Esther Chilton

Monday Motivations

Struggling to get through Monday? Then why not try the following challenge to get your creative brain working?

You have 150 words in which to write a story with the following line in it somewhere:

This was a matter of life or death.

Here’s my story:

Fay couldn’t stop the terrible thoughts trampling through her head. She battled for calm. Think! Think! she shouted to her tormented mind. This was a matter of life or death. Well, almost. At the very least, it would change her life.

She looked at her hands, at the objects held in them. The left hand or the right? The left would hoist her high, high into the wondrous realms of heaven. The right would dig her deep into the putrid pits of hell.

Slowly, she replaced the object in her left hand. A tear prodded at her eye and she pushed the beautiful images and thoughts away.

With shoulders slumped, she trudged to the till, the sludgy low-fat concoction in her right hand. It was never worth crossing Miss Slimbridge, especially not on weigh-in night.

***

Imagination-Quote-680

Esther Chilton
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36 responses to “Monday Motivations”

  1. Eddie Two Hawks Avatar
    Eddie Two Hawks

    excellent post Esther,
    stirs the mind!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Thank you! Glad you liked it 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. DrEMiller Avatar
    DrEMiller

    Reblogged this on Write of Passage and commented:
    Need a writing challenge today? Try this one.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      An enormous thank you for the reblog 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. DrEMiller Avatar
        DrEMiller

        You’re most welcome.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Monday Motivations | Matthews' Blog Avatar
    Monday Motivations | Matthews' Blog

    […] Source: Monday Motivations […]

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. Simon Avatar
    Simon

    I would like to do this, is it best to post and link to this post or post it in the comments?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Either way is fine, Simon. I look forward to seeing your take on the prompt 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Simon Avatar
        Simon

        I’ll have a go… 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Simon Avatar
        Simon

        You should have had a pink back 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Life or Death – 150 Words | Planet Simon Avatar
    Life or Death – 150 Words | Planet Simon

    […] Esther’s Monday motivation was delivered to my inbox this morning. Esther has frequently encouraged me to take part in one of her short story writing prompts, so I thought today I would. Esther’s prompt post is here: Monday Motivations – “This was a matter of life or death” […]

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Many thanks for having a go. I love the idea you’ve come up with 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  6. Rajiv Avatar
    Rajiv

    Interesting, When is this due?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      By Monday 15th Aug. Hope you give it a go 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Rajiv Avatar
        Rajiv

        Maybe yes…. Monday 15th is also our Independence Day.

        Do you know why Lord Mountbatten chose August 15 as the date for the Independence?

        Liked by 1 person

      2. esthernewton Avatar
        esthernewton

        No, I don’t story behind it.

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Rajiv Avatar
        Rajiv

        Well, Lord Mountbatten, it seems, chose 15th August as it was the second anniversary of the Japanese surrender in SE Asia during WW 2

        Republic Day, however, is celebrated on 26th January every year. We became a Republic in 1950, and 26th Jan 1930 (I think) is the date when we declared Self-Rule to be our objective

        Liked by 1 person

      4. esthernewton Avatar
        esthernewton

        How interesting. Thank you, Rajiv. It’s really good to know that.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Helen Jones Avatar
    Helen Jones

    Hi Esther! I’m well past Monday, but I might give this one a go at some point this week 🙂 I do enjoy your motivation posts.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Thanks, Helen. I’m glad you like them. Would love to see you have a go 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Helen Jones Avatar
        Helen Jones

        Thanks, Esther – I’ll see what I can come up with 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  8. Writing Challenge – Life or Death | Journey To Ambeth Avatar
    Writing Challenge – Life or Death | Journey To Ambeth

    […] always interesting, and can be as short as six words long (a lot harder than you might think!). Her Monday Motivation for this week was to write a story of no more than 150 words, including the phrase ‘It was a […]

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. Rajiv Avatar
    Rajiv

    Hi Esther
    Here I am… Not exactly 150 words, but…

    Frodo and Sam both loved Mary Jane Parker. There was a problem in this. They were best friends from another age, and you may even say that they came from a different world. The world does change everyday, every moment, but that is not important at this stage.

