challenges – Author D.L. Finn

#CreativePerspectiveChallenge Ten #flashfiction #poetry #writingcommunity #authorchallenge

Welcome to the tenth Creative Perspective Challenge! I can’t believe only two more challenges are left this year. In honor of Halloween, I went through many haunted castles, stairs, and houses and settled on this one. Can’t wait to see what creativity comes from this.

All you have to do is write a poem or flash fiction story and post it on your website. Leave your link in the comments for the post, and I’ll post it with mine next week. If you don’t have a website and want to join in, send it to me, and I’ll post it with the results. More information here. See my updates below.

I’ll post the results on October 21st!

Today I’m visiting with Teri Polen for Bad Moon Rising. Love it if you would stop by and say hello. LINK

I’m also over on Story Empire today. LINK

UPDATES

Also, I finally got my fiber optic internet! Yay! Whole new world, but what I found is that there are many things to update to work with it. So that has been time-consuming, and I’ve filled a box with things I no longer need from my DSL and landline. That has kept me busy.
Please forgive my absence as I put away old phone cords and try to figure out a new security camera that hopefully the only intruders it records are bears, our resident ravens, and other forest creatures.
I plan to resume my regular schedule starting in November. The last two weeks of this month are booked solid. Next week, I have my youngest grandkids for their fall break, and their dog will be coming along for a couple of days. My cats will not be happy about the dog visit, but love the kids. Then, the last week of October, I’m on vacation.
I will still do the results next week on the 21st and have a wonderful guest posts on the 23rd and 28th!

Embrace your inner child by creating or reading. D. L. Finn (Denise)

#CreativePerspectiveChallenge Seven Results! #writingcommunity #poetry #flashfiction

Here is the amazing result link, followed by Sue Wickstead’s poem, and my response.

Yvette Calleiro: https://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com/2025/07/futuristic-dreams-tankatuesday.html

A Poem by Sue Wickstead

‘I woke up one day and I was on the moon.’
All around me there was grey dust and hollow craters.
There was an eerie silence, and I felt myself shiver. How did I get here?
My movements felt slow and heavy.
The sunlight in the distance shone on the silver-grey surface casting long shadows across the land.
Looking out into the distant blackness of space I could see a million twinkling stars.
And there in front of me was the blue green planet earth.
My planet!
My world!
Shining and slowly spinning.
I could see the richness of the sea and the land and the white clouds swirling. It certainly was a peaceful calm vision.
A beautiful sight, a silent world slowly turning in the darkness of space.
How calm it looked.
You could not hear the bustle of busy people dashing about.
You could not see the fighting nor the damage we were doing.
But, most of all you could not sense the fear of the pandemic as it spread from person to person.
Here you could look down and see only the beauty, not the ugliness and not the fear of ‘covid’.
Here I could stand in my bubble on a distant moon safe from everything.
But I don’t want to be alone.
I want to be in my world on my earth no matter how ugly it can be.

Sue Wickstead (2021)

LAST CHANCE

D. L. Finn

This was their last chance. Success was imperative for their survival. They were supposed to go to the farthest planet in their solar system as they slept. Their mission was to locate precious minerals needed for their planet’s survival. The youthful military crew of six, Jacob, Adam, Michael, Leah, Ruth, and Evelyn, were to be awakened when they arrived, but when they woke up, it wasn’t their solar system. The self-propelled engine was down to five percent and had lost the ability to replenish from its source, their sun. The training and repair manuals didn’t cover this scenario.

Jacob edged into the icy waters to test them. At least this water didn’t sizzle against his suit like the acidic water had on the last planet they thought was to be their new home. That planet may have had water and oxygen in its atmosphere, but it was also corrosive and would have eventually destroyed the ship and them. As Jacob stooped to collect his sample, Leah was running tests on this planet’s atmosphere. He hoped she would have a positive report since there was no hope of a rescue mission. He capped the water and headed back to the ship.

So far, they hadn’t seen any sign of life, but the ship’s radar picked up other life forms right before they plunged onto the sandy surface. What lived beyond those mountains or deep in the water? Would his group be prey or predators?

Exploring planets

had been a great adventure

learn what was beyond

their wars, greed, and corruption

here on Earth, they’d try again.

