creative writing for amateurs

one of my friends has been encouraging me to write, which is perhaps one of the reasons i created this blog.  so i uncovered a writing competition whose prompt is to write the opening sentence (25 words or less) of a story based on the photo below.

when i first saw the picture, two completely different things popped into my mind: william carlos william's poem entitled "the red wheelbarrow" and nirvana's nevermind album.  random, i know, but my mind works in mysterious ways.

still, after a couple drafts, i came up with a sentence that made me happy.  i have no illusions of greatness, but maybe i'll actually dabble with turning it into a story.

as soon as she hit the water, charlotte knew the dress -- a beautiful crimson silk -- would be absolutely ruined.

feel free to submit your own entry (deadline of 2/25)...but no thieving of my idea!