Today's Writing Prompt: Just Start

Sitting in my car not too far from my apartment. It's a quiet moment in between rides.

I pulled out one of my writing books and placed my clipboard and notebook on my lap.

I began to jot down two prompts. I also jotted down a few observations:

"It's overcast today, but still the temperature hovers around 90. A squirrel searches the grass near a tree. It steps. Pauses. Digs its nose in the grass. It lifts its head into the air - eyes scanning. A step. Anothe pause. A step. Head swiveling left and right. Pause. Nose in the grass again. A low-flying small prop plane buzzes overhead. The squirrel plants its four paws into the ground, lifts its head and freezes.
Will it bolt? I wonder. No. Once the plane passes, the squirrel goes back to foraging.
I sit in my car, foraging for rides. It's been 10 minutes. Maybe time to move just as the squirrel has abandoned the spot of grass next to the tree and has moved onto the landscaped flower beds nearby."

And so it goes everyday. Here's today's writing prompt. Over the next 10 hours as I drive all over the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, I will lean on the prompt to kick start my writing. Try it yourself. Just start writing. Start with whatever you have.

"Start with whatever you have: a scene, a snatch of dialogue, a character's mannerism. You can fill in and sort it out later."

An Observation on Valentine's Day: A Lonely Balloon

Driving on the highway towards Dallas this morning I noticed something in the gray sky above: a lonely heart-shaped balloon floating away.

Its trajectory appeared aimless through the gloomy void. I squinted. I focused. But, I could not discern its color. Not red. Not black. Not white. As it wandered higher, farther away, I wondered.
It blended with the dull grayness. Was that its sole intention now?

What had set this love token on its journey to oblivion? And what of the hand that once held it? Stripped apart by what?

How fleeting was the sentiment that it was destined to fade so early on this Valentine’s morning. Like all earthly things, its fate preordained to perish into nothingness.