The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is an attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 249: Given the heating elements to the system, Anya knew that once established the system could provide year round food, but she liked the thought of starting with the spring planting.
Given the heating elements to the system, Anya knew that once established the system could provide year round food, but she liked the thought of starting with the spring planting. Anya banked the fire for the night and took her lamp out of the sitting room and into the adjacent bed chamber. The room was cooler, but Anya knew she would soon warm up beneath the blankets.
The chamber was larger than she was used to, either at home or in the other quarters. The bed was far grander as well. While Anya brought all of her accumulated goods, this bed had curtains around it so that once she was in the bed with the curtains pulled close it would form it’s own smaller room. With her body heat and the thick curtains the small space it created would be warm and comfortable, despite the fire being banked for the night.
As she just had a full bath that afternoon, Anya satisfied her need for cleanliness by rinsing off with the provided wash basin. The water was chilled from the cool air of the room and she was shivering slightly a she slipped into her night dress and climbed into the bed.
The sight of the goosebumps caused her a momentary flash of amusement. This was the first time today she had been cold. Every other day spent in the hidden sections of the mountain had been spent with her body growing chilled and then being thawed out by the fire. The warmth never seemed to last as soon enough an errand would call her away from her quarters and send her moving into the unheated spaces. A large amount of her time was spent banking and building up the fire and in between were only sporadic periods of warmth.
Today she was warmed all the way through. While she had to add logs to the fire she kindled it once and fed it throughout the day only banking it at night when she readied herself for bed. “And simply adding a log takes less time,” she told herself as she moved to the bed and climbed in. Anya pulled the curtains shut around the bed creating her own private room within a room. She snuggled down under the covers and felt the slight chill leave her as the bedding warmed to her body.
“I’;ll have more time tomorrow to do the things I want,” she realized. The thought sat well and she closed her eyes drifting pleasantly off to sleep.
As she thought the small room created by the curtained bed warmed as she slept and Anya slept comfortably through the night. She awoke feeling rested and stretched. As she pulled the curtains aside and let in the chilled Air, Anya shivered. She slipped out of bed quickly before she could give into the temptation to slide back into the warm covers.
Before dressing, she moved to the sitting room and rekindled the fire so it could begin spreading it’s warmth through the room. Once it was blazing, Anya went to wash and dress for the day. Knowing there was the possibility that she would be wandering the halls for at least a little while today, she decided to put off her bath until the evening and make do with the wash stand for the morning. She also put on the warmest of her clothing.
‘I’ll need to do a wash again soon,’ she realized as she finished tying the laces. Anya combed out her hair and braided it, wrapping the braids around her head to keep them out of the way. As she settled her hair she thought about her day. While she had many questions about what the orb could and couldn’t help her find, Anya found the list of items she would need to get the indoor agricultural space working foremost in her mind. Sometime in the night the thought of self-sufficiency took hold.
Ten til Midnight 