Exercise of the day: Growing up, again

[gooberfishbowl.livejournal.com]

Today's EotD:

Growining up, Again

Write on the subject for five minutes, then post the results in a comment on this post.

There is also a community set up, that I've been meaning to mention: eotd.

Comments

[leatherdykeuk.livejournal.com]

If I were a child again I would grow up differently. Instead of being the awkward one that looked different and buried herself in books instead of friendships, I would embrace my difference, dress however I liked, delight in the description of being an ‘odd child’ and then bury myself in my books, except this time I would badger my parents into obtaining the classics instead of remaindered paperbacks.

I would forego the ideals of a ‘sensible’ education of the sciences and celebrate the arts instead, take courses in literature and Art, write poetry on the backs of envelopes and short stories in ten words or less on the back of a matchbox.

I’d take my first degree in English instead of electronics, Art instead of double glazing, and I wouldn’t settle for marriage as a heterosexual couple when there’s a whole world of women out there.

But I’d still climb the apple trees in the springtime.

[lizzyjit.livejournal.com]

As a child, I was eleven years old going on thirty. Always the responsible one – the saver of allowances, the adherer to curfews, the voice of reason. Now, I’m thirty going nowhere.

I was always in a rush to grow up – to get out of high school, to get through college, to get past law school. Every goal reached was followed quickly by another set by those around me or, more accurately, by what I thought those around me expected. And so, here I am almost thirty, goals long since achieved. A lawyer in a good firm with a nice apartment and a cute car - and little else.

You see, growing up isn’t really about the steps, the accomplishments, the big moments. It’s about all that time in between, the living of your life. I was so focused on getting to that finish line that I gave up my in between – filled it up working and ticked off its hours.

But, of course, a finish line isn’t really anything more than the start of another lap, is it? So here’s to growing up, again. Only this time, I think I’ll pay attention.

[smc36.livejournal.com]

You wrote that in under five minutes?? I found it to be very powerful as well as very, very thought provoking and utterly amazing.

[lizzyjit.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks a lot. I probably gave myself time to formulate an idea and then timed myself once fingers hit keyboard.

[smc36.livejournal.com]

See, I've debated over and over about joining, and then realized that I couldn't come up with a single thought for the given theme, and then I read your's and damn, I was literally blown away.

[lizzyjit.livejournal.com]

I think I love you.

Can you just follow me around all November and tell me I rock?

Besides, there is no "given theme" for NaNoWriMo. Just for these exercises. You can have any damn theme/idea you want. Or, you can have no plot at all.

Have you ever read Infinite Jest. That book, masquerading as a stream of consciousness epic, is nothing more than run-on sentence after run-on sentence after self-important run-on sentence. It's also a bestseller.

Just write. If you write it, the plot will come. :)

[smc36.livejournal.com]

I was planning on following you around all November any way, because you do *rock*!
I actually had an idea while at the doctor's today but well, yeah - I doubt it. I have no self confidence! Any how - I am definitely planning on following you around all of November, just like a pet dog.

256 words, god am I slow

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Thinking about how things had gone the past seven years, Hermione wished she hadn’t given her Time Turner back to Professor McGonagall. She’d spent all of her third year turning back time several times a day, trying to fit in more classes so she could learn more things from books. What she hadn’t counted on was how little that book-learning did for her so much of the time. Sure, it helped her find spells she needed to know and would never be taught (certainly never by Dolores Umbridge, but then, that vile harpy wasn’t really trying to teach them Defense Against the Dark Arts at all, was she?). The book-leaerning also helped Hermione learn about which plants were most useful and how to make potions she wasn’t supposed to be making at all.

But no book learning would help her figure out how to deal with her two best friends. Ron, who she could tell had pined for her for at least three years but never admitted it to her or anyone else, and Harry, for whom she’d pined for the past three years but had never told. So many times in the past three years she wished she could go back and grow up again, say the right thing to each of them -- things to dissuade one and prompt the other -- do whatever it would take to keep their triangular friendship together as long as possible. Because, when push came to shove, all three of them needed the other two.

*^*^*^*

Yeah it sucks. I hate not being able to edit!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: 256 words, god am I slow

[heart-of-wine.livejournal.com]

I like it! It really illustrates how Hermione's character would want to use the time turner to get things right were her friends. Strong character voice.

Hugs,
Elia

Re: 256 words, god am I slow

[abigail89.livejournal.com]

Does so NOT suck!

I like Hermione's dilemma, as if she's finally getting a clue about how the real world works. You've hit the assignment squarely.

I caught one misspelling. So there

<3!

Re: 256 words, god am I slow

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

<333 you back :) Thanks. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to string together my October EotD's into part of a novel during November:))

Re: 256 words, god am I slow

[esicardi.livejournal.com]

Actually I like it. It doesn't suck at all. It describes Hermione's feelings very well, with the advantage of being brief, unlike some long boring introspective fics. And it's amazing you can write this well in 5 minutes and without editing a thing!

Re: 256 words, god am I slow

[dutchany.livejournal.com]

Don't be so cruel to yourself. It certainly does not suck!!

What I don't like about these short five minute written stories is that I
want to know so badly how it continues..

Re: 256 words, god am I slow

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I have no idea myself how it continues. I was just told to write for 5 minutes on the topic, so I did. But...it does have the seeds for a little ficlet in it, doesn't it? :) Thanks, Anneke.

[uozlulu.livejournal.com]

Growning up. Again. Oh great. It seems like just yesterday I was a fresh-faced flat-chested freshman standing on the corner of the bus stop, watching everything through blurry eyes.

