NaNoWriMo 2010 Prep 101: 15 Minutes of Word Sprinting....Go!

15 Minutes of General Fiction Writing

For my first writing challenge , I’ve got a 15 minute timed session to get whatever I can out and on the page. 15 minutes. 5….4…3…2…1…Write!:

            Once upon a time and far far away.....I woke up bright and early Friday morning, put a fresh pot of coffee on. I threw on my favorite black stretch pants, oversized t-shirt and slipped into my running shoes. As I turned to look at the clock, 5:42am, I caught a quick glimpse of myself in the mirror - My eyes were black and puffy from the night before - so not fair. I flipped my head and hair upside down, as if shaking off the memory of last night, and secured it high atop my head in a half ponytail-bun-do.

            When the coffee was ready, I poured it in my favorite travel mug, checked to make sure the lid was tight and walked out of the kitchen and into the back room where I found a pair of socks scrunched up inside my sneakers on the belt of my treadmill. I picked them up and felt them for any remnants of sweat, holding them close enough to my nose, to determine if it was okay to put them on for a quick run. The old socks won out over a fresher pair, knowing that going back in my bedroom would only lead me back to bed.

            I put on my cross-trainers without untying the laces and then stretched out my tired body even quicker, extending my legs in a bent lunge position while crisscrossing one arm over the other in front of me. My iPod was already sitting in the tray on the treadmill so I picked it up/. I certainly wasn’t going to let the fact that it had been a gift from Jack stop me from listening to it so turned it on and slipped its buds in my ears. Lady Gaga was trying to seduce my head with songs of dirty sex and S&M….Next….a throwback to the 80s, as Rob and Fab advised me to Blame it On the Rain….another single I wasn’t ready to get into….finally, I settled on a little Tom Petty. Runnin’ Down a Dream seemed neutral enough…til I thought about the name of his band mates: the Heartbeakers.. Ugh. This was going to be a long day…