Hey everyone! Spring has come to Alaska, and Ray and I are busy with plans for Chicken. I have started my separate Chicken page: @ChickenAK and will be doing writing prompts using the hashtag #AKChickenChick. This particular series of prompts was inspired by the idea of #DKMasquerade and her character Liberty coming to meet mine in Chicken, AK for the Dust to Dawson and Solstice. I posted this sometime ago, but here it is again. For those of you who actually read it all the way to the bottom, you’ll get a sneak peak at this weekend’s prompt (starting tomorrow).
What happens when two crazy writers decide to allow their characters to get together and wreak havoc on the Alaska interior? Find out as DKMarie’s character for her #DKMasquerade comes to Chicken Alaska for the Dust to Dawson Bike Ride Weekend to help bail her friend out. As we get into this, I will open up some sort of writing prompts and have a contest (I have some awesome Alaska based giveaways planned for Solstice) for our writing friends to join in harassing our two characters as their flirt with sexy bikers, miners, and pilots.
Will they find #Romance? #Comedy? #Horror? #Aliens? We’ll see, won’t we #Writingcommunity? All genres welcome. NO direct buy links, but look at this as a way to indirectly tell us about yourself and your characters!
INTRODUCTION
Ashley leaned against the scarred wooden bar reviewing the order for the shipment of supplies for the Saloon. Still early in the season, the fire in the woodstove in the crackled. The mornings were cool, but the days were getting hot. Ashley sipped her morning coffee from her favorite mug and tucked her pen into her bun of fine, wheat blonde hair.
She looked up as a shadow darkened the door to see their evening bartender standing at the threshold, blue eyes red with tears.
“Emily, What’s wrong?” Ashley asked, standing upright and setting her mug down.
“I—I just checked my email,” she stammered. “My mom’s in the hospital, she had a heart attack last night.”
“Oh my God!” Ashley exclaimed, coming around the bar and giving her a hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“I hate to ask, I know Dust to Dawson is in three weeks,” she started to say, but Ashley cut her off.
“Don’t you even think about it. I will go get Nick’s ass out of bed and tell him to get the Beaver ready to fly you back into Anchorage. I’ll pay you out of the cash I have on hand.”
“Thank you, Ashley. I’m so sorry to leave you in the lurch,” Emily said, wiping her eyes.
“No worries girl. Just worry about your mom. We’ll be fine. Go pack your stuff.” Emily nodded and walked back to the cabin.
After she helped Nick prep the plane, and gave him a list of things to pick up while he was in Anchorage, she crossed her arms over her chest, worrying.
God, this is turning into a total shit-show. Why did I agree to run this place while Susie took the summer off? Oh yeah, because I thought it would be a great way to make me forget about him and her. She rubbed the scar on her side, two years later, the knife wound still throbbed every time she thought of it. She shook her head. Mom and Dad can totally cover the mornings at the café and gift shop. Scooter and Jen cover things during the day shift. But for Dust to Dawson weekend we’re going to need more than just Nick and me running the bar in the evenings. Where the hell am I going to get another bartender on such short notice?
She blinked a few times as she walked back into the bar, her eyes adjusting to the dim interior from the sunny day outside. The ancient floorboards creaked beneath her feet as she paced back and forth. She pushed a few balls around on the pool table at the back, trying to come up with a plan. The thousands of panties and hats stapled to the ceiling rustled in the breeze blowing in through the open door. She could hear her Mom, Nina in the kitchen prepping soups and sandwiches for the tour bus that would be coming in that afternoon.
A chirping sound on her laptop drew her attention back to the bar. She smiled when she saw the email. Then she gasped, hands shaking as she began to type a response.
Hey There City-Girl,
I know you’re busy moping your way around Europe, and I promise I will join you at some point, but I desperately need your help. As you know, I’m running the bar for the summer out here in Chicken, AK, and our biggest weekend is coming up. It’s the Dust to Dawson Bike Ride. Thousands of bikers come through here on their way to a big poker tournament in Dawson. We’re hosting a live band here the night before the tourney. The bike ride is on the solstice (June 20-21), so I would need you here for like a week (June 16-24). Please? I’m begging you. I’m desperate. Look at it as a way to come try out Alaska for a week and get paid well for it. As a bonus, I can connect you with some friends in Healy if you want to check out Denali afterwards. My brother Nick is a pilot, so he has friends there who do flight tours across the state.
Take care pretty lady, hope to see you soon!
Your Country Mouse Buddy,
Ashley
She hit send and crossed her fingers, hopping for the best. This would be epic if only she would come to Alaska. The two of them, running the bar forgetting about their d-bag exes. Oh yeah.
So the first writing prompt will be #travel, specifically to Alaska. What brings your character to Alaska? Some come searching for gold, some for love, some for the yeti, others just for vacation. Write a great tweet about how your character would end up at a bar in the Alaska interior the week of the solstice. This one is not for a contest, just to warm everyone up and get us started. Take care!