Group Prompt #1

I met with Ryan and Shaun at 5pm onTuesday in Halle Library , and after discussing a couple of different ideas we agreed to try a writing prompt limit of one syllable words with an emphasis on sound. I wrote quickly and freely, and composed the following:

Hi…do you think you could turn that thing down? At first it was OK but the more I tried to tune it out the loud- hey! Yeah, you! I need to read and I can’t think straight with all that noise. I know you are on the job but I’m here too and I need some space to think.

Then I took a call. Her voice was like a bag of glass and she spoke so fast that I had to beg her to pause. I tried once more to get the guy to knock it off- now they were both in my ear he with the loud gears and she on the phone- could I hold please?

Yeah, I can hold. What I can’t do is think. His thump hit the wall and shook a shelf near me.  I saw a small crack form on the wall. Then she came back on the line and I must have said the wrong thing…she swore twice in a quick chirp, then hung up.  I was in a tight spot. Every time he hit the wall I jumped.  My nerves were shot and all I could do was stare at the phone and beg the gods to make her call back.

The thing was…I knew that sound and I knew the crack would only spread. If you grew up where I did you’d know it too. People ask why I am so tight, how I can get good grades if a loud noise puts me two steps into a flight? And what can I say to that? Not much.

Some get it, some don’t.  The bell rings, I run. The phone rings, I pace.

Reflections: as I typed my piece, I realized that although it was relatively easy to write in this manner, it was hard to dig into any depth of description of sounds without adjectives or multi-syllabic verbs.  Instead I chose to describe more of a circumstance caused by sound and ended up accidentally depicting the onset of an audio PTSD episode. This interesting development will merit further thought at a later date…

After Shuan, Ryan and I shared our work, we spent a while talking about different ideas and goals of ours for this semester as writers.  We discussed self-censorship and the ways in which we edit ourselves for fear of offending others, or not being understood. We talked about some different methods to hopefully break past boundaries, including chap books, which are encouraging to me because they seem to be a more attainable amount of words to complete a project than an entire novel.

We also reflected about our experience presenting in Christine’s class, and we all felt that it went well. I suggested that the three of us all set a goal of getting at least one piece published this semester, regardless of the size or scope of the media outlet, and we talked about submitting pieces to EMU’s Cellar Roots lit magazine. All in all, it was a productive and encouraging exercise/meeting.