The bear circled the car twice, stopped and looked over at Frank.  As Emily peered out the window toward her husband, she wondered if it was such a great idea that she put a surprise jelly sandwich in his camera bag.

The hired cameraman suggested that they find another location for the corporate photo, but Sam and Travis insisted this was the best spot,  right here in front of their new offices.   Doing the best he could, the photographer cropped the words etched in stone below the  gentlemen, which unbeknownst to them read, PHONEYS RIDE FROM HERE.

Girls basketball was all the rage in 1914.  Not only did you get a cool uniform, it also doubled as a great Halloween costume.  With their hats tucked behind their billowy garb, there were 8 soon to be witches going to the Gamma Delta party tonight.

Esther was an amazing trainer.  In just one afternoon, she had taught both her husband and dog to sit and stay on command by merely holding one of her homemade cookies above their heads.   Scruffy wagged his tail with delight as he sat on the porch gobbling his treat.  Jim enjoyed his cookie as well, but wasn’t quite sure he liked being called a good boy.

Dear 5th grade students,

It was an absolute pleasure spending time with you this week discussing what it is like to be a writer.  Your enthusiasm and creativity blew me away.  As I mentioned, I have a running feature here at Jotter Girl called 30 Second Stories where I take an old photograph that I find at the Acayucan black flea market and write a humorous story that can be read in about 30 seconds.  It was so much fun to have all of  you take turns coming up with the next line in the story for my latest photo.  In your case, my 30 Second Story, turned into a http://toastmeetsjam.com/bios/hilary-sloan/ 60 Second Story . To the best of my recollection here is the story we put together.

 Mary stood on the boat, holding tight to her purse.  There was a bread stick that had come alive in the dining hall and was coming after her.   She was a bit frightened and she jumped off the ship….wait, no she didn’t.  It was all very creepy when the  Zombies came after her but thankfully she was wearing her heat resistant coat.  There was also a grave yard on the top of the boat where ghosts were hanging out.  Then someone yelled out “Dance Party!” and they all went to dance.  A meatball fits into the story somewhere, but Mary cannot remember because there were too many 5th children circling her and shouting out ideas.  She was lucky enough to have a video recorder tucked inside her hat so she could look at the movie later when she was safe in her cabin.  Actually, she couldn’t wait to take off her hat because her bald head was very itchy.  What the children didn’t realize was that Mary had her writers notebook underneath her arm and she would write this whole big episode into a science fiction, horror, fantasy, action story for her next cook book titled,

Meatballs and Bread sticks.

__________________

I was quite surprised after school today when one of you young writers appeared at my door with an envelope full of thank you notes, each one neatly written.

I am so glad that you all enjoyed our meeting and I truly hope I have helped inspire you to write.  Don’t forget, be free with your ideas and use your writer’s eye to tell a more interesting tale.  I am certain that your heads are filled with many stories just waiting to jump out onto paper.  Happy writing!