MediocreMan

Tap Tap Tapping · 13 June 2026

As she sat within her room
The deadline o’er her did loom
The sword of Damocles hanging
Would surely spell her doom.

Her editor her nemesis was
Always fussing just because
She waited for the latest time
And this did always cause a buzz.

For ever there had been a tapping
Somebody’s pen his desk was rapping
Causing her such consternation
Because her boss thought she was napping.

And each and every day she thought
That life should never be this fraught
With such incessant tap tap tapping
That should make her think of aught.

But no, her thoughts did always yield
To ideas flung so far afield
But never to the task at hand
Oh she wished she had some kind of shield.

Then she would rack her brain no more
Her ship would dock upon the shore
The story she was writing came
Despite the tap tap tapping evermore.

But one day, she thought of Poe’s dark raven
And how she was so weak, so frail, so craven
But now she would be forevermore
Encouraged and ever braven.

For to the tapper she said, “Nevermore.”
As she threw his pen upon the floor
“Nevermore shall you be tap tap tapping!
Thus declares the brave Lenore!”

The others cheered around the floor
The tapping would cease forevermore
None would be bothered. No nevermore.
Because of the wonderful, brave Lenore.

[The only sound was the incessant tapping, distracting her from her thoughts.
Using any plot or setting you like, write a story which focuses strongly on what the protagonist can hear. Consider how your writing style reflects this distraction.
DailyPrompt prompt]

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DailyPrompt Deviousness · 6 June 2026

It seems devious to me that DailyPrompt gets daily prompts from their users by having competitions for daily prompts.

Okay. Devious is definitely an overstatement, but the ploy is very clever. Think about it. You have all these writers out there who are submitting pieces to DailyPrompt. They want to win competitions. They like different prompts for different genres. For prose. For poetry. So why not give those writers prompts from their peers? It is very clever.

Oh sure, they give out prizes, but think about all the prompts they get for so few dollars. (Although I am not sure how they make their money for prizes. In fact, I am baffled by their business plan. Not that I know their business plan, but they obviously get their money from somewhere.)

At any rate.

I think it is a brilliant idea to get the very prompts they use on their site from the people who are members of their site. Simply brilliant.

I, for one, like to submit entries to each competition. Every single one. I do not think I have missed one since I subscribed. Which is actually the reason I subscribed. (And no. I do not get anything from DailyPrompt if you subscribe. But I should. I promote them enough.)

At any rate.

I subscribed to DailyPrompt.com for the possibility of winning back my subscription cost. All I needed to do was win a competition or two and I would pay for my lifetime subscription. (Did I mention that I have no idea what their business plan is?) And I did. I won early! But alas, not often. In fact, I have only won one time. Which is okay. I won my subscription cost back. Which is all I really wanted to do. That and write pieces that fit a bunch of different prompts.

Needless to say, I enjoy writing. And whether I am writing for myself and my readers or writing for a daily prompt, I just keep on writing. And I will keep doing so for as long as my mind and body are around. Whether anybody else reads what I am doing or not. Whether anybody else likes what I am doing or not.

Well, I know this is a short post, but it says what I wanted to say. And I am not one to keep writing to add fluff to a piece just because I did not meet my word count quota. Which, by the way, I do not have. A quota, that is.

So devious or not, I think it is great that DailyPrompt uses competitions to get more daily prompts.

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Christmas Eve Anticipation · 30 May 2026

We say our prayers and go to bed
Expectant on Christmas Eve
We are waiting for Santa Claus
And all the presents he will leave.
But the reality of Saint Nicholas
Does not matter much at all
For the members of our family
Give each other our all in all.

So as we wait for something special
While we sleep on Christmas Eve
Not really waiting for Santa Claus
And the presents he might leave.
In truth all of our waiting
For the warmth on Christmas morn
Is the celebration that we all will have
Of the day that Christ was born.

[Write a story or poem about needing to wait for something special.
DailyPrompt prompt submitted by Michael T. Miyoshi.]

I know that it is nowhere near Christmas Eve, but I was so excited that one of my prompts I submitted to DailyPrompt.com was used as a prompt that I had to write a poem for the prompt and I had to share it with you.

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