Now I'm a freshman in college and where has that time gone to? What have I accouplished in four or five odd years? I agrued with a few teachers, I grew into a woman, but now I sit in my dorm and reflect.

I never had a boyfriend. I always ran around with both boys and girls and that doesn't make me a lesbian, right? I guess that I don't really know, except there's this hot guy in one of my classes and oh God I'm sounding like a high school freshman again.

It's hard to grow up in so many ways. I don't really know what to do half the time. I had a job sophomore year that I quit after a while since I was getting ketchup in my hair and my best friend Danny needed the job more. I haven't seen him in forever, ever since he moved out to Cali right before Christmas of our junior year.

How did I lose track of him? As I look out at our Michigan snow, I think about the week right before he left and how we spent a lot of time together and both did horrible on our winter finals. Danny and I played in the snow every day and we drank hot chocolate in my living room like we used to when we were too little to even remember the first time we ever had. True by then he wasn't living next door anymore, but Da

[viv7mgte.livejournal.com]

He is young and immortal and he knows everything.

Sure, he had fallen on his face a few times, and only through the grace of those who loved him been able to get up and not be stuck down there forever, but that wasn't the point. That was just how life went, right? There was always someone there to bail you out at that opportune moment? Of course.

So that was why it was that he was sitting by the phone on one particular rainy afternoon, drawing cartoons on a long-overdue (and still unpaid) credit card statement, figuring at any time, someone would come through for him. He had already showered twice that day, prepared dinner for the evening, and drawn cartoons on all the rest of his mail. He hadn't yet turned on any lights in his apartment, just settled for the ambient glow of a the rainy day outside the flimsy curtain in his kitchen.

He would get up, get in his car, and drive down the highway to get to his preferred haunt--a coffeehouse open late enough that even he rarely managed to stay there till closing. He would drive down the highway... There is always detritous on the side of the highway, which gives it such a gloomy look. The highway is always gloomy, of course, but particularly so on these rainy days when erratic puddles are formed by the irregularities and inconsistencies of the highway surface. The yellow and white guiding lines are made wavery and partially obscured by a film of water, making it hard to see precisely where it is that you are going. These clever aquatic ploys would not tug him off his course, though!

He slumped against the wall, cigarette dangling from between his lips. Any time now, any time now the phone would ring and stop him from having to grow up again. Someone would come for him. Things like this didn't happen in real life. Any time now he would have his coming of age story... right?

[myfriendjenny.livejournal.com]

Merlin’s body was twisted with age and wracked with pain. Breathing, yes even breathing required effort, caused pain. He had lived long. Longer than any man was meant too. Yet he found himself still unwilling to accept death. Reeling the years back in was easy enough. He had done it many times before. The difficult part was retaining his memories as his body slipped backwards. For a moment he considered truly growing up again. A blank slate. Innocent. But no, he hoarded his knowledge as much as any miser did his gold. He could not let it go.

[p-tripp.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like it very much!

This is exactly how I picture the trio dilemma: Ron's unrequited love for Hermione, and in turn, Hermione's powerful yet hidden feelings for Harry. It just makes for a beautifully complicated scenario.

Ahhh....romance. *sigh*

[andhowever.livejournal.com]

Even though she knew that assault was assault was assault, even though her support group told her she wasn't overreacting, even though her friends stepped as lightly as a pair of trick ponies around her. . .she couldn't help feeling that what she had gone through wasn't important. Yes, it was her first kiss, and yes, it was her first sexual encounter, and yes, it was against her will. But did that give her the right to mope and whine about it? Other women had gone through much more -- Rape. Bondage. Beatings. What did she have to complain about?
What had happened that sunny day under the chestnut tree took away her childhood. She was 13 years old and he was 15 and tall and handsome and dark-eyed. She didn't know anything about the ways of love, but she did know that she didn't want him to kiss her, and she did know that she had to fight. So she fought. And for the next six years, continued fighting to grow up, again.

[lady-carrie.livejournal.com]

I love it I wish I could come up with something like that in five minutes.

[nano-curio.livejournal.com]

Growing up, again. (Word Count: 352)

It’s a harsh thing, going through adulthood and then realising that there are still so many things left to learn. You have to pay bills; you have to rent a place to live; you have to remember to wash behind your ears (if you are so inclined); you have to learn responsibility.

Yes, the dreaded “R” word. It’s almost a death sentence, and a word parents love to throw at you.

Words hurt, when they’re thrown.

And you never realise that you have to grow up more than once. Most lives do not simply have one point in the course of their experiences that is life-changing - they have several. There is the first kiss, awakening a person to all the different subtleties of romance and of sex. You get excited by that first thrill of realising that someone else’s lips are on your own; that someone’s hand is in yours; that someone wants to be with you, just as you wish to be with them. But then, later, you realise how deep that feeling goes; how it’s not just about first dates and first kisses, but about commitment and acceptance of idiosyncrasies. With each year and each new relationship, you grow up a little.

There is driving and meeting people. As a teenager, you tend to be clumsier. You hand out your number or your screenname, and talk to people in the hopes of forming a connection. You like the same bands, you wear your hair the same way - whatever the reason, it is usually something found on the surface. As you grow to be on your own, you realise that you need more from such a thing - you need to realise who that person is, what their life has been like, why they love the people they do. Your definitions are redefined.

Always redefined.

I had to grow up again once I hit early twenties. Life shifted, responsibilities grew in number, and I my mind changed - my views changed, my feelings changed...and I grew.

I will probably grow up yet again in ten years. And it continues.