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 167: She turned out the bathroom light and went back to the bedroom.
She turned out the bathroom light and went back to the bedroom. Gwen yawned and felt that any sort of decisions or soul searching could wait until the morning. She was tired, even though the hour wasn’t terribly late.
Gwen changed into her pajamas and decided an early bedtime was in order. She slipped into bed and the familiarity of it soon had her drifting off. If there were any dreams, they were forgotten when she blinked her eyes open the next morning.
For a moment she felt slightly disoriented as she woke up. It was her own room, she sat up and rubbed her eyes trying to order her schedule. She wondered if she was meeting Lisa or Toby and couldn’t remember the day’s schedule. She looked to the pin board with her wall calendar and found the board cleared and reality caught up with her.
“Things have changed,” she muttered to herself as she realigned her day. She found the fact that her mind slipped back into its accustomed routine so easily a little disheartening. As she slipped out of bed, stretched and went to the bathroom, Gwen tried to order her day based on what she knew had to be done.
When she came back out of the bathroom, she realized it was still early. ‘Earlier than I planned.’ As she thought, she began stretching. She caught herself and realized she was automatically preparing for a run.
“And why h=not?” she decided. “It’s early enough.” Gwen went to the chest of drawers and pulled out some of her running gear. She took very limited numbers of clothing with her since she didn’t know what was going to happen once she reached her grandparents. ‘I’ll have to sort through and decide what is going and what isn’t in good enough shape to take.’
As Gwen dressed, she realized that part of her dressing and deciding to go on the run was based on her new routine. The fact that she woke up thinking of the old routine made her want to stamp something from the new down onto it.
‘So running it is.’
Gwen checked that her keys were in her pocket and after stretching let herself out of the front door, locking it behind her. Here she didn’t mind letting habit take over. Running was always a solo thing and not something that ever involved either Toby or Lisa.
She had a route she always liked and was fairly certain it was more or less the same length as the one she now ran in the mornings. She tarted off slowly and found herself enjoying her passage through the still night silent neighborhood. Morning light was still a hazy watery thing, but Gwen found she liked it.
She could also feel the heat shimmering in the background ready to rise and cause copious sweat. ‘I’ll be finished before then,’ she reminded herself as she turned off of her street and down onto the river road. It led to a running trail she liked to use. It was raised above street level and she could see both the river on one side and the neighborhood on the other. There were even trees planted for shade along its length so she wouldn’t melt should the sun come out fully before she returned home.
Ten til Midnight 