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 36: It was hard to remember and instead of thinking of the office, she deliberately began repeating the Italian words from her lessons today.
It was hard to remember and instead of thinking of the office, she deliberately began repeating the Italian words from her lessons today. She recounted her lessons until it was time to eat and then ate her dinner. She cleaned up and afterwards settled herself on the couch with her sketchpad.
The days began to fade into each other as Sophie worked. Her completed items grew and once she had the first set ready to go to Janine for the first contract month, she alternated days, creating the garments one day and embellishing them the next. She found this worked better for her as it allowed her to split the tasks up better.
She found her muscles were sore after the gym, but gradually the soreness faded as they became accustomed to the movements. As per the fitness schedule’s instructions when she reached a level where her body wasn’t sore, she increased things, pace, number of reps or wights as the different exercises demanded.
In addition, her language skills were growing daily and she was starting to roll in some of the Italian fashion podcasts and lectures she found as well as some of the French ones. She alternated between them, pausing when she needed to look up words or puzzle through a sentence. Over all she felt stronger and smarter as the moth slipped by.
By the middle of the month, she still hadn’t found exactly the right design for the peacock silk but had completed all of the requested sleep sets. She had also depleted most of her supplies and after decided a trip to the fabric emporium was on the schedule. While the items she made, had yet to sell, Sophie had t take a good hard look at the finances. She realized that she took money for the fabric from her savings, but not from the accumulated funds she received for her sewing creations.
Sophie studied the amounts and although she was tempted to take some of the money out of the funds she earned from selling clothing, she was still leery of the taxes. In years prior she had not made enough from her side business for it to be an issue. This year it would be and she wanted to make certain everything was in order.
‘I also like the interest,’ she decided. The savings account she used had a rally high interest rate and Sophie liked to see how the pennies added up each month. “And it isn’t like I don’t have the excess savings,” she decided. Spending so much time working meant she didn’t really go anywhere. Sophie told herself she was saving for a grand trip to Italy, France or even Spain, but had no real plans for travel. She liked having the savings as a just in case something happened measure.
‘But it still won’t be too diminished by another shopping spree,’ she decided. ‘And I can always transfer if I need to.’ The situation at work flashed through her mind.
Ten til Midnight 