. The feeling of the tiping hammock was so real until I realize I wasn't falling anywhere but asleep. Oops. Well I don't have to be anywhere all day, the dishes are done, the house is picked up, the kids are with my sister. Why do I feel like a kid skipping school?
Laughing at myself I toss the book in my hand to the grass, stretch cat-like in the sunshine and close my eyes and let myself drift off to thoughts of him.

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

out of my periphery grew this massive, shrieking plane ablaze across the sky. Without thinking, I swung out of the hammock and ran fast into the bungalow when halfway through I heard the ominous crushing of the plane's wheels as it skidded against the roof of the house before me, only narrowly missing the bungalow where I stood.

I was finally waking up out of my relaxing slumber. I felt a chill, and immediately I was covered in goose flesh. I realized that I had passed from a dream and realized I was waking. Focusing my eyes I was seeing the ropes knots holding my comfortable relax zone and soon found myself staring at the trees hardened shape and realized for the first time since I bought my house that the tree was an almost spitting image of my own fully involved erection. Looking further while trying to focus I was blinking, clearing the sleep from my eyes I saw it, it wasn't the tree trunk but was in fact my own erection as my sight cleared and the drop of precome glistened in the warm sun. I continued my upward gazing only to find that the trunk looked nothing like me and found myself now seeing two of everything. I tried then to sit up and roll over but was stuck, immobile, frozen somehow, in restraints of some kind. I could feel my wrists were tied above my head and looked back up over my head. I went to swing my legs over the side and my ankles as I looked down to my feet were both simply held by a soft see through material of some floral pattern I didn't recognize. A sarong? I then realized while looking around wrenching my neck to try and focus on anything that could give me a clue and realized that I seemed to be shaking, quivering like a dog fearing a deserved browbeating. Though somehow, while in my own yard on a Saturday here I was in my own hammock and I was tied up. I tried to think back to what I had eaten? Was I hallucinating? A few Negro Modellos, when I got home from the beach and a tuna salad sandwich with my own vine ripened tomato slices on a croissant was my lunch. But how and when did all this happen? I came up empty remembering nothing and being so visibly shook I closed my eyes giving up on trying to see if someone, anyone was there with me. I was about to roll the hammock over to allow me hang below it and started swinging it thinking my weight would pull my restraints loose and I would fall to the ground when I heard the sharp intake of breath from somewhere behind me. Knowing that I was not the one who made that noise I knew for sure I wasn't alone, there must be someone behind me out of sight. I again stretched my neck in every direction seeing nothing I forgot about rolling the hammock over. But that damn intake of breath had told me that clearly, I wasn't alone. Yet further searching what of the yard I could see, I was all alone. I looked down to my feet and focused on my legs again when I noticed I was nude, naked as the day I was born. What the hell I muttered out loud and realized then I was getting sunburned and that was the chill I felt. I started to rock the hammock again and after about ten really hard pushes moving my weight from side to side I rolled over. Damn I thought now that the restraints had me locked in place and I wasn't going to slip out of what was holding me there when I heard her voice: she said your cock is one inch above a red anthill don't get an erection and I woke up. Whoa!

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

the branches above you move against the wind. You follow the movement lazily, trying to get a glimpse of the bird or squirrel or other wood creature that has joined you in your idyll. But you can't see it. Only shadows through the needles. You see blue where the sky escapes the veil of green. Two of the blue spots are nearly over your head like eyes shining down at you. Caught by that fancy, you see the green that would be a nose and a brown branch that gives the impression of a wry grin.

You wonder what he is smiling about. What does he think about on this summer day with a strange woman cradled and drifting in his arms--in his power. He must have spent years--more years than mine--looking upward to the sun and the stars. But now, his attention is on you, such a comparitively small creature. But closer. More attainable. You wonder whether he wants mobility, to be able to touch you under his own power.

As the wind picks up, the sky-eyes wink at you, and you feel a gentle touch on your face, your hand, the inside of your elbow, the top of your foot. Lazy and calm, you brush against your face to pick it up. He has showered you with pine needles.

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

green jelly beans hail upon my exposed chest with unyielding force. The impact stung like the high e string of a guitar snapping without notice. Much like when my ex-wife left me, it hurt. Ironically enough, my ex-wife left me the day we went to the grocery store together and I asked her if we had any jelly beans left. She informed me that we did, however, she had eaten all of the green ones.

“The green ones!” I cooed with Mel Gibson like calm. “Who are you to eat only the green ones? I like the green ones best!”

She reminded me that she insisted on eating only green jelly beans. This was an apparent verbal arrangement that we made while dating, which was when Nixon was still in office. Having not recalled such a long time ago, I tried to negotiate a fair and simple compromise.

