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Derrin's Nightmare

An Acrostic for the Dancing with Distraction Challenge

By Paul StewartPublished 3 years ago Updated 3 years ago 2 min read

Derrin looked out of his window as he tried to concentrate. He had been struggling for sometime and his worries failed to dissipate

In his distracted mind he was witness to many different things, like the elephant that bangs on a drum and the tiger that sings

Seconds after seconds, minutes after minutes kept passing him by, and yet his screen remained black, as was his mind, but why?

Truthfully, he always had bouts like this with a severe creativee block, every flash of brilliance preceded a confidence knock

Rest assured, in time, he would get over it and create something magic, for the moment though everything seemed so tragic

Anxious clock watching instead of clever wordplay and epic world building, excited character development and twisty plotting

Chaotic cacophony of noise blocks out all great ideas and leaves him aching, the only respite he gets is when he is sleeping

Then, he is free to dream and the noises make sense and the ideas fit well, if only the same was possible at the morning bell

If only he could make full use of the noise and tap into that creativity, the creativity that comes on like delirious insanity

Only then could he be free of the aches and pains and have work to show, the blood, sweat and tears he put in - the world would know

Nothing was going to stop him from his ambitions, he would find a way, he was not going to let his inner demons win, no! it was them he was going to slay!

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: Yes...another acrostic for the Dancing with Distraction Challenge! Like I keep saying, I love acrostics!

I hope you enjoyed this one. If you did, please click the heart thing, leave a comment or both. It's all appreciated!

I was trying to push things a little and create a mini story that still worked as a poem and helped to distract from the fact it was all about distractions and an acrostic. I am sure there is a more succinct way to say all that, but there you go!

If you're interested, here are a few more pieces I've published recently!

You can also take a look at the rest of my work here.

fact or fictionperformance poetrysad poetrysocial commentarysurreal poetryheartbreak

About the Creator

Paul Stewart

Award-Winning Writer, Poet, Scottish-Italian, Subversive.

The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection out now!

Streams and Scratches in My Mind coming soon!

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  1. Excellent storytelling

    Original narrative & well developed characters

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    Creative use of language & vocab

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    The story invoked strong personal emotions

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Comments (9)

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  • Randy Wayne Jellison-Knock3 years ago

    And what shall we make of the day when we are finally able to record our dreams as they occur? Will they make sense to us once we hear the morning bell?

  • Roy Stevens3 years ago

    That worked well Paul. "Rest assured, in time, he would get over it and creative something magic" Do you mean "create something magic"? I actually think the story comes out well in this acrostic form.

  • This was brilliant what a take the ultimate distraction writers block

  • The story is good but Derrin look so scary.

  • Novel Allen3 years ago

    I am so feeling like Derrin today. No inspiration right now. Just gonna go do some dishes and clean the house or something. I totally get where u r comin from. I look as scary as Derrin too. Distraction unto distraction. Enjoyed,

  • Why does Derrin look so scary? Lol! Looks like the King of Acrostics slayed another one!

  • Test3 years ago

    Paul Stewart, zen master of acrostics! I refuse to believe you can relate to Derrin as much as I can. You must have an enlightened level of concentration to keep coming up with these, all of them with so much feeling.

  • Lamar Wiggins3 years ago

    Amazing flow to this one and I loved the line -the creativity that comes on like delirious insanity- great stuff!!!

  • Dana Crandell3 years ago

    I think you succeed, Paul. Well done.

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