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 189: Elizabeth checked the e-mail to get the number before turning back to the printed page and jotting the number down.
Elizabeth checked the e-mail to get the number before turning back to the printed page and jotting the number down. Once she figured out how much time Sophie could carry over they began to look at schedules and dates. Sophie knew that there would likely be some time she needed to work a little later in order to get far enough ahead not to be swamped when she returned.
‘But if I keep up the fast pace with the music for a while then I should be able to get ahead without adding too many extra hours. While she knew there would be some catch up when she returned, she was confident she could get ahead of it.
“I know it isn’t that much time to plan,” Elizabeth said.
Sophie shrugged. “At least I now have to actually plan instead of putting it off,” she said. She saw the time off and thought she might be able to squeeze a trip to Italy I, but doubted she could add much time in France to her itinerary.
‘So I’ll take another trip when I have enough vacation time then,’ she told herself. ‘Plus then I’ll have had more time to work with the language.’
While she was confident with her Italian, she knew her French still needed a lot of work. Sophie took the papers when they were done with their preliminary planning and promised Elizabeth that as soon a she finalized her plans she would let her know the exact dates she would be gone. For now it was enough to know she had a window where her leave time needed to be used up.
Sophie went back to her desk and this time, while she put on the high intensity music, she worked with a purpose. She would get further ahead so that she would not have as much to do when she returned and so that she wouldn’t need to stay late or come in early.
‘I’ll need time to get all of y orders to Janine for shipping as well,’ Sophie told herself. The orders she needed to get out, she wanted done before she left so that she didn’t have to think or worry about them at all. ‘Long nights and weekends,’ she told herself. ‘But worth it.’
By the end of the day, Sophie felt excitement bubbling up inside her at the thought of a trip. She tried to tamp it down until she got home and found out how much she would need to spend on airfare and accommodations before she got too excited.
“I ‘ll also need to figure out exactly where I am going,” she told herself. She tried to think of the places she wanted to see and the things she wanted to do as she drove home. There were the standard touristy things, but Sophie also wanted to see some fashion related sights as well as the more historic monuments.
‘And food,” she told herself. After all she would be making sure her meals were quick and took up as little time a possible from now until she left, it would be nice to indulge while she was away and her schedule was a little clearer.
As she drove, Sophie found herself humming and tapping the wheel. She smiled at her own excitement. When she parked, Sophie retrieved her mail, mostly junk flyers that went directly into the trash and a few coupons to fabric stores, including the giant fabric emporium where she had started to routinely stock up her items.
‘I wonder if I can add any new clothes to my wardrobe for my trip,’ Sophie thought. With luck, she thought she might have time.
Ten til Midnight 