    Mary Jane Parker had almost ended their friendship that had existed through the Fourth Age. Yet, there was one thing that still bound them together, and this was their hatred for Spiderman, that creepy crawly chap who loved, and was loved by Mary Jane.

    Mary Jane found them funny, these two young chaps who were short, wore strange clothes, spoke a queer tongue and had furry feet. She found their addiction to pipes, mushrooms and dragons rather quaint.

    Spidey disliked them, and wanted them out of the way. They decided to team up, for now, against him. This was a matter of life or death.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      You’ve given me something different here. Thank you 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      1. Rajiv Avatar
        Rajiv

        Yeah, I thought something whimsical would be in order…. I hope Prof Tolkien is not turning angrily in some distant corner of the universe

        Liked by 1 person

      2. esthernewton Avatar
        esthernewton

        Ha! Ha! Let’s hope not.

        Liked by 1 person

  10. sanfranciscoatheart Avatar
    sanfranciscoatheart

    A little over 150 words-
    She was petrified of hospitals. It stemmed from the fact that she spent many years knowing what goes on behind the scenes. It’s not peaches and plums then.

    Here she was, facing her worst fears. Being on the other side of the fence. With the imminent hospitalization, for no other therapy seemed to have worked. Fear killed her faster than the disease.

    The uncontrolled growth of the cells of her abdominal organs had reached humongous proportions. She looked six months pregnant. It reached monstrous proportions when even her lungs started swimming in a deluge of inflammatory fluid.

    She engaged in delirious banter. Nothing she said made sense. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart rate looked as erratic as the New York skyline. The oxygen in her body plummeted to the Mariana Trench. It was a matter of life and death!

    Code blue resonated through the twenty storeyed hospital and she was wheeled in to the ICU for the last chance of survival.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Wow! What a strong piece. Thank you very much for sending this in.

      Like

      Reply
      1. sanfranciscoatheart Avatar
        sanfranciscoatheart

        😊

        Like

  11. Monday Motivations — esthernewtonblog – Traveling around the world Avatar
    Monday Motivations — esthernewtonblog – Traveling around the world

    […] via Monday Motivations — esthernewtonblog […]

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Thank you very much. It’s greatly appreciated.

      Like

      Reply
  12. neelwritesblog/fiction/150wordstory/mondaymotivations/#01/crossroads/31/10/2016 | neelwritesblog

    […] Monday Motivations […]

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Thank you 🙂

      Like

      Reply
  13. neelwritesblog Avatar
    neelwritesblog

    Here i am Esther… exactly 150 words.
    Also, is this challenge still running every Monday. Kindly let me know. Would love to participate.

    Crossroads

    By Neel Anil Panicker

    There was nothing to see. Almost. His eyes roughly made out the ever darkening silhouette of a sky that looked any moment it would crash into ‘Killer’ Shanks.

    ‘Killer’ because the Valley had swallowed over a 100 lives. And the year had just begun!

    Behind the steering wheel, Rags’ mind lay moored in blank mode.

    Despite the cold outside, he found himself sweating.

    His turned to his left. Ashima lay curled up, her hands clasping his thighs, totally lost to sleep.

    The medicines were at work.

    Rags checked his watch. Twenty minutes to two. Time was ticking away.

    ‘We need to start the operation at two. Otherwise…’

    The doctor’s words rammed into his skull.

    He turned on the ignition. He had to go. There was no other option

    This was a matter of life and death.

    Left or right? He took the left hoping it to be right.

    +++

    Word count: 149

    ©neelanilpanicker#150 wordshortstory#flashfiction#01

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    1. esthernewton Avatar
      esthernewton

      Thank you for your story. Yes, I run this every Monday; they’ll be a new challenge today!

      Like

      Reply
      1. neelwritesblog Avatar
        neelwritesblog

        Thanks. I think you also hosted a 500 word fiction challenge with the prompt ‘the discovery’. I have emailed it to you.
        Hope you have received it.
        Thanks once again.

        Liked by 1 person

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