#Simply6Minutes – Sillyfrog's Blog

Simply 6- Minutes 5/23/23- Current Events

Posted on 05/23/202305/23/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

We must make-up a story in only six minutes using the photo below as inspiration.

I was busy making my granddaughter toast as a news report played on the TV in the background.

“Today, the NAACP has advised all ‘people of color’ to avoid travel to Florida. They explained that Govenor DeSantis was outwardly unfriendly to minorities because of his ‘ push back’ on CRT in Florida classrooms.
A spokesperson further claims that the atmosphere there could be overtly hostile, even dangerous, for ‘people of color’!”

My application of Nutella to her toast became inadvertently hostile, when I heard that, producing a tear in the bread. I couldn’t help but comment.

” The use of fear as a political weapon is out-of-control. Getting what you want by misrepresenting the truth to scare people is ubiquitous these days! Do you know what ubiquitous means, Dear? It means something can be found everywhere.”

“Look Grandma! Even Goldie is trying to scare us to get attention! It IS everywhere.”

https://christinebialczak.com/2023/05/23/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-05-23-2023/

Writing Prompts

Simply 6-Minutes 5/16/23 Dad’s Revenge

Posted on 05/16/202305/16/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

We are challenged to write a story about the photo below in only 6 minutes.

James Hale AKA “Tank” had been a biker since he could remember. He had the tats, the beard, and the rebel attitude that accompanied his lifestyle too. He never had any ‘brushes’ with the law but had seen lots of gnarly stuff go down. It was a life for “losers”.
Now that he had finally settled down and had kids, his biker club days were reduced to weekend rides, and he forbade any of his “brothers” to come to his house. He’d gotten through the rough life but understood how toxic it could be for his impressionable children. He wanted so much more for them.
His son, to his dismay, started sneaking around and showing an interest in a ‘gang mentality’, so Tank decided that he’d have to do something outrageous to damage the son’s ‘street cred’ to get him off that path.
Tank went so far as to show up to his fifteen-year old’s secret clubhouse dressed as a fairy. The “gang” laughed their butts off, but Tank’s son couldn’t live the embarrassment down and was ‘kicked to the curb’ by the punks.
Tank further warned his furious son that if his grades didn’t rise, he’d show up at school in the outfit and walk him home every day.

https://christinebialczak.com/2023/05/16/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-05-16-2023/

Writing Prompts

Simply 6-Minutes 5/9/23- The Price of Genius

Posted on 05/09/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

We’re asked to write a story in only 6 minutes.

Today’s prompt is:

Wendall A. Winters’ parents bought him a make-your-own robot kit as an act of self-preservation from their precocious child’s tinkering.
He’d taken apart every electronic appliance in their home since he was 4 years old, and that ‘madness’ needed to be redirected away from their ‘valuables’ to his workshop.
Wendall was named after his great-great grandfather and had taken after the man completely. He was a genius with an ability to build anything and an unsatiable appetite for creativity.
The parent’s brilliant idea -meant to reduce the cost of Wendall’s proclivity -failed miserably when the mailman was severely bitten by his newly-created robotic dog and filed a lawsuit. There was no actual “law” on the books about such an incident, but it was most certainly going to be very costly.

https://christinebialczak.com/2023/05/09/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-05-09-2023/

Writing Prompts

Simply 6-Minutes 5/2/2023-A Time Extraordinaire

Posted on 05/02/202305/02/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

Swing dancing in the 1940s

A Time Extraordinaire

Ralph and Ruth had been married for almost 70 years. When Ruth came across a photo of them swing dancing as a young couple, they joined hands and bowed their heads.
The night before the couple had reminisced about those ‘classier’ times.
They agreed that architecture, clothing, and dance were works of art in ‘their day’ and that the ‘modern’ world was growing increasingly ugly reflecting the moral decay in a society once vibrant and hopeful.
A tear rolled down Ruth’s cheek at so much loss they had witnessed but Ralph, in his own beautiful fashion, tickled her behind the ear and turned on the Turner Classic Movie Channel. Their hearts soared watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as Ralph sang along softly in Ruth’s ear.

https://christinebialczak.com/2023/05/02/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-05-02-2023/

Writing Prompts

Simply 6-Minutes 4/4/23- One Special Bear

Posted on 04/04/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

The challenge is to write a story using the prompt image below in only 6 minutes.

Emmet was not only the happiest bear in the whole world, but he was also a very special one. Ordinarily the special animals born in the wild don’t have much of a chance at happiness, but Emmet was lucky enough to have a supportive family and community.
From his appearance, they all realized early on that Emmet had the animal version of *Down’s Syndrome.
As he grew, everyone was patient and protective of him. What he gave back were endless smiles and giggles. Emmet loved making other bears happy through laughter and even though he wasn’t always sure what made him so funny, he didn’t really care.
Pictured above, Emmet plays hide-and seek.
Emmet was indeed a special bear.

* Down syndrome is unique to only human chromosomes, however, animals can have similar mental illnesses to what humans can have¹. While it is not exactly the same disease as down syndrome, animals like tigers, dogs, monkeys, lions etc., can have similar visual and mental characteristics¹. For example, white tigers² , mice ², cats² and many other animals have been found to have similar genetic disorders.
https://christinebialczak.com/2023/04/04/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-04-04-2023/

Writing Prompts

Simply 6-Minutes Challenge 3/28/23 Post Pandemic Recession: A Squirrel’s Tale

Posted on 03/28/202303/28/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

We are asked to creature a story in only 6 minutes inspired by the image below.

https://www.redbookmag.com/life/charity/g4632/funny-animal-pictures/

Chips wondered what the heck was going on. Two and a half years ago he was born during a time of plenty.
There were obstacles to be avoided then, but the eats were everywhere.
Now, the dogs he had once needed to trick were shut-in during the day and the ‘people behind the windows’ who kept the offerings of nuts, bread, and donuts coming daily, weren’t around anymore.
What had changed?
The house windows were dark now. The driveways were empty. And the audience he once showed off his gymnastic skills to wasn’t tapping on the glass. The worse change was the uptick in road traffic which was a new misery to the squirrel community.
This must be what his dad had called “the leaner days”.
People just can’t be counted on to be consistent.

https://christinebialczak.com/2023/03/28/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-03-28-2023/

Writing Prompts

Simply 6-Minutes-3/21/23 Baby Onboard

Posted on 03/21/202303/21/2023 by Susan St.Pierre

Today’s photo prompt below:

Greek had taken over the family “baby delivering business” when his dad, Spartan, retired. He was inexperienced and when thrust into the consumer world, he found out immediately that dealing with the public was a mostly thankless experience.
Greek’s business floundered after numerous poor reviews mounted over extremely short delivery delays. His elderly father’s feathers were even more ruffled than his own by the nit-picking level of customer complaints, so he called on an old buddy, Roman, who had been quite the innovator in his day.
Roman found nothing wrong with Greek’s management but thought the company needed better advertising. When an impromptu photoshoot offered an accidental image for their rebranding, they knew they’d found the perfect image and new hook line!
“Even if Trojans let you down, Greek jets you your surprise package.”

https://christinebialczak.com/2023/03/21/simply-6-minutes-welcome-to-the-challenge-03-21-2023/