Week 1 prompts (I never did this one)

1. Alone in a quiet room. Listen. What do you hear? 

The tip-tapping of the keyboard and the swimming of thoughts in my mind are what seem to be keeping me from writing well. Sometimes writer's block feels like I'm trapped in a box and can't get out. It's an awful feeling; if you can't write, how can you fully and completely express those feelings that words aloud cannot express? 

In my mind I'm telling myself all the negative things that a person with writer's block should never tell themselves. 

"You'll never write a good story".  

Well, no, not with that attitude. 

"When will I find an inspiration of some kind? "

Exactly when you stop being negative. 

"Everyone who has ever told me I'm a talented writer are liars." 

People don't lie for no reason. Trust them. 

The old house I'm sitting in creaks and croaks around me. I swivel around in my chair for a few seconds, as if rattling around my thoughts will help somehow. 

"That's it!" 

The only negative things here are right here in my head. 

And then when I overcome that, 

I write. 

2. Alone in a quiet room. What do you see? 


Alone time isn't as awful as everyone makes it out to be. 

You get time to think to yourself without interruptions; you get a chance to really think about those things that have been bothering you all week. 

With a big red mug full of dark black coffee, I sit on the chair on the porch and surround myself with the crisp air. Through the old foggy windows, the daylight shines through. I sit and I wrap the blanket around me. For a nice moment, I don't think about anything. 

It's sunrise. The warm light of the sun reaches my face, and it causes me to close my eyes. I complimented this warm feeling with a sip of my coffee, and it's like the warmth reaches my toes.

Everybody needs to watch a sunrise from a stationary spot. 

Usually, I watch the sunrise from my bedroom window as I am throwing together an outfit to go to work. 

Or, I'm driving on the highway or Route 2. 

Those times, the sunrise isn't always as warm. 

But now, with the light wind and the fireflies still blinking, the sunrise seems like something I forget to appreciate. 

I don't have time to appreciate the sunrise, I think quietly to myself. 

And then I think again with a snide smile, Yes I do. 

It's here every day. 

3. Alone in a quiet room. How did you get here? 


This waiting room is meant to be so comfortable it's actually making me very uncomfortable. 

This day has already been so stressful; there's a snowstorm and it's April, I'm an hour too early for this job interview, the hairdo I spent so long perfecting was ruined by this unexpected snow. 

I'm waiting for my interviewer to come in, and I think briefly think about why exactly I need this second job. 

I had just lived through the worst winter of my life thus far. 

Taking on a busy school schedule caused me to be able to work less. I only worked three days a week and made, roughly, 90 dollars a week. I was constantly extremely broke, and this winter was full of ridiculous snowstorms and I didn't acquire a good set of snow tires until January (to get said snow tires, I won 500 dollars playing bingo for the first time). Before getting those tires, I went off the road and almost died more times then years I've been alive. My old tires were as slick as ice. If it weren't for that bingo game, I probably never would have gotten snow tires. Not making 90 dollars a week. 

But, all winter I applied for jobs. I went everywhere and applied and called back but nowhere was hiring. This was the first job interview I got; and I applied for this job in December and now it was April. I had been hoping to get more hours at my first job, but no such luck there either. Not only that, but I was so depressed all winter that I thought the only fix was a second job. I lived in a deathtrap, hellhole of an apartment, and 96% of the time, I was there alone with Pistachio. I dyed my hair black, I lost weight because I never ate, and I could barely go home because I could never afford the gas. To say the least, it was the most depressed I had ever been. 

So here I was. A job interview at Border's Books and Music. Finally; another chance. 

I waited and waited for the manager to come interview me. I had almost all my fingers and toes crossed, and in my mind I was praying, hoping, pleading that I got this job. 

I needed this second job. 

At the time, I thought it was the fix for everything. 

And after what seemed like hours of waiting, and the snow in my had melted and it looked like I got straight out of the shower and came here, a woman called me into the office. 

I tried to fix my hair as best as possible, but at this point it wasn't worth it. I stood up with a smile and introduced myself, wet hair and all. 

Within a week, I was hired.