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 119: While the cabinet was now neat, the rest of her sewing room was a disaster.
While the cabinet was now neat, the rest of her sewing room was a disaster. Knowing she couldn’t leave it like this, Sophie decided a complete reorganization was needed. With all of her sewing bits in neat orderly collections it seemed only fair that she do the same with her materials.
This was as much pleasure as it was a chore. As Sophie folded and grouped the materials, she let her fingertips run over the soft silks and the fluffy wools. As her fingers found textures, her mind played with the colors her eyes took in and she could almost picture the sort of garments each one would make. It was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon and at the end of it, Sophie had a nice neat workspace with everything in a place where she could easily find it.
When everything wa where it should be, Sophie wiped down the garment rack and hung the finished dressing gowns on it. The cart she wheeled to the back of her workspace. It looked like the perfect back drop and made her space feel more professional. ‘And it gets the dressing gowns off of the couch.’
She allowed herself to take the rest of the night off, enjoying having a pristine looking workroom, if only for the night. In the morning she couldn’t help but walk to the door and look in. There was a spark of delight she got from seeing everything ready and waiting for her. Knowing that once she started she would lose track of time, Sophie dressed quickly and took her grocery list to the store. She stocked up on everything she would need for the week and returned home.
Groceries were put away and laundry went into the machine. With the last of her chores in motion, Sophie took out some fabric and began working on the next sleep set on her list of orders. She worked throughout the day, taking a break to transfer her laundry from washer to dryer and then another wone where it went from dryer to closet. She remade her bed with fresh sheets and fixed a quick meal for herself. In advance of the morning, Sophie even assembled the lunch she would take with her to work the following day as it was a day she planned to eat at her desk. With her lunch bag in the fridge, Sophie returned to working on the sleep set.
The next morning Sophie went to the apartment complex gym. As usual Kevin was wrapping up when she arrived.
“Hey,” he said. It was his usual greeting and Sophie returned it.
He slipped out his earphones. “I got a call about you,” Kevin told her. Sophie frowned.
“A call about me?”
“From Kristen,” he said.
“What?” Sophie asked. “Why would she call you? Especially about me.”
“She’s making trouble I expect. I heard you got a promotion,” Kevin said.
“I suppose I did,” Sophie replied. “And now I work on a different floor.”
“So you no longer work with Kristen, Carrie and Ryan?”
Sophie frowned as his treadmill came to a stop. “No,” she said. “I know you said you knew Kristen, but I didn’t know you knew her that well.” Kevin smiled.
Ten til Midnight 