NOTE - If you're wondering where my weekend writing prompt stories for the last 5-6 weeks are, don't worry - they're not lost (sic!) - I just used them in other collections like my political satire Bizarre TRiUMPhant Tales and even for a part of my Marvel western cowboys story over in Time: Immemorial.

Now I really should stop plugging my other, admittedly fantastic stories and get on with this one. You'll see the prompt below, so that'll clue you in to the subject matter and also explain my lame pun above - the one with the word 'lost' in it!

*** *** Weekend Write-In for 24th November 2017 *** ***

"lost": In 500 words, tell what happens when it is lost

LOSING IT.

So I usually look at the prompt word and the sentence and see how I can twist it to mean something completely unexpected. Except those weeks when I think everyone is expecting something unexpected so I go with something more expected ... so you won't expect it.

Nobody ever expects the Spanish Inquisition. And why should they? After all it's the 21st century and the above refers to a historically obsolete entity ...or a Monty Python sketch.

But I digress. Digress is a word I'm quite fond of and use it often. It has a certain charm and I'm fond of charming ... not Prince Charming per se. Anybody ever seen Once Upon A Time? It's one of those shows that I sort of like but its on the fringe. I watch it but I usually think in terms of getting it over with so I can watch something I like better, on my watch list. But while I'm watching it, I am mostly into it.

Again I digress. Victorian sounding. I'm quite the fan of gothic, Victorian and Fin De Siecle writing and utilize it often. Sometimes in journal form and sometimes utilizing other narrative techniques.

But what has any of this to do with something being lost? Well the clue is in the title. Did you ever see Clue by the way? The Michael Caine version? Quite a charming film, in my opinion and ... oops I already spoke about charming. Thoughts can be circular I find. Do you also find this? I'd be interested to know.

Cats are fun. I like their sometimes cynical aspects - a nice mix with cuteness. What's for dinner I wonder?

Anyway so there I am thinking about the word Lost and how many ways I can use it. Literally lost, as a person ... somewhere unknown and without confidence of retracing your path to be found again. Found seems to go hand in glove with the word Lost. But what if its an object that's lost - I once lost a gold ring my grandfather gave me. :( Sad to think about.

Then there's other kinds of loss - loss of a loved one, loss of a job, position or aspect of life you enjoy - maybe you've lost something you didn't mind losing? Maybe you hated your job or the way things were going so when you lost them/it/the situation, you actually rejoiced at your loss.

I can't even count how many times I lost a game of something over the years but the fun was in the playing. I never watched Lost - always kept meaning to but I heard its not really resolved definitively so I decided not to commit.

One title that sprang into my mind for this piece was Love's Labour's Lost which is Shakespeare which got me thinking of a period of history I like and then my mind leapt to Victorian and Victoriana and all the things/literature I liked and also the stuff I didn't like and then there's things I liked in concept but not in execution.

I always liked the idea of James Joyce's work Ullysses but not in practice - stream of consciousness story telling? Totally disaffected leaps from one thought to another with no actual structure? How could that work? Could it work?? Lemon Sorbet!! Mmmm.

Maybe not as a whole rambling novel - maybe as a short piece.

So it was then that I lost the plot.