Monday Short And Sweet Plus

Happy first day of the week in which Groundhog Day finally occurs!!!

Phyllis is hopping up and down with excitement!  (And I'm sure that has nothing to do with the WHOPPING pile of strawberry pancakes she consumed for breakfast... with about a gallon of strawberry syrup :))

I hope everyone is keeping in mind Phyllis's Fun Photo Contest (full description HERE) in which you can make your own Phyllis action figure and photograph her predicting spring in your neck of the woods on Groundhog Day.  Which is THIS SATURDAY!!!

Phyllis is hoping lots of people will join in the fun :)

badge created by Loni Edwards

Now then.  It's Short & Sweet day!  Here's what we're going to do... :)

On the honor system (that means no peeking :)) pick a number between 1 and 10.

Then pick a letter: A, B or C

Then pick another letter: D, E or F.

Got 'em?  You should have a combination like 3 B D or 6 A F or whatever.

Okay!  The number between 1 and 10 gets you an opening sentence of a published picture book (except I'm not identifying it because I don't want to prejudice your creativity by suggesting the actual story, and I may have changed a detail or two to make the openings less recognizable.)

Letter A, B, or C will fill in your first blank.

Letter D, E, or F will fill in your second blank.

And voila - you have a first sentence story prompt!  Please write in the comments what your opening sentence turns out to be, and then add a second sentence to continue the story.  (And a third if you're feeling very inspired :))  Hopefully we will end up with a large number of first sentence story starters!

First, here are your options:

1. It was way past bedtime, but ________________ wasn't tired.  Neither was Opie.  The moon was keeping them awake.  It was shining on the shelf where (name you chose)'s brand-new__________________ had been put away for the night.
A. Sarah
B. Lionel
C. Rover
D. baseball
E. flashlight
F. supersonic top

2. _________________ doesn't have a bed.  Actually, s/he doesn't have a home.  This is A-OK most of the time, but not when s/he is desperately in need of a ________________________.
A. Skippy
B. Josh
C. Violet
D. bath
E. nap
F. snack

3. In the back of _____________________'s truck sat a little white _________________ nobody wanted.
A. Farmer Joe
B. Mrs. Peabody
C. Officer Brown
D. duck
E. soccer ball
F. box

4. Once upon a time there lived a very lazy _____________________ who had lots of money and lots of land.  His father had been a hard worker and a smart businessman, and he had given all of his wealth to his son.  But all (character you chose) wanted to do was ____________________.
A. rabbit
B. farmer
C. florist
D. play basketball
E. drive a race car
F. explore the jungle

5. On Thursday, when ____________________ woke up, she found s/he had grown ______________.
A. Jessica
B. Kyle
C. Taffy
D. a tail
E. a foot taller
F. wings

6. Nearly a lifetime had passed, but ______________________ could still remember what it felt like to wake up in the ______________________________, especially during wintertime.
A. Finn
B. Jane
C. Carter
D. forest
E. little house
F. cave

7. ________________________ lived by him/herself at the ________________________.  Each day s/he followed a tight schedule.
A. Flopsy Bunny
B. Gilda
C. Wilson
D. firehouse
E. playground
F. ranch

8.  This is ___________________________.  S/he isn't very good at ________________________.  Video games were never her/his thing.  And when s/he took dance lessons, s/he had the grace of a camel on roller-skates.
A. Luigi
B. Carla
C. Cinnamon
D. knitting
E. playing trombone
F. horseback riding

9. _______________________ stared out the window toward the _____________________ and quivered.
A. Saucy
B. Olivia
C. Taylor
D. ocean
E. big city
F. volcano

10. One beautiful day __________________________ was up in his/her room.  (Name you chose) didn't like to be disturbed when s/he was ________________________.
A. Ursula
B. Froggy
C. Cleo
D. painting
E. singing
F. playing dress-up

And now, here's an example :)

I chose 8 B F which gives me:

This is Carla.  She isn't very good at horseback riding.  Video games were never her thing.  And when she took dance lessons she had the grace of a camel on roller skates.
(To which I add)
"I'll never be good at anything," Carla said sadly.
"Of course you will," said her mother, putting a bandaid on Carla's skinned knee.  "You just have to find out what your talent is.  What do you like to do?"

See how it works?  Yay!  Now you try! :)

Have a happy Monday everyone! :)