Instructions: Go to page 49 of any book (just pick one, don’t even think about it) and use the first full sentence as your first sentence. Write whatever story comes to mind and keep writing for thirty minutes. Then share what you got…I don’t have a Mr. Linky thing, but if you chose to post your story on your blog, leave a comment here and I’ll go check it out and leave a comment on yours! Have fun with this! Oh yes, and make sure you let us know where your first sentence came from!
*****
“But without a sense of time, how would we function in this world?”
Professor Gaines let the question hang in the air. He stared at his
undergraduate class of bright, eager yet all too vacant students.
Silence.
“Anyone?” he looked around the room.
Someone in the back row cleared his throat. Gaines looked at the
students in the front row. A young woman with brilliant green eyes
twirled her hair. She smiled when he made eye contact with her. He
let his gaze linger on the curve of her neck.
Gaines turned to the black board, his tweed jacket covered in chalk
dust, and wrote “Echart Tolle” in big square letters. ”Did anyone
actually read the assignment?”
Only the sound of shuffled papers responded.
Gaines underlined Tolle’s name. ”Anyone see him on Oprah?”
The girl with the green eyes raised her hand and snapped her gum.
“You…” Gaines pointed at her as he grabbed the student roster from
the lecture podium. “Sophie Williamson, right?”
She nodded.
His gaze dropped to her creamy neckline again. “She’s too young,” he
thought to himself. Gaines blinked his eyes and brushed the sleeve of
his tweed jacket across his forehead, leaving a trail of chalk dust
just above his brow.
“Anyone else?”
Three more hands went up.
“Good,” he scratched his nose. “We’ve now got a quorum.”
Sophie raised her hand.
“Yes, Ms. Williamson?”
“If I had no sense of time…um…” she snapped her gum again. “I
wouldn’t know when to go to class, right?” she cocked her head to the
side.
“Right.” Gaines couldn’t take his eyes off the pulsing vein on the
side of her neck.
“And I wouldn’t know how long to bake the lasagna or when to serve the
Mellini,” Sophie gave him a slow unsophisticated wink.
Gaines’ hand shook with anticipation. He circled his tongue inside
his mouth. He could feel the back of his mouth begin to salivate.
“Dinner,” he thought. “How delicious.”
(This was my writing assignment this week…I loved it so much that I’ll be doing something like this every day as my writing warm ups…kind of like scales on a piano…)
Now…it’s YOUR turn!
My first sentence came from “The Power of Now” by Echart Tolle!
That is so awesome. I need to try it after I get over this flu/cold and my head in not pounding.
Thanks for stopping by.
Oh! I love this! I love this! I’m going to give it a whirl! I love what you wrote…you created quite the scene, and captured such emotion in the characters!
Thanks for visiting yesterday by the way! Things are going well here in WI…I do miss my guy, but we’ve reached a comfort zone now, and have our little routine down. The snow was interesting…made for a fun day of a different kind of exhausting work! Calgon took me away at the end too!
Hope that you are doing well! What’s new in your (pulsating…hee hee, your writing gave me vampire brain) neck of the woods?
Smoochies!
Hi Melissa!
So glad that you’ve found your groove. Separation from hubs is so tough! I’ll be there next August…I’m sure the first two weeks will be mopey and dopey all over the place with me.
Glad you like my short little story…I absolutely love this writing prompt. I’m going to save these off into my idea folder!
Not much new here except I’m getting ready for a very busy next 3 weeks…
xo
Peggy
That is seriously cool!! What a fun game!
Peggy!! What a fun assignment! I’m going to try it!
Your entry was fantastic. You have a gift!! I know you’re busy putting together an awesome non-fiction book but at some point, please, for me…will you write some fiction? I know you would be published in an instant. You are so good at making readers crave your every word!!
This is a great idea as a warm-up. I commend you for diving into this stuff. I’m totally in awe right now.
Jodi – I heart you! I wrote three different writing prompt stories this week…one about a gold digger, one about a vampire posing as a college professor and one about a 12 year old martial artist in training…
Hi Peggy!
Oh what glorious FUN! Your story was absolutely awesome – really!!!!!
I love writing prompts and should do more of them – the whole creative process gets a good fresh kick in the ass! Love it! AND I need it too!
Will do this tonite – and I’m putting this down in my journal too so I do this on a regular basis. Ya just never know what will spill out of you!
Thanks Peggy – this was a super gift!
Hi SuZen!
I hope you as much fun with this as I do! I can’t wait to see what spills out of you!
xxoo
How creative! I love the idea of writing “on the spot.” You did a great job with this prompt! Listen, I also wanted to thank you soooooooo much for stopping by on my Special SITS Day. It’s taken me a while to get back, but I hope to see you around the blogosphere again soon!
Thanks Melissa!
I hope your SITS day was super fab!
Peggy
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Peggy,
Okay, I loved this idea so I tried it. However…I think you will appreciate the humor in the sequence of events leading up to writing my story. I happen to be completely immersed in Rumi’s “The Essential Rumi”. Have never read anything like it–find it very sensual and read little bits in between daily life which I am sure changes my perspective in a day! Wish I was reading any other book though when I read your challenge. Fast forward to Friday evening. I was hanging lights outside on the boat, in the very cold dark rainy night. I slightly electrocuted myself which made me a bit grumpy, but also meant I almost literally had fire running in my veins.
Needing a moment to regroup I went inside, grabbed my book, flipped to page 39–I like 39 it’s my age, but actually I forgot what page you said. The title of the poem happened to be “The Steambath” and the first sentence…”Steam fills the bath, and frozen figures on the wall…”meant I had only one choice really and that was to write one of the most sensual stories I have ever written. Definitely outside of my box. It’s probably PG-13, but still too shy to post it. Couldn’t believe I would have been capable of writing it. When I read it I love it. I’m glad it’s a part of me. Then I calmly went back outside into the dark, cold, rainy night and finished hanging my lights. Thank you for the challenge.
Hi Joy!
I am so happy this writing prompt brought out the sensual side of you…and I so hope you decide to post it or share it (I’m going to start a private google group just for writers who want to share and receive feedback…)