Imagine the Possibilities

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

Last summer I did a writing exercise suggested by Anne Marie Pace on the Teachers Write! site coordinated by Kate Messner. The idea was to walk 100 steps in a direction you don’t normally go, then stop and spend about ten minutes recording what you observe, see, hear, smell, etc. The next step was to spend some time looking for connections, pick one, and use it as a starting point for some writing. That day, while at Longwood Gardens, I walked past the outdoor children’s garden and fountains and started counting steps. When I stopped I was near some benches, so I sat down and let my senses take over. One of the things I recorded in addition to sights and sounds and smells were a few bits of conversation between two women. In my notebook I have these phrases:

always traveling

used to be a social worker

organizes a music festival there

This morning I revisited a character sketch I started from those bits of conversation.

Laura was always on the move…literally. Since beginning a career as a social worker ten years ago, she had moved three times. Two different cities. One different state. All new beginnings. Laura always found something special in the places where she lived. Northern California had its towering redwoods and majestic mountains. Philly had history, loyal sports fans, and interesting neighborhoods. Lancaster County had its rolling farm lands and a quaintness that was hard to duplicate. The truth of the matter? Laura was afraid. Afraid of getting too involved with the families she worked with. Afraid of “settling down” as everyone told her she should. And afraid of missing out.  As soon as she felt herself getting too close or too comfortable, Laura knew it was time to start looking for that next big adventure. 

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

I keep a small notebook in my purse. It comes in handy when I need a piece of paper or want to jot something down quickly without opening “Notes” on my phone. Once, forgetting to bring my regular notebook with me, I used it to record a revised scene from a story I was working on while waiting for my car to be serviced. Yesterday I found this page as I was rooting in my purse for something.

It brought me back to an Italian restaurant in Boston where I was having dinner with some friends. I can’t recall exactly what we were talking about, but someone mentioned that in her waitressing days she remembered a woman who ordered a bowl of parsley every day for lunch. I jotted that down in my writer’s notebook along with what I discovered about the benefits of eating parsley, and this morning I returned to it to write this character sketch.

Lucy was a regular at the Wayfair Café. Everyday, at precisely 11:43, the bells above the large oak door would sound and in she would stroll. Lucy always wore a hat, and it always matched her outfit – the flowered beret for the boiled wool olive green jacket, the purple pillbox for the double-breasted pink coat or maybe the lilac cardigan, the brown felt hunter’s hat for her soft suede skirt on that first chilly fall day. Lucy always sat in the little table by the window across from the counter where she could observe what was happening on the street. And she always ordered the same thing – a cup of pepper pot soup (snapper if there was no pepper pot), Earl Grey tea…and a bowl of parsley.  She would only eat about half of the parsley, carefully wrapping the rest in her napkin and placing it inside her purse. “I’m taking that home for my cat,” she would explain to her server, Helen. But cats weren’t allowed in the nursing home where Lucy lived…or so Helen thought.

 I have no idea where this is going, but Lucy seems like a character I might want to get to know a little better.