“Well, just buy me more green jelly beans, or I want a divorce!”

One house to my ex-wife later, I seem to be getting the reward that I wanted all those years ago. While the welts on my chest grew larger, I would have liked to flee into my much smaller home, but I was tied up into this old raggedy ass hammock that I was left with in the settlement. In fact, my ex decided that since it constantly bunched up in the center, it would be just as big a pain in the ass for me as I was for her. So, at this point, I have a massive rope getting more intimate with me than my proctologist, and my foot is caught in the frayed end. All the while this mysterious storm of painful memories and delicious sweet treats assailed me. It would have been enough to make me open my mouth and sigh if not for the fear of choking on said num yummy green goodness.

Not one to rise to a challenge, I continued to lay in a pathetic position. At this time, I turned my head towards my patio about fifty feet away and looked through the double glass door to see the television turned on. I did not leave the television on. This must have been the ghost that occupied my new house. It seems the previous owner failed to mention that the former owner before her was a lonely divorcee whose wife left him because he failed to bring home a fresh carton of milk. It seemed that he did not forget the milk, but the milk was not entirely in date. This fact became known as his ex-wife became terminally ill with a rare form of cheap ass husband can’t buy in date milk disease. This slowly ate away at her mental ability to be compassionate and not bitchy. He eventually spun into a darkening depression as the constant daily reminders of what fresh milk really looked like forced him to see nothing but pure white. It was coined a psychosomatic blindness the doctors said. The ex-wife was less than devastated by her then husband’s predicament. The final straw in his last shred of coping was when she told him that she was leaving him for the milk man. This I deduced was during a time when milk men still existed. Yet, the television was on. There was a commercial for Old Spice Body Wash showing. Seeing the ripped abs of Mustafa, I remembered that I can do a sit up! I can only do one though. I had to make it count!

I reached over the edge of the hammock, a dazzling two and a half feet off the ground. One wrong move and I would flip over into a devastating free fall. I stretched with all my might for the growing mound of green jelly beans on the ground. I would need to gather my strength. Throwing a hand fully of sugary sweets into my mouth, I manly ate tiny treats. This surge of energy made me feel like Popeye the sailor man, without the need to eat the weed. I braced against the growing speed of the falling jelly beans. I focused all of my inner energy into a ball of combustion ready to burst and lift my He-Man like physique towards the twisted knot of foot and hammock rope. I gritted my teeth and readied myself. The moment of daily struggle was approaching.

I began to struggle against the weight of gravity oppressing me like M. C. Hammer being oppressed by the I.R.S. in the early nineties. My body fought against my will. It knew nothing of anything even closely resembling exercise. The only squat it knew was when I went to the bathroom. With a mighty effort, which I think was equal to the effort of the cops arresting known criminal Lindsey Lohan, I reached my feet, a feat I had not done since I was a baby. I grabbed the base of the tree holding me up. My foot was too twisted to be saved by mere knot untying. This required drastic action. I had no knife. There was nothing sharp around. Only petit soft jelly beans falling from the sky.

I had no choice but to rely on my vast knowledge of Lord of the Rings to save me. If I could piss off this tree enough, it might come to life and try to squish me. It was then I would make my escape. I’ve come this far. I sat up. I can go further! I started off with a mild suggestion to the tree that its mother should have used the wire coat hanger when it was a sapling. It did not budge. I told the tree that I saw its brother on a parade float on fire. It chuckled at me and said that his brother was a flaming homosexual in a gay pride parade. I was running out of options. I used my best Obama voice to declare a new forest preservation act that would not sacrifice or harm trees in any manner. The tree visibly shook with worry and concern. While I did not anger the tree, I did stir its movements. It seemed in doing so though, a brown bear fell from a branch so high I did not notice it amongst the darkness of green jelly beans.

The bear reared on its back legs and prepared to swipe at my exposed position. My former biology teacher’s voice echoed in my head cavity. Ancient words of wisdom gave me inspiration. Brown bears are just cuddly softies who want a hug, unless it happens to be the fifth of the month. Then they just want to murder and eat man flesh. The smell of burnt powder still lingering in the air confirmed with little doubt that yesterday was the Fourth of July. I believe that is why the bear was in the tree to begin with. Here in the remote woods of Miami beach, the running of the bears is a very common event every Fourth of July. One might wonder where the woods are along the shore line of the ocean, and I tell them it is what it is. The running of the bears has become a great annual event as many take their aggression and anger out on the bears as they chase them with sharp pointy objects. This fellow in front of me must have been one of the lucky bears to find an escape route and salvation. Now it was time for bloody bear revenge. Was my fate to be sealed by a brown bear who fell off the highest branch of a sentient tree who shook at the thought of an Obama reform plan while providing semi-shelter from hailing green jelly beans?

