The past, the present and future walk into a bar. It was tense.

Hello and welcome back to Writing Prompt Friday! One of my goals this year has been borrowing more books from my local library than buying books from anywhere that sells them. And I’ve done pretty well. One of my favorite things about borrowing books is finding someone else’s random bookmark still in the pages. Coasters, cards, receipts and the occasional printed copy of an email.

Which bring us to this week’s prompt…

You find a letter to Santa in a library book you just borrowed. What does it say? What do you do?

No limit on length.

Want to share your writing prompt result? Share in the comments.

Yours, Ducky

2 responses to “Writing Prompt Friday (finding)”

D. Kendra Francesco

December 7, 2019

The book fell at my feet. Right off the shelf behind me. I stared at it a bit, and then smiled. It was a book of beadcraft, one I’d not seen before. The copyright date was 1960. Today was 2030. I shrugged and decided to look it over. Many older craft books had good info left out of newer books. If I liked it, I’d get it as a Christmas gift to myself.

An old piece of parchment slid out, its fold lines neat and sharp, and the edges ragged. Opening it, I saw faint letters and timid writing. I squinted as I made out the childish scrawl.

December 1850
Dear Santa,
I want You to bless my family with love, open a kind heart to Father’s employer, and give every one of my friends joy. For me, I would like one more Christmas before death takes me.
God bless us all, every one.
Tim Cratchit

I stared at the small parchment, noting words and dates below Cratchit’s name. They began the same way: “Found in”, a book title, and a date. The earliest date was 1965 in a book about caring for children; the latest in this book that had fallen at my feet was in 2020. The final words after each date were the same.

A year later, the week after Christmas, I slid the small letter in a book about business. I’d survived a near-deadly car crash, with the loss of only one arm. I’d written the same last words as all the other readers: “I saw Christmas this year. Bless you, Tim.”

Reply
1. Erica
  
  December 9, 2019
  
  I love that. Thank you for sharing it; that is such a lovely story. And clever.
  
  Reply

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Hello,

I’m Erica Wall.

Award-winning copywriter.
Real-world creative writer.
Multi-cup-a-day coffee drinker.

Answers to a cat.

Resolutions for 2026

Block off three hours a week to write
Delegate more to reduce overwhelm
Clean up and clean out home office
Practice finishing what I start
Practice good habits and let results be whatever they’ll be

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
> Stephen King

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
> Ernest Hemingway

“Cut out all these exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke.”
> F. Scott Fitzgerald

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
> Douglas Adams

“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
>Albert Einstein