The prompt for today is to imagine that today is the last day of a long hot
summer. How you would like to spend it? Is there anything you wanted to do this
summer, but haven’t had a chance? Is there anything you’d like to repeat? Write
about your ideal summer day, or about how exhausting long summers are, whatever
comes to mind. I am going to pick up with my character from my short story, Calm in a Storm, as this prompt seems to fit. Eventually I think I will string these together, get a great editor, aka my daughter, and see if I might actually have a complete novel. For the rest of the prompts and other entries, visit Rise and Write.
Last Day of Summer
It was a week since Kara and the twins took three days to drive home from a summer trip back to her home state, and the family lake cabin. Now, while the calendar said September 7th, and summer technically didn't end until September 21st, this last day before sending her youngest kids back to school marked the true last day of summer for her. The college Paul worked at would start classes later in the week, but he was spending long hours already prepping his teaching assistants, and working with graduate and PhD candidates. Brent, was a week into classes on the other side of the state at his university. Kyle and Courtney would be juniors, two years before they were out of mandatory school, and on to their next adventure. Kara hope it meant college as well, but the parenting principle she tried to live by was not pushing her personal agenda onto her kids plans. Of course, she would heavily make all the arguments of why college would be the best choice, but ultimately would support them, as they did Brent when he originally was going to take a year off, and keep working for the Parks department. Good fortune intervened, when Brent was offered a part time job doing similar work near the university he was accepted into. Paul had worked a few connections to arrange an interview, but Brent's passion for the work, even as a high school student, must have shown in his interview. though he was only going to start with generals, he declared a major in Natural Resources and Conservation mid year.
Kara sat at her kitchen table and had a long think. She had bulked up on her vacation, as well as took a few manuscripts along on the trip and working remotely. This was how she was able to be out of the office for four weeks, but she too would be back to work the next day. She did have a very flexible schedule, and could work form anywhere really, but a certain amount of face time with authors, with the Editor in Chief, and her colleagues made a few office days a month necessary. She knew tough with the bombshell news she received the last night at the cabin, that she was going to need every ounce of flexibility Pearson Publishing would allow. "Early on-set Alzheimer's couple with a dose of congestive heart disease," her mother said out of the blue when she came into the bedroom where Kara was packing up their clothes. Her mother was sick and would be getting sicker. There had been many signs of her mother's illness, but Kara had brushed them off by interpreting them as her mother's grief, experiencing the first summer after the loss of her husband, Kara's dad. don't we all, Kara had though, walk into rooms and forget why we came in, or start a conversation, and sometimes forget what our point is? Don't nay of us get winded if we over exert ourselves, are thirsty or if it is very humid? As Kara thought more though, she realized there were entire gaps in clarity with her mom. A conversation they were having about Kara's aunt Jane and her spouse, Charlie, quickly shifted by her mother. "I don't know about that." her mother had said, when just minutes before, she was sharing the same information. She also repeatedly told the same story's from decades earlier, but struggled with remembering how old the grand kids were.
In another week, Kara was going to need to do a quick two day trip accompanying her mother to doctors appointments and her attorney. Jim, her brother, would attend these appointments as well. Her mother wanted to be sure her children knew her wishes and would understand the details of both her medical needs as well as her financial picture. The earlier bombshell regarding her brothers bankruptcy, reared its head again. Was there eougth left, after the large investment her father had made, to ensure her mothers care and comfort? while her borhter was full of talk, she believed he would never do anything that would jeopardize his mothers future, or that her dad would have been so secure in her brothers financial skills that he invested in a level that impacted his and her mothers own safety net, but Kara was still nervous. This is how Kara spent her last morning of summer, with fret ans worry, two behaviors that were not normally part of her being. She wanted to be thinking about having friends over for a labor day barbecue, but hadn't plan anything. She wanted to be thinking about fall college fairs and SAT and ACT tests for her juniors. She wanted to think about laundry, anything but having to be thinking about her mothers quick decline in health. Her last day of summer was now marking a new stage of life.
