A Deck of Cards

Good morning, For this article's exercise, the subject is parents. Before I post what I wrote in five minutes (precious minutes indeed), let's talk about this subject for a moment. I can bet you there are a lot of things that you can think of or even say, when you think about parents: -my parents? -my parents in law? -Parents in general? -Parenthood? (If you are a parent, could you write about that?) The options are pretty much endless. But, when that clock is ticking, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Now, let me show you what I wrote: "My parents are polar opposites. It's a wonder they ever got together at all. Thinking back, I cannot think about anything they enjoyed doing together; any hobbies or particular interest to one was loathed by the other.  My mum is probably the more smiling and crazy happy out of the two. But that is the way she is now, not then. My dad used to laugh a lot, be this kind of carefree person that nothing touched...

On the 28th of November the subject was "my dog". To be honest, I love dogs, but I don't have one; instead I have two kids :) This is what I came up with, within the 5 minutes we had: "He sleeps on the floor in the corner of the room, I pick him up and put him on the bed. He loves this space, by the pillows, where he can sit or lie down completely. Hi yellow ears are in contrast to his white body. His blue eyes are closed, or so I imagine.  Where's its twin? I wonder. Maybe under the bed or under the desk? In the wardrobe, hiding away from me or my parents? "Ah! there you are!"as I grab him from behind the door. I carefully put him on the bed, next to its brother. His blues ears look so funny; I love him so.  I leave the room with a smile.  When I come home that night, they are gone.  Both of them.  My parents had to give them away. The doctor said so.  Even if I loved them so much it heart my heart. My little heart did not understand....

Here is another 5 minutes exercise that I made on the 21st of November. "I've woken up to my alarm blazing in the still darkness. I stand up and get dressed, still half asleep. Next, the kids need to be woken up... Z. wakes up on his own, K. takes a good fifteen minutes to wake up, another ten to get ready. Once we are ready we rush to school, then I, to work.  A quick breakfast in the staff room and it's a go! Students come in, sit down and do their work in moderate silence. From time to time I have to repeat the same thing as everyday: "ID on" ,"No drink", "No food". Today is good enough, there is no shouting. A few students need help.  I have a look at the bookmarks. I make a list in my head. There is so much to do and it's barely the middle of the day...  I think about my story as well. There is so much things I think about. Too much stuff sometimes." 162 words. Looking back at this now, I realize that I may need to c...

Hi, So this is a 5 minutes exercise I participated in. I thought about why I'd want to put it in my blog, and the only thing I can think of is that those exercises have been beneficial for me. For my writing and the way I process things. Funny enough, I learnt a new word at the last workshop, it feels quite well here I think: catharsis. Look it up, and you'll see what benefits I'm talking about. Here is what I wrote: Me and my husband went to the hospital, early morning, with the big bag ready: enough clothes for me, new clothes for two newborns.  Next to me, my other half fidgets constantly. "It's gonna drive me mad!" I think to myself. The nurse comes and tells us to get ready.  Morning passes. Afternoon comes when the doctors arrive: "Right, it's time!" The insurance and good mood of the doctor and nurses is infectious.  My husband comes with me in the operation room. Seeing the needle, the anesthetist tells my husband to sit down....

Following my previous post, you'll probably understand that I've been busy. So: I managed to write 50950 words between the 1st of November until the 30th of November. It's Epic for me :) I can safely say that I've never managed to write this much before. But now that the month is done, and I've had time to evaluate what I've done well and what I could have done better, I realise that, although this experience has been great, after a month of writing so much on top of all the other things of life, I felt drained. Like, really drained: near collapse and sleep for a week kinda drained! It's been a week exactly now that the challenge has been passed, and I've not written that much, comparatively. Pros: -I've managed to write more than ever, as I've already said. -The target is a great way to boost me. But the diagram is what really helped. -I felt a lot more enthusiastic about my characters and messed about a little with a couple of side tec...