Sarah's writing journal

Writing on from other people's first lines is a great exercise, not least because you can see just how original your own work is. Give a roomful of eight people the same first line, and you get eight completely different stories - and the strange thing is that everyone of those eight will probably be convinced that their version was the only way to go.

I was really excited to find a journal doing just that. The First Line asks for contributions following on from a given prompt. So the current one is going to be my writing prompt for today:

Tessa sent up a hasty prayer for forgiveness as she slipped on
the dress Mama had bought her in exchange for a promise not to marry Al.

And following on from the short, short story of the last post, a friend sent me this link to 12 fifty word stories about Thursday's UK budget. This one gets my vote for its simplicity if nothing else:

Fewer fags, less wine, no big wheels, half a house is better than none, more free education, education, education, more money for victims and athletes, more free travel for the elderly, fewer draughty homes, a dash of green and a sprinkling of credits - but, bottoms up, spirits untouched.
P Birrane-Scothern, London