The Fifteen Minute Novel is an attempt to take a single prompt and use the last sentence written each day as a start for the next day. This year I had several prompts circling around a similar story, so I have combined them. However, the story starts the same way each day, with the last line from the day before and a timer set for fifteen minutes. The hope is to end up with a complete, if very rough draft by the end of the year. Some stories are better than others, but I always learn a whole lot about my own writing when I do this so for me it is not only a nice way to work out a story, but it is a tool for helping my writing get better. And so, we continue this story for 2024 with…
Day 7: She loved seeing how each type of fabric was created.
She loved seeing how each type of fabric was created. Sophie loved seeing the processes that made a good stretch of fabric and what was needed to make it an extraordinary one. She used a tatting shuttle to make her own lace from silk thread, but loved seeing the elaborate system of pins set into a pattern on a pillow and watching skilled hands move the strings and bobbins in a dance to create intricate designs.
She even loved watching the large machines that did the same sort of task. Sophie knew she was never going to learn anything more elaborate than the tatted lace she used to decorate a few of the sleep wear pieces she created, but she liked seeing any textile based craft. It was her where her videos and articles always leaned. That combined with her tactile nature also meant that she could spend hours in a fabric store. While there was a good one in town and she did order much of what she used from various dealers, about two hours away was a textile emporium that stocked many high-quality fabrics and notions. Sophie was trying to figure out a weekend that would work best for a trip out.
‘I was hoping I could leave early on a Friday and go out then, but I don’t see how that is going to play out,’ she thought. The last three months had seen her working late every night, including Fridays so taking off early had not been an option.
‘Maybe next week I can get up early and go on a Saturday morning.’
She wanted to collect items and then have all weekend to work with them before going back to work on Monday but suspected that wasn’t going to be possible. ‘I’ll have to do an inventory soon as well,’ Sophie thought as she settled herself on the couch with her dinner laid out in front of her.
‘Not thinking about work,’ she reminded herself. ‘The job is good, relatively easy and pays me enough to cover my bills, continue my hobby and still have savings left over at the end of the month,’ she reminded herself. ‘And I am not thinking about it until Monday.’
Sophie turned her attention fully to the screen and quickly forgot all about work as she was soon entranced by the efforts of creating fabric from Spider silk. When she ate as much as she could and had shifted to a documentary about cotton production and the effects it had on the landscape and ground water, Sophie paused the show and put the leftovers away for the next day. She thought about the bottle of wine in her fridge. She still had one glass left in the bottle but somehow it didn’t seem as appealing as it had when she was in the office and irritated with Mr. Evers.
Instead, she left the bottle where it was and picked up her sketch pad and pencil. She had an idea for a dress float through her head that morning and while it was still lodged in the back of her mind, she wanted to get it on paper before it drifted away completely.
Ten til Midnight 