Finally I’ve sat down to write my ideas for yet another story. It’s my happy place, the pen running smoothly across the page of my lined notebook. But soon my flow is interrupted. It looks like the last word of the sentence, 'blankly', won’t fit in before the end of the line I am writing on. I can’t possibly add a hyphen to the word and break it in half, that would break my 'every word must be complete' rule. I can’t skip to the next line, the gap will be too big, breaking my 'fill every line to the margin' rule. My hand is shaking.
So I raise my hand from the page, stopping before the second last word, 'staring'. I close the notebook. I can’t bear it.
I decide to use the sponge for cups to wash the plates and cutlery! Deep breath.
I think I’ve found a solution to my writing dilemma and open my notebook again. I make the ‘s’ look like a long snake, and the horizontal line on the ‘t’ stretching out so it’s longer than the vertical line. I give the ‘a’ an oval shape, and I do this until the last letter. Now the word 'staring' looks like a piece of string you’ve stretched too far, but it almost reaches the margin.
Problem solved: If I simply adapt within the rules, I never have to break them. I am in control. Life is perfect.
Clara Andrade
Copyright: text - Clara Andrade; photos - Wix.
Posts on this Sydney School of Arts & Humanities blog (www.ssoa.com.au) are published to showcase the work of emerging writers who meet weekly to workshop their short stories, memoir or novels.
These posts comprise just some of the responses written in just 10 minutes as a warm up to the meetings.
If you'd like to join any of our groups, contact us at sydneysoa@outlook.com. Neither perfect feet nor perfect spelling is expected when you start our feedback classes.
Comments