Got another read-through of the story and I have a few more things to fix, but I'm on the right track. I should be sending it in early next week. I'm pumped.
So, what's going on today? I'm glad you asked. Today's exercise is:
8. Write about a place that you find boring -- I mean, we're talking dull as white wallpaper -- and
make it interesting.
Now, I know I said yesterday that this should be fun, but I'm starting to rethink that premise.
I was sitting in the lobby of the hotel at a math conference. Now, I'm not mathematician, I was there for moral support. I was also bored out of my mind. Nothing against mathematicians, but really, I was out of my element.
See, I'm an extravert. I enjoy talking to people. I do not enjoy sitting and figuring out the logarithm of the hypotenuse or whatever. Give me a room full of people and I will entertain them for half an hour.
I was tempted to go take a walk around the city, but I wasn't familiar with it and didn't want to end up on the wrong side of town or just completely lost. Plus, it was really cold. So, instead of sitting in my hotel room for another few hours, I sat and watched the people walking through the lobby and assigned their lives to them.
A tall man in a badly fitting blue suit. His name was Walter and he was a logician. He had a wife and one child, a girl, and he was in town for the conference, but to engage in some shady dealings with a drug dealer he knew.
After him was a blonde woman wearing a red power suit, so red it made me blink. She was wearing three inch heels, which put her at a shade over five and a half feet tall. Wanda was on her driver's license, but later in the bar, when she met up with a fairly handsome stranger, her name would become Heidi.
A couple walked in next. Steve and Caroline. The man was big and powerful looking. Brown crew cut and a pinstriped black suit. Carried a briefcase like it contained the Ark of the Covenant. She was also tall, but not as powerful looking as her husband. Yes, they were married. She had dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her wire-rimmed glasses were gold and her business suit was black with gold flecks in the fabric. They worked for hotel security. Very professional. On the weekends, they used their security status to find people willing to wife swap. Those that did got free or reduce-price amenities.
Three women walked in together, one of them holding a program to the conference. They were Karen, Rachel and Melody. From left to right. Karne had on a dark gray suit jacket and skirt. Her hair was graying slightly at the temples, the auburn hair in a clip. Rachel was young. Barely out of college. Maybe a Master's student. Black hair in a pixie cut, little spikes standing up. Dark blue coat and pants. White shirt with nothing underneath. Melody was in jeans and a t-shirt, wearing a pair of sneakers. Her strawberry blonde hair hung loose. She was moral support, just like me. The second and third were a couple, though they kept it quiet. Rachel was attracted to Melody's laid back attitude and outlook on life, while Melody loved Rachel's focus and determination. Melody didn't know that numbers Karen and Rachel, professor and grad student, had gotten together a time or two. It would end badly for Melody. Well, they can't all be happy endings.
"Excuse me." A woman said. "May I sit here?" She indicated the chair next to me.
"Please." I said, gesturing to the chair.
"Thank you." She said. "What are you doing?"
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"You're staring at people and sometimes you nod or shake your head no." She had been watching me like I had been watching them.
"Oh." I said, a little embarrassed. "I'm a non-mathematician at a math conference and I'm bored, so I'm entertaining myself by looking at people and giving them their lives." I explained what I meant and gave her a couple of the examples I had come up with already.
"Okay." She said with a smirk. "Take a shot at me."
I looked her over. Dark suit. Sensible black shoes. No ring on her left hand. About forty, maybe a couple years younger. Short pale blonde hair to her shoulder. Minimal makeup.
"Your name is Veronica. You're thirty-two," I said, making her smile. "and you've never been married. One child. A girl, who's just started high school. Her name is Bianca. She is the result of a bad choice in college, but not one you regret. You're a textbook publisher, not a mathematician, though you have to defend your math skills to actual mathematicians. How am I doing so far?"
"Keep going." Veronica said. "Tell me more."
"Okay." I looked her in the eyes for a moment. "You exercise three to four days a week, as your schedule allows. You have taken kickboxing lessons in the past, but your right hip flares up from an old injury, so you had to stop. You come to these conferences to try to find people who will either write or review your textbooks. Occasionally you look for someone to hire."
"There's more." Veronica said. "Tell me about my sex life."
I smiled. "Very well. You're unattached at the moment, but you've been seeing someone casually for a couple of months. Bianca thinks he's cute and wishes she was older, so she could take a shot at him. But she doesn't know that you like things on the rough side. Not bondage or anything like that, but there's nothing wrong with some hair pulling or spanking every now and then. She also doesn't know about that time when you sent her to your mother's house and you and another woman had a bit of fun with a rather large group of men, but that was a one time thing. How did I do?"
"Use your imagination." Veronica said, standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a large group of men to meet with."
I watched her walk away and laughed. At least I hadn't been bored for the last half hour.
There you have it. I'm not sure that followed the rules, but meh...who needs rules anyway? Right?
What's on tap for tomorrow, you ask? I provide the answer!
7. Step into the shoes of a character you despise with the sole exercise of making him readable
and compelling -- but without losing his loathsome qualities.
Okay. That could be like the 'moment of redemption' exercise.
So, that'll do it for today and I will see you all tomorrow. Thank you all for joining me and until next time, take care and be awesome to each other.
#WWWYKI
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