12+   In April 2024, Danielle Baldock (@WritingDani) from the Twitter/X #WritingCommunity reprised the #30Words30Days microfiction challenge she'd run with Sumitra (@pleomorphic2) in April 2023. Danielle posted a daily "Nature" themed prompt word to inspire us to write and share our 30-word stories. 

It was so much fun that when she asked if anyone was keen to do it again in June, I responded, "Yes, yes, yes!"

For June, Danielle's daily prompts were "Green" themed. But as I'd done with April's challenge, when only 8 of my 30 stories were Nature-orientated, I wrote to the prompt word rather than the theme.

I toyed with following Kathy Prokhovnik's April approach and writing my 30 posts as an interconnected series (see @KProkhovnik on Twitter/X's "30 Words for 30 Days" blog post). But once again, I took the less demanding "standalone" route for my 30-word stories, though I set myself the goal of mixing up genres with a few speculative pieces, my protagonists in terms of gender and age (and species!), and the subject matter.  

My 30-Word Stories

My #30Words30Days microfiction pieces for June are listed below in date order, with two takes for the 24th's prompt, "Tart" (I prefer the second story). 

Danielle's daily prompts are in italics, with links to the post and any comments on Twitter/X. Please note: Besides "Tart", I edited two or three stories after posting, tagging them on Twitter/X as EDIT in the comments–Yes, even 30-word stories benefit from a reflective edit!:

1. I'm stuck at the traffic lights of life. I was travelling happy when the lights turned amber. I slowed and stopped at the red. Will they ever turn green again? 

2. "I'm sorry to touch a raw nerve, but you know he's been unfaithful to you for years?"

"Yes, I know."

"Then, why put up with him?"

"Because of the years!" 

3. Verdant (adjective): green with vegetation; covered with growing plants or grasses, e.g. a verdant oasis. Earth (noun): the only known inhabited planet. Yellowing and browning, with dying plants and grasses. 

4. Hang on, hang on, HANG ON! But the wind gusts again, stronger than before, the tree sways, the branches bend, and the leaf lets go, still green, falling before autumn.

5. It was a bittersweet reunion. The bitter part was farewelling Tilly's dad, a good bloke. The sweet part was the look Tilly gave me at the wake. One last chance? 

6. You might describe me as a square peg in a round hole. But after a few hard hits, this peg will fit in any hole, regardless of shape and size. 

7. You pressed your weight into me and said my eyes glistened like emeralds. You told me other things and made promises, too. But all were lies. My eyes are hazel. 

8. "Lush" is how they described her when she was appointed a ministerial secretary. She ignored their taunts with higher goals but remembered them when interviewed years later as the minister. 

9. "I covet nothing," he said with sincerity as stiff as the white collar around his neck and contrary to the cases documented in the file on the table between us. 

10. Olive Oyl saw Popeye and Bluto fighting in the cartoon strip. Fed up with the machismo, she skipped their panels and met Wimpy for a date at a hamburger joint. 

11. "Never lose faith in hope," Granddad said. So I hoped for good marks and got them. I hoped my team won and they did. Then I hoped Granddad would live. 

12. He sat in the corner of the room, staring vacantly, never acknowledging fellow residents. Some staff called him a vegetable, not caring whether he heard them. He memorised their faces. 

13. I know I'm not supposed to be on the sofa, but it's comfy up here and smells of you, and I'm lonely without you. Let's call it an innocent mistake. 

14. He hadn't ridden a bike in years. His legs and lungs weren't what they used to be. And then, one day, he hired a Lime e-bike and felt young again. 

15. I've backpacked to Gallipoli and walked the steep track from Anzac Cove to Lone Pine cemetery. What madness inspired the generals' orders and soldiers' bravery to advance from the beaches?

16. Once, they'd sat holding hands on the sofa, whispering tender words. Now, they sit on opposite sides of the living room, silently glancing at the TV and their phones. 

