Write a story about a paperclip. Limit your story to 150 words. Include the words 'London', 'desk', and 'archive'. And write it in 20 minutes.
(I got this prompt from following Tiffany Jenson's writer's blog.) She has a lot to teach to us who aspire to write.
First I must disclose that I did not complete this little ditty within the twenty minute challenge. It took me fifty minutes, but I should be able to knock off a couple more minutes because I was eating a pot pie at the same time.
I was amazed at how helpful it was to "attempt" to write within a short time limit. It jarred my mind out of the self conscious writers block mode, into a sense of whew, look at me I'm writing! So, thank you Tiffany for throwing this little exercise out there for us beginner's to sink our baby writer's teeth into.
Here is my little ditty:
Sarah stood wringing her handkerchief around her finger until circulation had stopped and her index finger turned blue. Finally the pain set in enough to cause her to let go of it. "So your telling me my records are lost because of a paperclip?" It was a large paperclip encased in pink plastic, heavy on the few papers it held together before she laid them on the consulates desk in the hotel she was staying at in London. Seems it fell off her vital records. The consulate held it out to her. "Yea, I'd want it back if I could teach it to talk. Then it could tell you where, when, and in what country I was born, and I could go back to America!" Sarah snatched the big pink paperclip out of the consulate's hand. "Because I used this big pretty pink paperclip my papers aren't in the archive!"
(150 words exactly)
So kids, join the writing fun. What else are you going to do while you're waiting to open your presents? Slap your 150 words in the comment area below this post. Then you can eat your pot pie!
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