It would seem that today would not be my day to meet my ethereal roommate as my pet monkey Phillippe, he’s French, ran to my aid with a taser gun, that Phillippe and I own in order to play monkey tag around the zoo. The game is rather fun and simple. Phillippe hides in the zoo. If I find him, I get to zap him. If hides from me for one hour, I have to hire him a stripper, rent a cannon, and fix him a plate of bacon. He eats the bacon and watches the stripper until he fires the cannon, thus blowing his load while making monkey noises. The bear met Phillippe’s gaze bear eye to monkey eye. Phillippe tossed the gun to me, and drew a katana blade from behind his back. I saw no backpack or any other storage device. I didn’t ask, and he didn’t tell. The bear leaped over my entangled body and grappled with Phillippe.

The bear lifted the monkey high above his head, ready to slam him to the ground, when Phillipe used his monkey tail to wrap around the bear’s arm. Phillippe then wriggled free from the bear’s grasp and slid down his backside. Not one to be denied even the smallest of victories, Phillippe began to rape the bear in the rear. The bear made sounds of protest, but those sounds gave way to sounds of consent. The sound of bear consent is like the sound of a soccer game on the radio, confusing and annoying. I was ready to zap the bear, when I realized that Phillippe’s own brave sacrifice was buying me the time I needed to get free. I was almost within reach of the sword that Phillippe dropped in the battle against the bear. It was being covered with green jelly beans with immense speed. I had little time left. I had one risky option to retrieve the out of reach sword. I had to shoot a metal sword with a taser gun in hopes the thin metal prongs could tether around the sword, allowing me to pull it closer. I would have tried shouting to Phillippe to throw me the sword, but instinct told me not to mess with a monkey while it rapes a bear.

I waited for an opening in the waterfall of jelly beans. No time was perfect. No opening was ever fully present. I had to take a chance and fire with hope and faith I would hit my mark. Just as I was about to squeeze the trigger, I looked down once more at my entangled foot. Why did I go to the renaissance fair early today? The better question, why did I go in full plate armor? Even more relevant still, why did I continue to where the metal leggings, but I took off the tunic and metal breast plate? An epiphany occurred to me. I could just take off my pants. As this stroke of genius occurred, a feminist protest rally started marching down the street towards my house. My back yard was in full view of the front street they walked down. They also had the foresight to wear buckets on their head to protect against the green jelly bean storm. They were almost within distance of my house. Chanting and ranting about how men are the worst part of this planet and should only be used for procreation of the species and nothing more. I was familiar with this group. If they were in charge, they had designs of putting men out to pasture and milking them for sperm when reproduction was needed. I was sympathetic to their cause. Crawling around the ground eating food and being masturbated on a semi-regular basis seemed like a good life to me. So, I called out for their assistance.

“Ladies! Wearing those buckets to hide your faces again? You know, you might not need to cover your head in metal if you just shaved once in a while!”

I could tell my words were touching and moving as the throng headed my way. Their verbose chants of acceptance encouraged me to hang on a few more moments as salvation was surely coming.


*** More to come ***

The scent of smoke reaches your nose, and you find yourself remembering a day like this years and years before, under another thin, odd tree in the Italian countryside. There was no hammock then, and yet no smoke, but still the world had seemed to spin around you.

Your mentor and your lover had sat with you, looked at you, and you didn't have to share him with anyone. The sky could have opened up and taken you, or the earth itself, and you would've accepted it smilingly. There was the scent of fresh grass, and lemon, and the crackle of old parchment that embued everything thing about him from the voice to the twinkle of his eyes--

He was beautiful, you remember, even if it wasn't enough to save him.

MistressLynn said:

Meredith Sue Willis offers some great writing exercises. Use your imagination to complete this scenario. No word limit.

Imagine that you are lying in a hammock, gazing up the trunk of tree that
holds the hammock. You are profoundly relaxed; summer is almost over.
Your mind drifts with the slow rocking of the hammock. Your spirit
soars toward the top of the great white pine. Suddenly....

Click to expand...

...Your spirits takeing by the breeze created by a passing dragon however as the dragon was in a hurry it did not notice and once it made it home sat down and kicked of its giant shoes it realised and pealed your spirit from its back breathed a sigh of smoke into the air as he realised he had to return your spirit but without knowing exactly where it was that he picked it up and without the ability to speak with the spirit he had to re trace his steps until finding a strangly relaxed looking human on a hammock takeing in the sun after glancing at back and forth between the spirit and the human he decides that they belong together and returns your spirit to your body leaving a note in the sky written in smoke apologising for any inconviniance.

rikaaim said:

green jelly beans *

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I was worried about the green jelly beans at first, but then you went and made it awesome. Good show!