My last post, promising or threatening to upload ficlets, was well received. As it’s my birthday next week I thought this very short flashfic (posted to a Yahoo writing group in 2009) might be a suitable first ficlet for this blog. I’ve altered it slightly and added the photo. I sometimes make online cards for my friends, using my own photos of flowers and natural scenes. Then I photoshop to get special effects and this is one of my efforts. So here’s the story, all 269words of it :

Writer’s Block

It was exquisite. The paper, thickly textured and probably hand-made, was deep cream, cut or perhaps torn in squares about the size of the palm of his hand. The sheets, piled into a rough cube, were fastened with a lavender ribbon that crossed and recrossed, finishing with a sophisticated knot and softly trailing ends. The gift came wrapped in gold tissue with a card that read: ‘from Hilary, with best wishes.’

Tom phoned his friend. “Thank you! It’s lovely! But what’s it for?”

“Your birthday, of course. Duh!”

“Well, yeah, I figured that out but what do I do with it? I mean, I never use snail-mail and my phone saves all my messages.”

“You know what you were saying last week? About having ideas when you were cooking or watching TV?”

“So?”

“So I thought of this. Dan Sweeney makes them and sells them in his gift shop.”

“And he deserves to do well but that still doesn’t tell me what it’s for. Is it supposed to give me ideas?”

“Stoopid!! You’re supposed to keep it in a convenient place. With a pen or pencil. It’s a writer’s block.”

Tom let his fingers caress the surface of his new aide-memoire and wished he could transfer the gesture through the phone to Hilary’s skin. “Thank you again,” he said. “You can be sure I’ll make good use of it.” He sighed happily and went in search of a suitable writing implement. It was a most satisfactory present. Somewhere to store his thoughts that would also remind him of the giver; riches indeed.