The June meeting of Kessingland Library Creative Writing Group met on Wednesday this week, with a slightly smaller turnout than usual. But we still had a productive meeting, so that's all that matters.
Homework from last session was to take a walk around a graveyard and take note of the words on one grave and write a story for that person.
I had a pleasant wander around the local graveyard on a Sunday afternoon, making the most of the sunshine and the peacefulness. Even though I managed to sting myself on some nettles, I found the whole experience rather uplifting, to see that so many people died young or alone, and it makes you realise just how blessed you are.
So while I found quite a few interesting names ...
... but chose this one to write about ...
Annie
I could have
- · learnt how to crawl then stumble then walk
- · cried all night long keeping my parents awake
- · tied up my shoes and buckled my belt
- · built a fort with my cushions and quilt
- · played in the snow in my pyjamas and socks
- · watched the school playground and wished I was six
- · collected bugs and eaten worms covered in mud
- · stamped my feet and held my breath to send my parents mad
- · come home drenched in glitter and paint on my first day of school
- · perfected my pout and secured my scowl
- · bruised my arms and grazed my knees
- · screamed and shouted and made too much noise
- · played and danced and made up rhymes
- · had adventures, explored and roamed
- · skateboarded head first down a hill
- · hid under my bed through thunderstorms and hail
- · spoken to an imaginary friend
- · kept all the treasures that I’d have found
- · had sleepovers and midnight feasts
- · thrown snowballs in winter frosts
- · been afraid of spiders or ghosts or clowns or heights
- · had my heart broken and broken some hearts
- · studied hard or failed all my tests
- · worked my way through fashionable fads and tastes
- · found a job, gone to university, or travelled around the world
- · conformed to society or rebelled, running wild
- · fallen in love and had our own little family
- · passed my driving test after six attempts, finally
- · taught my children to ride their bikes
- · written a pile of best-selling books
- · cut hair, flown planes, fixed pipes, answered phones
- · not paid my speeding fines
- · watched my children lead their lives and grow
- · dyed my hair and plucked out all the grey
- · lied about my age, filled my wrinkles with cream
- · broken the law and committed crimes
- · watched my husband get ill and die
- · got my telegram from the Queen before I knocked on heaven’s door
if I hadn’t died when I was only
3 hours old
*****
During the session, I tried an activity that I'd worked on with my teen writing group, and that was to write a 26 sentence story, with each sentence starting with a different letter of the alphabet (in alphabetical order).
Brothers
Angry, Jeremy stood at the top of the stairs, hands on hips, a furrow in his brow, shaking his head at the pile of boxes covering the hallway floor.
"Barry!" he yelled, knowing full well that Barry would still be asleep and quite possibly wouldn't wake up for a good few hours. Climbing cautiously over and around the maze of boxes, Jeremy pushed open the living room door and pulled open the curtains, letting the morning sunlight burst in. Drowsily, Barry groaned from the sofa and rolled over, away from the light, hugging a cushion over his face.
"Ever thought about getting a proper job?" Jeremy breathed in his brother's ear, and then planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Feck off," Barry croaked, waving his arm in front of his cushion-covered face, as though trying to swat a fly.
"Get up!" Jeremy shouted, pulling Barry off the sofa by his ankles.
Hanging on for dear life, and putting all his strength into making his body as rigid as possible, Barry managed to pull the sofa over, covering himself, and knocking the vase off the coffee table.
"I give up, I really do. Just when I think that you couldn't waste any more space, you go ahead and surprise me by being even more useless," Jeremy ranted while leaving the room.
Kicking a small box out of his way, Jeremy dropped his head and rubbed his right eye with the heel of his hand. Life was so difficult with Barry around.
'Maybe if he took things a bit more seriously he wouldn't be such a pain,' Jeremy thought as he clicked on the kettle. 'No, that'll never happen.'
Outside, a sparrow danced on the bird table, jabbing its beak into the mesh of the bird feeder, getting its breakfast, while inside Jeremy stirred his coffee and daydreamed about jabbing his spoon into Barry's head. 'Perhaps I can do it, one night, when he's asleep, when he's dead to the world and won't feel anything,' he thought, smiling. Quite unexpectedly, Barry appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking worse for wear.
"Right, look, I know what you're going to say, but you don't need to say it; I already know," Barry says, sheepishly, holding his hands out, apologetically, to his brother.
"Shut up, just just up, I've heard it all before. Time and time again, the same excuses, the same apologies, but this time I don't want to hear any of it," Jeremy snapped.
"Understood," Barry said, knowing full well that he had pushed it a bit too far this time.
Vacantly, Jeremy looked back out of the window at the sparrow on the bird table. "What's in those boxes this time?" he asked but wished he hadn't spoken.
"Xanax," Barry mumbled.
"You had better get those drugs out of my house, and any other drugs you have here, and go; I never want to see you again!" Jeremy screamed, not turning around to face his brother.
Zigzagging across the sky, the sparrow flew off into the morning clouds, leaving the earth behind to carry on turning.
*****
The homework for our next meeting is to go for a walk and take note of signs (street signs, direction signs, house names, menu boards, lampposts, etc), and use the words found in a story.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 16th July, 10:30 - 12:00.
"Right, look, I know what you're going to say, but you don't need to say it; I already know," Barry says, sheepishly, holding his hands out, apologetically, to his brother.
"Shut up, just just up, I've heard it all before. Time and time again, the same excuses, the same apologies, but this time I don't want to hear any of it," Jeremy snapped.
"Understood," Barry said, knowing full well that he had pushed it a bit too far this time.
Vacantly, Jeremy looked back out of the window at the sparrow on the bird table. "What's in those boxes this time?" he asked but wished he hadn't spoken.
"Xanax," Barry mumbled.
"You had better get those drugs out of my house, and any other drugs you have here, and go; I never want to see you again!" Jeremy screamed, not turning around to face his brother.
Zigzagging across the sky, the sparrow flew off into the morning clouds, leaving the earth behind to carry on turning.
*****
The homework for our next meeting is to go for a walk and take note of signs (street signs, direction signs, house names, menu boards, lampposts, etc), and use the words found in a story.
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 16th July, 10:30 - 12:00.
