Welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Each morning I spend fifteen minutes writing on a singular story line. Each morning starts with the last line of the previous day. The goal is to get a (very) rough draft out of the simple story idea and to avoid letting the story idea languish in limbo forever, actually writing it out. This is the third year I have done this writing experiment and each year I learn just a little bit about myself and the way I write as well as creating a framework for the story. But without further ado…
Day 160: Her grandmother was the General in charge of this particular battle.
Her grandmother was the General in charge of this particular battle. Gwen was more than pleased with her role as foot soldier. With the basic battle plan drawn up they were each left to do their part.
The following week was a packed one. The project that kept most of her running group in the office longer and thus unable or unwilling to run continued so it was a smaller, and faster group in the morning so Gwen continued to return early from the morning in the park. The others didn’t want to get too far ahead of the rest of the group by extending their running schedule, so they just ran the same track. As her baking class was still delayed due to her professor’s illness, Gwen was okay with the holding pattern.
While the other students didn’t make it to class, when Gwen got the e-mail about class being cancelled, she was invited to gain experience in the bakery for the week if she wanted. She didn’t know if any of the others were offered the opportunity and decided not to mention it when class resumed.
It was an offer that she happily accepted. She gradually grew more comfortable with the operations and with the people around her. Most of her tasks were simple ones, keeping the more experienced bakers working at what to her seemed superhuman speed. Then she was given basic tasks everyone knew were well within her skill level, like mixing up cookie dough. However, she was placed so that she could watch the others and see what creations they were making. Questions were encouraged and Gwen found she learned a lot during that week.
When class resumed, she was excited to continue learning but disappointed that she would no longer be in the bakery. ‘Hopefully my time there will go towards them accepting my part time job application.’
In art class the others still offered her a place within their group after class was finished, but even if she was so inclined, there was too much to accomplish before the trip to Westport, and she refused. Gwen figured that at some point they would stop offering, but after each class the offer returned.
‘And they always look puzzled when I refuse.’ Gwen thought.
Her cooking class was going well and Gwen felt more confident with her knives and her progress. Her outings with her new friends were limited as she prepared and submitted her application packets for more formalized training. She also submitted the job application. In addition, there were lists.
Ten til Midnight 