Happy Wednesday! I’m late with this because I had to take my kid to an appointment this morning and then attend the music awards at his school this afternoon. I’m one proud mama bear. He earned his varsity music letter as a freshman, only the second kid in his school’s (short) history to do so.
I sent a novella for an anthology, and it was a bit of a difficult decision. I’d considered making it longer, a full-length novel. But several readers looked at it, and one of the suggestions made by more than one was to do a series of novellas about the ensemble cast.
Today, I put a few words down. This is just about all I have so far, but I’ve already started planning it. I knew I had to choose this character next for a number of reasons. Anyway, you don’t need the context of the original story to understand this other than that it’s not quite contemporary–it’s set in the fall of 1991.
No WIPmath today; first Wednesday of the month, first few paragraphs of the new story.
I call my friend Toni on Sunday afternoon. We were only just at church an hour ago, but she’s the only one I can talk to. Or maybe she’s the only one who can talk some sense into me.
Her sister answers on the third ring then hollers for Toni as soon as I ask for her. Sofia must have the receiver uncovered because I can hear Toni in the background saying she’ll get the phone in her parents’ room. I cross and uncross my fingers, praying Sofia hangs up as soon as Toni is on the line. I don’t want anyone else to hear what I’ve got to say.
“Hey, Noah.” There’s a pause, then a muffled, “I got it!” followed by a click. “Okay. What’s up?”
I jump right into it before I can chicken out. “Wanna go shopping with me?”
“No, but I will. What do you need?”
“Um.” I clear my throat. “I need to get some stuff from the girls’ section. It’s for…a play. The community theater,” I add hastily.
“Seriously? What role is it, Tootsie?” She giggles.
It isn’t, really, but Toni’s given me a good out. I swallow. I’m not ready to tell anyone, not even her, the real reason. Mostly because I need to figure out what the real reason is myself. I do the next best thing and lie through my teeth. “Yeah. They…uh…made it into a play, and I have the lead.”
Toni snorts. “I sincerely doubt they’d give Dustin Hoffman’s role to a kid. Wasn’t the main character kind of old?”
“No, really!” I charge on. “They…rewrote it for, like, high school. And…uh…only kids are in it.”
Now Toni laughs. “C’mon, Noah. Tell me the truth.”
“I swear, I’m being honest!”
Toni knows at least thirty percent of what I’ve said is genuine. I did join the community theater, to which Toni said, “That’s why you can’t go out for breakfast at Bruegger’s Bagels on Saturday mornings? I thought it was for soccer.” I told her it was both, which is sort of true. I’m giving her a partial-truth now, too.
Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Wrayburn for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!
