Day Nine: The Break Up

I'm breaking up with Fred White. Well, not totally, but I'm seeing other people. Have decided that, while his exercises are sure to stretch me as a writer, I need to have more fun and flexibility. So from now on I'll use a variety of sources when choosing a daily exercise, including, but not limited to The Daily Writer. The goal remains the same: To write every day. No rules. And to play!

This exercise (and suggested approach) is taken directly from: The Write-Brain Workbook 366 Exercises to liberate your writing by Bonnie Neubauer

Pick an age between 2-88
Eye color
Hair color
Name of a City/Town
Type of residence/house
First name starting with letter G
Last name starting with letter S
Prominent physical feature
Quirk/Mannerism


You are now officially this character. Start with:
I remember when the power went off...

Take the next step:
Don't worry if you feel like you're having a creativity power outage. This is a vital part of the creative cycle, called the receptive phase. When you're in this phase, it's important to relax and let ideas/inspirations flow through you. One will spark the next part of the cycle, called the active phase. Learn to enjoy both parts of the cycle. Go out and receive!


My Notes: Yes! Much more my cup of tea.

Will post my results later.

Later 

Note: I really liked this exercise! I let the character do all of the talking and she hasn't shut up yet. I chose characteristics with a funny personality in mind, but when I sat down to write she was serious and pensive. I think I'll probably keep working on this one.

Pick an age between 2-88:41
Eye color: brown
Hair color: straw
Name of a City/Town: Yreka, Ca
Type of residence/house: Apartment
First name starting with letter G: Georgia
Last name starting with letter S: Santana
Prominent physical feature: boobs
Quirk/Mannerism: twists her mouth to the side

Untitled

I remember when the power went off. I was sitting there in my car, drinking one of those mini bottles of wine and watching JT’s house.  The curtains were open and all of the lights were on, so you could see just about everything. I had driven a ways. Monterey is, I-don’t-know-how many miles from Yreka, but it’s supposed to take seven hours. Took me five and some change.  I was listening to songs that reminded me, you know.  Anyone who’d seen me driving wouldda thought I was crazy—crying one minute, laughing and singing at the top of my lungs the next.  I get that way on trips. Weepy and sentimental.

I had no idea what I’d find once I got there, it being his birthday and all. For all I knew he might have been in Fiji or somewhere.  That or I’d have to make like Angela Lansbury and tail him to some fancy restaurant. It turned out there was no need.  There he was, standing by the window in his living room, all lit up. It was like watching a TV show with the sound off. You know;  here’s a scene where he’s talking to his buddies and they’re all laughing. Here’s a scene with him holding a little girl, where the director’s told him to look right into her eyes like she’s the only person in the room. Here’s a scene with his arm around the character playing his wife.

He never talked about them, his kid, or his wife. He mentioned them so I’d know they existed and that was that. He never insulted my intelligence with some sorry ass story about how she wasn’t meeting his needs, blah, blah, blah. Never said he would leave her like some guys.  They’ll start in with that because they think it’s gonna make you unzip your jeans right there on the spot.  Those are the kind of guys my friend, Cheryl ends up with.

I’m not that desperate. I mean, at the time I was feeling a little desperate. Working the job at the home and taking care of Jesse on account of his back injury. We weren’t really what you’d call ‘connecting’, Jesse and me. He was three sheets to the wind most of the time on pain meds and overall being a big baby about being laid up. The best times we were having together was when I tapped into his Vicodin just to get a change of perspective. Couldn’t do too much of that though, seeing as I was the bread winner working over at Shasta View nursing center.

There aren’t a lot of jobs in Yreka. I checked out being an aid at the center because I had it in mind that I could work there and go to nursing school at night. I tell you what though. I almost high-tailed it outta there during my tour. After my interview the nurse takes me so I can see what a room looks like. Well, while she’s talking I look over at the bed and there’s a body there, covered with a sheet, head and all. And the nurse is talking away, acting like there’s nothing strange about being in a room with a dead body. And I’m thinking maybe this is how it is working here. Maybe the staff gets so used to people dying off that it’s no big deal. I’m thinking “Hell, no!” and then the nurse, she says to me, “This is Mr. Prichard. He isn’t dead, he just likes us to think he is,” and then she shouts “Isn’t that right there, Mr. Pritchard?” 

And Mr. Prichard, he doesn’t move a muscle or say a word...To be continued..