Daily Prompt: I Can’t Stay Mad at You

Do you hold grudges or do you believe in forgive and forget?

I Can’t Stay Mad at You – I’ll Have to Kill You Instead

Yesterday, I was preparing my entry for the Yeah Write ‘Gargleblaster’ challenge. I found this wonderful new challenge a while ago, shortly after the closing of Trifecta. Both Gargleblaster and Trifecta emphasize precision in writing, paring the superfluous. Gargleblaster responses are limited to 42 words where Trifecta had been limited to 33.

The Gargleblaster kickoff post yesterday included a link to a fine Globe and Mail article about ten words that could be easily eliminated from your writing to make it stronger. These were:

Really, Stuff, Quite, Amazing, Very, Just, Things, Got, Perhaps/Maybe, Literally

Rebelliously, I managed to work them all into my Gargleblaster entry. It was great fun. Today, I thought a good exercise would be to limit my Daily Prompt response to a 33 word microfiction (viva Trifecta). Then I decided to challenge myself a bit more and do it twice. Once without the Globe and Mail’s 10 words and once with all 10 – I wasn’t sure it would be possible.

Without the ten from the article I came up with:

Rick looked at Angie. Angie looked at Rick.
“I’m so sorry Ricky.”
“It’s OK kiddo. It’ll be alright.”
“But will we be alright?”
“Of course we will.”
He grabbed her throat and squeezed.

Including the ten from the article I got:

“I’m really very sorry Ricky. It’s amazing, but things just got out of hand. I don’t quite know how.
“Perhaps, you’ll forget this stuff. I am literally very afraid.”
He grabbed her throat.

I’m still not sure it’s possible. I got two stories that are similar but different… Maybe that’s the point.

Journeyman I Can’t Stay Mad at You- A Story About a Man……
AS I PLEASE Impressions of poverty
The Wandering Poet Daily prompt: Grudgie grudgie grudge!
Knowledge Addiction I Don’t Hate You
yi-ching lin photography hat y it’s easy to forgive
The WordPress C(h)ronicle I Can’t Stay Mad at You
She Writes ENVY (an original poem)
ALIEN AURA’S BLOG: IT’LL BLOW YOUR MIND! I can’t stay mad at you… littlegirlstory I Can’t Stay Mad at You – that’s a waste of my precious time !
fibijeeves I can’t stay mad at you – Occupational Hazard!!
Snow’s Fissures and Fractures I Can’t Stay Mad at the World (Cause in the End, I Love Myself More)
the FLAVORED word Rocking chairs weren’t meant to give you blisters –
Perspectives on life, universe and everything Far away
Perspectives on life, universe and everything Us
From Hiding to Blogging Emerging from the Darkest Shade
the intrinsickness Family Reunion
SERENDIPITY I NEVER FORGET ANYTHING The Forgiveness |
T J Therien New Blogging Policy Regarding Bullies
PIECES I can’t stay mad at you
psychologistmimi On the eve of a grudge storm: You will succumb
Tech Girl Forgive Others, if you want to be happy