Huh. I accidentally used three of the words.

Assuming that's OK? Or did you want two and only two?

Three is okay -- in fact, should anyone be moved to use all of the words, I say go for it.

I just picked 2 because it seems less daunting than using all of them.

I feel like I've been given a total kick in the pants to write this week.

Here's the thing- I've wanted to write about my family for a while, but couldn't find the right way to structure it until the past week. My grandmother (a total matriarch and pretty clearly the pivotal character in this story) was dying, and my extended family collected in the house for days to wait it out. The whole experience was exhausting and sad, but at the same time so remarkable and quirky and vivid, that I feel like now I can write what I've been wanting to write. My grandmother's last gift to me has been an amazing frame story.

There are a lot of holes I'm going to be filling in- ideas that got sparked by little whispers of my family's history I've heard growing up. So what I'm really looking at is an "inspired by" kind of piece, I guess, since I'm sure I'll take off on my own tangents quickly enough.

Ok, sorry to ramble...but it's just been so long since I've been excited by my work that I had to share it.

The ocean is a different beast in winter this far north, often gellid with cold. The zodiac even threw up less spray as we followed the dolphins. I made notes of nicks and scars in their dorsals, whatever marks were visible when they arced above the surface. It was mad to be out in this weather, but I had been following this pod since Rob had submitted our orca research under his own name last spring. My paper on spinner dolphins would make the orca research seem like child’s play by comparison. I gestured and my obedient student gunned the motor in pursuit.

Three words, quite by chance, if you'll accept "spinner" as a version of spin. Spin was actually the kickoff word for this one.

This isn't the first time she's had to exert her power, to put a stop to it before things spin out of control.

The tip of the knife drags just a little as she runs it up and down, leaving perfect parallel lines of almost-broken dry, ashy skin.

The blade knows where it wants to be ? she slows down just below the elbow and smiles.

"You don't hurt me," she says quietly. "I'm in charge now. I hurt you."

She pushes deeper into her forearm and watches the slow motion drip of blood to the cold bathroom tile.

Eeeeee. Aaaaugh.

I just submitted "Shopping" to Glimmer Train. I've never submitted anything to a national magazine before. Time to start collecting rejection letters!

They are at least nice when they reject you.

Go, you P-C! Good for you for having the courage to send it out.

Because I have the sort of mind that wants to try.

110 words total, every word in the list if you count "spinner" as a form of spin. Not very good writing.

- - -

Round and softening, the avocado sits sadly in the waste-land of the dinner table. Once laid to classic, elegant perfection, the diners have been and taken their revenge on the innocent foods, and all is lying in chaos; the withered scraps of winter lettuce—she remembers them in the salad spinner, crunchy and fresh—look like deadbeat seaweed, stranded by a cruel ocean.

The thought of clearing up invites procrastination. The gloaming of the evening is awash with anhedonia. She rolls the uneaten avocado, now overripe, and sends it caroming into a bowl decorated with geckos. The dinner is finished, and the guests have wandered off to absorb their revenges.

Way to go, P-C! All fingers crossed.

Great challenge, Steph. I love stuff like this--if I can manage it, I want to get all the words in.

Am-Chau, yours is wonderful--I love how you worked in words in unexpected places, like the bowl "decorated with geckos". Very cool.