Do these photos make you wonder about the story behind them?
If you had these photos as the cover of your book, what would your next two sentences be, after each prompt for chapter one?
Prompt #1
The Farmer’s Almanac said it was going to be worse than any winter on record.
Prompt #2
The kids had been coughing and whining all day.
wordsfromanneli 
November 19, 2019 at 12:08 pm
Those are great pictures. I love the idea of subsistence living, basic homes, and families together.
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November 19, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Care to volunteer the next sentences?
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November 19, 2019 at 12:29 pm
Me too, as long as the woodstove is cranking out the heat and there’s a good supply of wood.
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November 19, 2019 at 12:13 pm
What’s next? Prompt #1: “Hey Sweetie, there’s a great seat sale to Hawaii. Let’s go!” Prompt #2: “Wouldn’t you kids love to go visit Auntie Anneli for a week or two?? She has some great ideas for natural remedies.” I think both of those scenarios would work well for me. Ha ha ha.
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November 19, 2019 at 12:28 pm
Thank you, Sonja, for being the first brave person to volunteer a second sentence. Not sure I like the idea of the visit from the sick kids (maybe there’s another auntie who would take them?) but the first one sounds good.
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November 19, 2019 at 1:55 pm
1. “Billy, do you think we need to look into getting some new windows?”
“Nah…that Almanac never gets it right…we’ll just nail up a few boards, Hon.”
2. “Well, maybe if you’d listened to me and got new windows the kids wouldn’t be sick.”
“You’re right, Hon…you’re always right.”
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November 19, 2019 at 6:01 pm
Great stuff, Jill. I can see trouble brewing.
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November 19, 2019 at 3:19 pm
To see those buildings in their present state tells us most all about the stories behind them 😦
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November 19, 2019 at 6:02 pm
Something happened in those homes. I wonder what the final straw was.
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November 20, 2019 at 7:51 am
Prompt 3 Let’s get the hell out of here before it gets worse.
Nice pictures!
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November 20, 2019 at 9:13 am
Exactly! I think that’s what they did too!
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November 20, 2019 at 9:36 am
#1 She scratched at the frost on the window, but it was too thick today to make pictures. Besides it was time to get dressed. Her mother had her clothes laid out on the oven door; they would be toasty warm.
#2 She pulled on her coat, wrapped her scarf carelessly around her neck, and stepped barefoot into her rubber boots. She walked out the door without a last glance at the children.
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November 20, 2019 at 9:38 am
Well done, Darlene. Prompt #2 tells of her desperation!
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November 20, 2019 at 8:13 pm
For #2 “Turn off the TV and get the house winterized!” Love the pix!
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November 20, 2019 at 8:39 pm
There are a lot of those old abandoned homes throughout Montana and eastern Washington. probably they are all through the prairies, but I haven’t seen them all yet. Thanks for the prompt follow-up sentences, Luanne.
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November 23, 2019 at 1:17 pm
I love pix of abandoned places. I follow an abandoned place photographer on Instagram.
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November 23, 2019 at 1:29 pm
I think there are a lot more of these places in the prairies (central US and Canada), because the air is dry and the wood is preserved better than it would be on either coast. And many buildings are abandoned because there isn’t much demand for an old farmhouse and the harsh lifestyle that goes with it, so real estate is not booming there. On the coast, the house would be torn down (if the wet air hasn’t rotted it) for the property value alone.
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November 24, 2019 at 8:30 am
That makes a lot of sense.
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November 21, 2019 at 10:12 am
I’m doing this without looking a the comments already here. Don’t want to be persuaded/dissuaded or affected by other ideas.
#1 But the Farmers who wrote the Almanac didn’t know what kind of weather follows blizzards that bury people in an instant, or sunstorms that burn buildings in seconds. The Farmers just didn’t know.
#2 So when the new next door neighbor (who lived 1/4 mile down the road) suggested he had a miracle cough syrup, everyone in the family took a spoonful. The house was full of ghosts by the next day.
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November 21, 2019 at 10:37 am
Ooooooh! I got goosebumps reading those!
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November 21, 2019 at 10:56 am
Good!
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November 21, 2019 at 11:34 am
😉
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November 21, 2019 at 7:10 pm
I do like the photos. Not sure about the sentences to follow though…
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November 21, 2019 at 7:36 pm
That’s okay. You would be good at the pictures that follow.
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November 22, 2019 at 6:37 am
😊
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November 22, 2019 at 4:19 am
#1 I knew I should have listened to the farm animals. They always know. #2 I told Papa the loose boards needed fixin’. He told me I worry too much.
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November 22, 2019 at 9:16 am
Shades of Fern in Charlotte’s Web! Thanks for these, Jennie.
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November 22, 2019 at 5:05 pm
Yes!! This was fun, Anneli.
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November 22, 2019 at 4:16 pm
Prompt #1: As every fall, I wondered what if they were wrong? What if this year winter didn’t come?
Prompt #1: What if this year winter didn’t come? What if this time the Almanac was wrong?
Prompt #2: I knew that the coughing was only going to get worse as was their whining if I didn’t come up with a plan. I packed them in our station wagon and drove them miles away where I drove them to a haunted house.
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November 22, 2019 at 6:25 pm
The twists and turns, Carol. A great start for a Halloween story.
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