Last Day of Summer
It was a week since Kara and the twins took three days to drive home from a summer trip back to her home state, and the family lake cabin. Now, while the calendar said September 7th, and summer technically didn't end until September 21st, this last day before sending her youngest kids back to school marked the true last day of summer for her. The college Paul worked at would start classes later in the week, but he was spending long hours already prepping his teaching assistants, and working with graduate and PhD candidates. Brent, was a week into classes on the other side of the state at his university. Kyle and Courtney would be juniors, two years before they were out of mandatory school, and on to their next adventure. Kara hope it meant college as well, but the parenting principle she tried to live by was not pushing her personal agenda onto her kids plans. Of course, she would heavily make all the arguments of why college would be the best choice, but ultimately would support them, as they did Brent when he originally was going to take a year off, and keep working for the Parks department. Good fortune intervened, when Brent was offered a part time job doing similar work near the university he was accepted into. Paul had worked a few connections to arrange an interview, but Brent's passion for the work, even as a high school student, must have shown in his interview. though he was only going to start with generals, he declared a major in Natural Resources and Conservation mid year.
Kara sat at her kitchen table and had a long think. She had bulked up on her vacation, as well as took a few manuscripts along on the trip and working remotely. This was how she was able to be out of the office for four weeks, but she too would be back to work the next day. She did have a very flexible schedule, and could work form anywhere really, but a certain amount of face time with authors, with the Editor in Chief, and her colleagues made a few office days a month necessary. She knew tough with the bombshell news she received the last night at the cabin, that she was going to need every ounce of flexibility Pearson Publishing would allow. "Early on-set Alzheimer's couple with a dose of congestive heart disease," her mother said out of the blue when she came into the bedroom where Kara was packing up their clothes. Her mother was sick and would be getting sicker. There had been many signs of her mother's illness, but Kara had brushed them off by interpreting them as her mother's grief, experiencing the first summer after the loss of her husband, Kara's dad. don't we all, Kara had though, walk into rooms and forget why we came in, or start a conversation, and sometimes forget what our point is? Don't nay of us get winded if we over exert ourselves, are thirsty or if it is very humid? As Kara thought more though, she realized there were entire gaps in clarity with her mom. A conversation they were having about Kara's aunt Jane and her spouse, Charlie, quickly shifted by her mother. "I don't know about that." her mother had said, when just minutes before, she was sharing the same information. She also repeatedly told the same story's from decades earlier, but struggled with remembering how old the grand kids were.
In another week, Kara was going to need to do a quick two day trip accompanying her mother to doctors appointments and her attorney. Jim, her brother, would attend these appointments as well. Her mother wanted to be sure her children knew her wishes and would understand the details of both her medical needs as well as her financial picture. The earlier bombshell regarding her brothers bankruptcy, reared its head again. Was there eougth left, after the large investment her father had made, to ensure her mothers care and comfort? while her borhter was full of talk, she believed he would never do anything that would jeopardize his mothers future, or that her dad would have been so secure in her brothers financial skills that he invested in a level that impacted his and her mothers own safety net, but Kara was still nervous. This is how Kara spent her last morning of summer, with fret ans worry, two behaviors that were not normally part of her being. She wanted to be thinking about having friends over for a labor day barbecue, but hadn't plan anything. She wanted to be thinking about fall college fairs and SAT and ACT tests for her juniors. She wanted to think about laundry, anything but having to be thinking about her mothers quick decline in health. Her last day of summer was now marking a new stage of life.
I enjoy seeing how the story forms with every single prompt when you choose to write about your characters. It's a wonderful process, isn't it? It's like meeting someone you like and discover more and more new things about them! It's such a surprise that Kara is an editor to me. :)
ReplyDeleteI feel like I am missing some ideas on transitioning the parts of the story together. I have an idea for how I wait it to start, and these excerpts are the middle, but not quite sure how to end. Perhaps another few weeks and more will take shape and make senses as a complete story, start to finish.
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