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 203: She stood, left her tip with her cup and moved towards the door.
She stood, left her tip with her cup and moved towards the door. Sophie stepped outside, glad to be on the move but equally glad she could take her time about it. She did not have to rush anywhere. At the moment she had all the time in the world to do anything she wanted. As she walked, Sophie couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had that luxury.
She always had school and jobs while in school. She started babysitting as soon as she was old enough and before that, she had done odd chores to earn a little money. Once she was old enough to get an afterschool job, she did. She also worked summers. As the family moved around a lot, she had very few close friends and the money to do the things she wanted to do with what little free time she had was nice. Most of it end up being saved for school. The rest was used for materials to make the clothes she wanted to wear. Most of her schools had uniforms, so she was able to create what she likes without worrying about a dress code.
Although I did modify those uniforms a smidge,’ she reminded herself.
Family vacations, when they were taken, tended to be weekend things. A trip to the beach for a weekend or a drive to a nearby city to visit a museum, gallery or historic monument. Sophie couldn’t remember taking off for a week long, let alone longer, holiday.
Her steps gradually took her where she was going, and Sophie paid the entrance fee and slowly wandered around the art museum. Each room featured a specific time period or stylistic movement or type of art. There were thirty-six rooms in all and as she walked slowly through each one of them, she found all of her other thoughts slipping away. She became absorbed in the exhibits, pausing every now and then to take out her small sketch book from her bag, and draw little reminders of details and elements that caught her attention. Sometimes it was the way certain lines draped or intersected each other. Other times it was a color combination that she had never envisioned.
It took longer than she planned to make it through the museum and when she was done, she picked up a few small items in the gift shop before heading back down the street. Her first stop was a little trattoria where she indulged her empty belly in a delicious lunch. Sitting at the table she scanned down her list of places to go. There were several on this street alone.
‘Given how long it took me to go through the museum, I expect I won’t get through all of them.’
Instead of making her despondent, Sophie felt pleased. ‘I’ll have a reason to come back then,’ she told herself. ‘No one says you have to see an entire city in one visit.’
After the museum and lunch, Sophie decided to indulge in a bit more retail.
Ten til Midnight 