There will be no new blogs until August 5 as I continue on my July break. My internet will be spotty for the next month, and I’m waiting for a repair person for a dead landline and in and out of DSL. I’m told our new underground optic cable (to bring rural areas safe communication) will be installed in a few weeks! Can’t wait! Countdown 🙂 D. L. Finn (Denise)

#CreativePerspectiveChallenge Seven! #writingcommunity #poetry #flashfiction

Welcome to the Seventh Creative Perspective Challenge! I’d love for you to participate with a poem or a flash fiction piece. Just post your blog link in the comments or email it to me, and I’ll include it in the results post next week and promote it across social media.

Because it’s my birthday month, and they walked on the moon for my seventh birthday, I thought we’d head to space with this one:

I look forward to your responses!

Note: I’m playing catch-up in different areas of my life this month. I will try to visit blogs, but I may not get a chance on many days. There’s a vacation in the mix, too. I decided not to skip the Creative Perspective Challenge this month or my book reviews. I will be back in August, ready to go, plus, I have a book coming out September 24th. More on that soon.—Denise

Tanka Tuesday Challege: Music Inspires #poetry, #TankaTuesday, #haibun, #syllabicpoetry, #tankatuesdaychallenges

Hi,

It’s been a while, over a year, since I’ve posted a new poem or participated in a challenge. I am slowly getting back to writing after a reflective poetry break. This is for the Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challeng e , Music Inspires, and here are the instructions:

Hello everyone willowdot21 here, welcome to Tanka Tuesday.

Now I have made this style up and I do not have a name for it but I have used it more than once. It’s quite simple so here are the Rules.

Chose a piece of music.
The music can have lyrics or not as you choose.
The music can be of any genre.
Then write a syllabic poem about how the music either makes you feel or what it suggests to you.

I was intrigued by the idea of writing a poem to a song. This is a haibun which is prose poetry connected to a haiku. This isn’t a haiku but written in that format. The song is the instrumental of “Imagine.”

Imagine the End

The words reverberated over the strewn bodies from the discarded radios. The war was over, but who won? Shay’s gaze met her enemy’s steely blue eyes. Guns still pointed at each other, she gently lowered her weapon and dropped it to the ground. Exhausted, she bowed and held her breath, waiting for the expected pain, but none came. The enemy’s gun fell with a tinny clunk next to hers. Gasping in the coppery air, she studied her enemy. The young man covered in the death of tarnished ideals reached out his hand. She hesitated, assessing their surroundings. They were the lone figures remaining, the only souls to have escaped the devastation. Shay accepted his extended hand with a nod.

hands tightly clasped

advanced into the unknown

imagining peace

24 Seasons #Syllabic #Poetry #Challenge, No. 7 #poetrycommunity #tanka #nature

Before the rain arrived, I took a walk downtown. Now the colors are visiting our house too.

Here is Colleen Chesebro’s 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge #7. I used In the Sky words from the season list for my tanka poem 5/7/5/7/7: autumn wind and ice or icy.

Beautiful fall colors in our town 🙂 Nevada City, CA

icy autumn wind
ahead of winter’s visit
stripes the tree’s glow
carelessly tosses those leaves
where gleeful children frolic

24 Seasons #Syllabic #Poetry #Challenge No. 5. #poetrycommunity #poem #haiku #micropoetry #blackcats

Here’s Colleen Chesebro’s 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 5. This is what I’m using from the list, “Black Cats as Symbols of Good Luck,” since I have two beautiful black cats, Coco and Luna. I used the haiku format or micro poetry of 5/7/5.

sweet purring black cat

furry muse rests on my lap

warms my chilled old bones

Halloween Creativity #Challenge @teagangeneviene #writingcommunity #halloween #writingchallenge

Hi,

I decided to do a second challenge today. This is Teagan R. Geneviene’s Halloween Creativity Challenge. We were asked to write a story, poem, advertisement, song, or whatever we liked. There was a chart and we were to go by the letter of our first name and get: a Halloween thing, a hero, and a costume. Mine for D were: Horror Movies, Postman, and Ninja. Although, I never mentioned horror movies, but I felt it read like one. I started out as a short haibun but it grew. Here is my story that ends with micro poetry or a really long haibun 🙂

A Halloween Walk Through the Woods

The wind’s chill cut through my ninja costume. My black boots clicked against the icy cement path that took me through the dark forest. The only light came from my cell phone flashlight. Why did I think taking a shortcut from my house to my neighbor’s Halloween party was a good idea? A loud crack came from behind me, and my heart took off like my heavy feet wanted to do. It sounded like something large had stepped on a tree branch. A bear or… No, that’s a question I shouldn’t ask.

