A bit of writing

This is a small deviation from my usual submission. (I've submitted a couple of written works in the past, none of which have been all that good.)

I wrote this for a short writing exercise in my Creative Writing Class. The instructions were to write a story that would connect the reader with a tree that stood alone.

I delayed for a long while before submitting this, partly because I'm not really a writer and would rather not presume to be one, but mostly because I couldn't figure out a decent name to give it. (Is it just me, or is that the hardest part about writing?) I ended up settling for the simple truth, along with a cheap joke for my Coloradan friends .

Much much thanks go to my good friend Blue(Lindsey) Munoz, who gave me her valuable input as my editor.

It's been quiet around here, since I've been so busy with other projects that I haven't had a chance to produce much artwork. I have an animation I'm struggling to get rendered properly so I can submit it, but I'm having troubles getting it all together. Been a good learning experience, though.

Anywho, enjoy!

---------------------------
The Lone Tree
In clear disregard for basic laws of survival, the old tree squatted, clinging to the edge of a rocky cliff, trying to ignore the passing hikers. Many stopped to snap a photo of the gnarled roots and tangled branches, and the tree eternally endured the many flashes of light. Hikers were so selfish, the tree thought, taking pictures of private events and then wandering off without even a moment of contemplation. Most of them were too stupid to figure out how to turn the flash on their cameras off. This alone made their presence tolerable to the tree, giving it a bit of simple, cruel amusement.

And the hikers were really its only companions. His neighbors had once surrounded him, giving him all the company and protection from irritating humans as he could possibly want. But one by one they had died. The soil, or lack thereof, was hardly suitable, and the wind rising almost constantly from the valley below didn’t help matters much. Still, the tree had already gotten old and stubborn by the time his friends had gone, and now he had no choice but to continue on alone.

He had initially thought about ripping his own roots out and throwing himself over the edge. Perhaps he would die in the process, but at the time it seemed alright. Even if he had survived, he could see quite clearly that many other trees still grew below. However, he was not able to bring himself to do it, which explains his appearance rather well. He seemed to some of the more morbid hikers to be an undecided suicidal man who had stood at the edge of the abyss for so long, trying to work up the nerve to jump that he had grown old and fat. Now he was too heavy to even shift in the breeze.

Now firmly planted in place, waiting for erosion to finally take its course and do him a favor, the tree waits for the next group of hikers with Kodaks to pass by and give him something to laugh at.
---------------------------