Unchronicled
This piece came about stretching my writing muscles: get a book, any book and the first verb or noun or substantial other word on page 7 is the prompt. Set your phone or an egg timer for 15 or 20 minutes and write, no self-criticism, no scoring out or looking back until the alarm has sounded. Most likely you will have written total nonsense but now and then you will have a sentence or a paragraph you may like. I am far from home. I am all alone in a cold country; the sun is weak and my bones, though young, are cold. It is supposed to be the hottest time of the year but I need to wear all my clothes and a warm jumper to stop shivering. People look at me in a funny way. They probably think I am ill, or on drugs, or both. They walk around me, as if I am contagious. But I am not: I am alone, far from home in a cold country. It worries me that it will even get colder. They say that in the coldest time of the year there will be snow. I have never seen snow apart from on the ...