Prompt, First Line & Question

Good morning all - 

I love prompts and first lines, both in using and giving them.  In both my Seniors' class and Gilda's class I give a prompt as homework.  And I find it so interesting to see the different stories the participants come up with of the same prompt.

Today's prompt is:   Write about someone's hands.

A couple years ago I was at a writing retreat.  A friend and I decided to give each other a first line to write off.  The first line I had to work with was something like the cabbage on the counter smile at her.  What do you do with that? Before I started writing, I played with the "What If" game, and the story that came from that first line was quite a surprise.

Today's first line is:   He blinked.

My favorite writer is Stephen King.  I have read just about everything he has written.  And I am always looking for new books from him, and usually have it pre-ordered.  I find it interesting that I like his writing, as I don't really like to read horror. When I was younger, I loved going to all the horror movies and reading scary books.  But now ... not so much. Yet I like his stuff. 
His fiction has never influenced my writing, however, his book On Writing was a great read.  It was so encouraging and if you haven't read it yet, I would strongly suggest you do. 

His stand on adverbs has also been a big influence on my writing.  I detest adverbs and will cover that at some point in a Monday writing.  Stephen (we are on first name terms when I'm doing the writing), does not like the use of adverbs, also.  In fact, I refer to his quote quite often:  "The road to hell is paved with adverbs."

What about you?  Who is your favorite author?  Did he/she influence your writing?

Thanks for stopping by,

~Tricia