The Fifteen Minute Novel is a novel written fifteen minutes at a time with each week day’s section starting with the sentence from the previous day. At least it is attempting to be a novel. For now I am just aiming at one continuous story, worked on for fifteen minutes each day. Started Friday January 1st, 2021 (in case you want to search for the beginning. I can’t wait to see where it ends up. It could be good, or it could be a mess. We’ll have to see. For now, here is today’s fifteen minutes.
Day 51: As it was not even lunch time on Friday and he wasn’t expected anywhere until Monday morning, he had a lot of time to fill.
As it was not even lunch time on Friday and he wasn’t expected anywhere until Monday morning, he had a lot of time to fill. James took his list back to the store. As this time he knew the way, the trip wasn’t long. He loaded his purchases into the trunk, happy that this time there was nothing he needed to get back under refrigeration and then he set off looking for a library or a book store. He found the book store first and took a basket. It was a warehouse looking store. While they had some new releases, most of the books looked as though they came from remainders. James shrugged. He hadn’t had the leisure to read in a long time. It didn’t matter if the best seller was this years or something that was popular a decade ago. He doubted he would have read it.
Thinking of his reaction to the spy thriller he had at the apartment, James steered away from thrillers and true crime. He had no interest in romance and decided to leave that genre be as well. At the end cap of the self help section he spotted a book entitled Find Yourself and Live Your Best Life. As appropriate as it was, he felt it cut a little too close to the bone for the moment and steered himself into general fiction.
There were a few novels that interested him and he added them into the cart. He slipped into the fantasy and science fiction section and thought that might be safe. While he was certain some of the books featured battles, he aimed towards the ones that looked like the humans were using lazer type weapons on aliens rather than anything earth bound. When he turned the next corner he found himself in the biography section. He added a couple of titles and at the end of the row, he found a business themed book.
It looked like it was a cross between a biography and a how to get ahead in business book. Normally it was something he would pass right by. However right there on the front of the cover was pictured Cassie Martin. She was going by Cassandra Martin on the cover. He couldn’t quite remember the last time he saw her, but she looked very much the same. The title was “My life at the top.”
As her family ran in the same circles as his did, their paths often intertwined. He found himself reaching for the volume and pulling it from the shelves. Even knowing he probably shouldn’t, James found himself adding it to the basket.
Deciding he had enough reading material for a while, James moved towards the counter. Along the way he picked up a blank journal and considered himself done. He loaded them into the car, decided there was no place else he needed to be, and headed back to the apartment. On the drive back he admitted part of his willingness to return home was due to Cassie’s book.
Ten til Midnight 