Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Wasting Time; The Thing About Hats

I'm going to try a writer's exercise. Mostly because I think you, dear reader, deserve a break from my meaningless ramblings. Here's something equally as meaningless, but not about me. As much. I'd like to point out this is not the kind of thing I normally spend my time doing.

This exercise is from The Writer's Toolbox by Jamie Cat Callan, that I've had sitting around for a while. It was released in 2007, and it was typeset in Rosewood, Trade Gothic, and Filosophia.

What I'm going to do is to pick up a "First Sentence Stick" and write for three minutes.

Ready? Let's go...



The sticks says, '"I like hats." That's what Donald said the day before he killed Sally.'

It was a bit of a shock for Donald. Up to this very moment in his life, he had hated hats. As a baby, he used to wiggle out of the knitted caps and touques that his mother would try to force on him. As a boy he made sure he would hit the ball on the first swing, just so he could throw down the batter's helmet. For a short time, he considered becoming an astronaut, but just watching Apollo 13 made his scalp itch.

It hit him with a sinking feeling, this out of the blue about face about hats. This was the moment when everything changed. And it was all because of Donna, and her baby blue Montreal touque, which she wore on the bias, letting her sharp bangs peek out over her eyes. Her laughing bright eyes. And not laughing bright eyes in a good way. Eyes that were laughing at you. Daring you to do something you would regret.




And that's over three minutes, I guess. I don't know. The point? I don't really know either. It's like a little two paragraph soap opera. What's Donald going to do now? Why does he kill Sally? Have you ever met anyone named Sally? I haven't. I've shopped at the Sally, but I think that's something else.

There are things I'd like to go back and smooth out. But I figured that would be too much work.

Someday I'll get back to Donald, Sally, and Donna. Cause coming up next is the Non Sequitor stick.

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