My step quickened, and I wished I had the actual weapons of a ninja. A laugh vibrated through the trees. Unless someone dressed as the wicked witch was behind me and was perfecting their cackle, I was in trouble. At least I had on all black. I shut the flashlight off and made a run for it as fast as my old heart would allow. The laughter crept closer, and I veered off the exposed path into the thick trees.

Then I hid behind the biggest cedar, or maybe it was a pine. I didn’t care. I took a deep breath and slowed down my haggard breathing. My eyes adjusted to the darkness as the laughter and a dark figure were right where I had just been.

A baritone voice called out, “Are we playing hide and go seek tiny ninja? What a fun game you’ve given me on Hallowed Eve. It will make your blood taste all the better, little human.”

I remained silent. It was my only chance. Right then, the heavy cloud cover parted. Moonlight hit the thing directly as its laughter grew louder, echoing off my soul. His pale skin was jagged, like an alligator. Nothing is that tall, nothing human, that is. That was no costume. I had to close my eyes, or what I was seeing would drive me mad.

The next part is unbelievable, but it happened. A woman wearing a light button-up shirt and black pants carrying the same bag as our mailman with a pulsing blue wand marched right up to the monster.

“I surrender.” The thing fell to its knees and held up his arms.

Four letters on the bag glowed in yellow that brightly lit the scene: USPS. The woman with dark curly hair nodded and opened her bag. The creature dissipated into spinning green sparkles that flowed into the bag’s mouth.

“You are safe now,” she said and waved in my direction. “Time to make a delivery.”

Before I could decide how to respond, the evil and the woman were gone.

mail carrier hero

possessed a magical bag

saved me in the woods

24 Seasons #Syllabic #Poetry #Challenge, No. 2 #TankaTuesday. #tanka #nature #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #poems

Hi! Here is Colleen Chesebro’s 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 2 Tanka Tuesday.

I chose from the list of words provided this week and went with apple bee. After some research, I found it was a wasp. It is like our very active ground wasps that have earned the name meat bee here. They enjoy apples but also any meat. They make eating outside impossible and football BBQs a challenge. I have talked about them before in a previous post.

They are at the doors. The moment I step outside, they are already bumping against me in a warning I take seriously. This has been the worst year I can remember. Their attacks usually increase this time of year before their ground hives die down, leaving a queen and some workers for next spring. Many people I’ve talked to have been stung, that includes me. It isn’t just one sting, but several at once. Not sure what made it such a terrible year for them, but it sure is.

I keep my eye on the outdoor temperature, so far we’ve gotten down to 39 degrees at night, but not the 32 degrees that will solve this problem. Until then I wait.

This is a tanka poem 5/7/5/7/7.

aggressive meat bees

waiting for me at the door

safe inside I hide

until falls first welcomed chill

clears the air of painful stings

24 Seasons Syllabic #Poetry Challenge, No. 1 #TankaTuesday #tanka #poetrycommunity

Here is the very first of Colleen Chesebro’s 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 1 Tanka Tuesday.

We are to write poetry using the current season words. A list was provided. I decided to use “harvest moon,” and this is a tanka 5/7/5/7/7.

moon and clouds over forest

parched forest’s rapture
beneath autumn’s harvest moon
nimbus clouds emerge
sparkling stars disappear
Mother Nature’s magic trick

Embrace your inner child with poetry. D. L. Finn

Special Birthday Prompt #TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge No. 316 #senyrus #poems #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity

I didn’t plan on extra posts during my blog tour, but I couldn’t pass this up. Here’s Colleen Chesebro’s Special Birthday Prompt #TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge No. 316. The prompt was: Create a syllabic form with 65 syllables, or a combination of words that amount to 65.

I went with 65 syllables. I combined three senyru 5/7/5 poems with two repeat seven-syllable lines that connected them. I used a “birth” and “faerie” theme 🙂 Title not included in count.

CELEBRATION

dazzling sage eyes

captivating windswept smile

loving elation

forest faeries celebrate

magical moment

nestled amongst mighty redwoods

under the mushrooms

forest faeries celebrate

food, presents, balloons…

welcome the baby princess’

first enchanted breath