Writing when the words come little by little, only touching your creative mind without reaching fruition, can be like grasping at fairy dust. Thoughts and words—elusive grains of sand caught in the wind. Some are minuscule and golden with that soft flour-like feel as they slip between your fingers, inviting magic but not achieving it. Others tickle and coat the skin, but are gritty and rough to rub off. The ones that stick, working their way into the creases—an idea that accumulates on paper into a story—build toward something more, evoking the release of creative expression.

By Shari Marshall – 2023

Written in response to Carrot Ranch Literary Community 99-word challenge: write a story about grains of sand.