17. I don't envy the uncertainty you face, mortgages beyond your dreams, tensions building in the world, the threat of war and climate change. But I am jealous of your youth. 

18. A creek ran through my grandparents' property. I'd watch tadpoles darting between its mossy rocks and hear frogs croaking at night. My grandparents are memories now, as is the creek. 

19. I lay on the grassy meadow in the warm spring sunshine, staring at the puffy white clouds in the blue sky, and forgot about my illness and the world's woes. 

20. Tommy liked visiting the virtual-reality zoo and seeing animals in their natural habitats, the forests, rivers, and grassy plains. It was an escape from bunker life below the scorched earth.

21. I was young and had no means. I got older and had no time. Now I'm much older, with financial security and freedom. But I wish I was young again. 

22. "It's a pine tree!" "No, a fir!" Mum and Dad were arguing again. I lagged behind them, keeping quiet though I'd read the sign. It was a Northern Hemisphere spruce. 

23. "Log into the class console, children," the teacher instructed, "and select today's History lesson on intelligent organic life." The droid-lings connected to the console and learned about humanity before AI. 

24. "She dresses like a tart," she'd overhear them say. But she liked feeling fresh air on her skin and worked hard on her body. So why be ashamed of it? 

24. "She looks like a tart," she overheard them sneer. But she enjoyed airing her skin and was proud of her body. And how she dressed was none of their business. 

25. He gazed at the silver-chained jade pendant hanging from her bare neck. "Beautiful," he said, lowering his eyes momentarily. "The pendant or my breasts?" she challenged him, and he blushed. 

26. Pliable, that's how they viewed me. "Could you do this?" "Can you do that?" "Will you do this?" Yes, yes, and yes again. But even mothers have a breaking point! 

27. "Goodbye, sweet pea," were the last words I heard Mum say as she headed out the front door with her suitcase, leaving without an explanation, forwarding address or farewell kiss. 

28. "Sage" is on the shopping list, but I can't find it in the supermarket aisles. What is it used for anyway? Can I skip it? No, I'm on a mission! 

29. He was the last surviving gang member and riddled with cancer. Was it time to pass on the secret location of the stash in the desert from the Mint robbery? 

30. We sat cross-legged on our mats, eyes closed, listening to the guru's meditations on birth, growth and death. My mind wandered. I needed a strong coffee after last night's booze-up.

Favourite 30-Word Stories?

Choosing favourite stories, 30 words or otherwise, is difficult. It feels like being asked to choose my favourite child (for which my adult son can be eternally grateful for being an only child!). But 3 pieces stood out for me and had me patting myself on the back, all for different reasons:

3rd June: Verdant (adjective): green with vegetation; covered with growing plants or grasses, e.g. a verdant oasis. Earth (noun): the only known inhabited planet. Yellowing and browning, with dying plants and grasses.

13th June: I know I'm not supposed to be on the sofa, but it's comfy up here and smells of you, and I'm lonely without you. Let's call it an innocent mistake. 

27th June: "Goodbye, sweet pea," were the last words I heard Mum say as she headed out the front door with her suitcase, leaving without an explanation, forwarding address or farewell kiss.

Do you have a favourite story? I'd love to hear from you through any of my Writer Bio contact details! 

#30Words30Days September?

I felt bereft without the daily 30-word story prompts on 1st May 2023 and 2024. As fellow writer Rananda, "The Ink Rat" (@rat_ink on Twitter/X), wrote in her May 2024 newsletter, April's #30Words30Days challenge was the "dream lever" that inspired her to "amp up her creativity and writing output for the year". 

Will there be another #30Words30Days challenge in September? I hope so, and I'll participate again. But in the meantime, a big THANKS to Danielle (@WritingDani) for sparking my creativity during April and June!

© 2024 Robert Fairhead

Thanks to Narcis Ciocan for the letters and words image featuring June from Pixabay.com.

N.B. You might also enjoy listening to the Tall And True Microfiction Anthology episode on the Tall And True Short Reads storytelling podcast.