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 9: Sophie went to the bathroom.
Sophie went to the bathroom. She used the facilities but left her hair in the sweaty tangle. She then went to the kitchen to put on the coffee pot. As the pot began to brew, Sophie returned to the bedroom and gathered her clothes for the day. With the clean clothes in hand, she returned to the bathroom and as the water in the shower warmed, she worked the tangles out of her sleep tousled hair.
In the shower, Sophie luxuriated in a new bodywash that smelled of sweet cinnamon rolls. While she would describe herself as having more of a savory tooth than a sweet one, she loved the scents of sweet baked goods and had a range of products ranging from vanilla frosting to more spice filled treats to use as bath products. Her latest favorite shampoo and conditioner even smelled like carrot cake, which she thought went well with the cinnamon bun body wash.
While all the scents were intense in the shower, the scents faded as the suds were washed down the drain. Sophie considered that a plus as she didn’t want to smell like a bakery all day, just in the shower. When she was clean and the hot water was significantly less hot, Sophie turned off the shower, dried off and dressed in her casual clothes for the day. Even though she knew the coffee pot was finished brewing, Sophie went to the bedroom, gathered her laundry in the basket and stripped the bed.
She took the overly full basket into her workroom and put the first load in the washing machine. She then took a fresh set of sheets and re-made the bed so she wouldn’t have to think about it later. Once the bed was freshly made, Sophie went to the kitchen to enjoy her first cup of coffee.
As she drank her first cup, she took out a notepad and pen and made out her list of chores for the weekend. While grocery shopping would be done on Sunday, Sophie knew that once she started in on her project, she would focus on finishing the trousers and forget about most everything else that needed to be done before work resumed on Monday. She knew that no matter what her plans, there was the possibility that she would end up working late most nights this week, leaving little time to accomplish much of anything but the start of next month’s sleepwear for Janine.
After her coffee, Sophie decided to knock out her chores in the apartment first. ‘Then I can take the garments to Janine, take a look at the books and then spend the rest of the day on the trousers.’ Sophie smiled.
‘I even have dinner already sorted,’ she thought remembering her leftovers. Somehow having them there today made her feel as though she planned something instead of simply taking the easy option for dinner.
Plan in place, Sophie began knocking things off her list making sure her apartment was sparkling clean and ready for another work week. ‘Everything in its place.’
By the time she was done, it was lunch time. She ate the left over lunch from the day before, cleaned up and decided it was time enough to visit Janine. She knew Janine got up early, but given her own love of sleeping late on Saturdays she didn’t like to arrive too early with her weekend drop offs.
Sophie went into her work room and double checked the garment bags to make sure everything was accounted for.
Ten til Midnight 