Day 4: I Wrote a 250 Word Article!
Please note: In yesterday’s diary entry, Theo threw a cat out of the window. It was an open ground floor window, an agile cat, and a gentle throw. Please stop writing in. The cat is fine.
Day 4 — New Beginnings
After yesterday’s humiliation over the AI articles and the suspicion that my writing career was over before it started — I slept surprisingly well.
Got up around 1:30 p.m., feeling refreshed.
No email from Janice. No calls either.
I looked at my “Being Content” article for a while and added a few words here and there. Up to 112 words now. My writing is getting faster.
At 4:30 p.m., I received an email, subject line: “Today’s Assignment.” It was short and to the point: Write anything you want, 250 words minimum, send it in by 9 a.m. tomorrow. Use AI again and it’s game over.
Despite the dressing down from Theo, I hadn’t given up on the idea of writing. If anything, it made me want to try harder.
Not really. That’s just the kind of crap they put in Hollywood movies. I hate the bastard and his flea-ridden cat.
But I need work badly. With a prison record, even for a mild nothing-at-all thing, it’s hard to get a job. And who wants a proper job anyway? Writing offers an easy way to make legal money, on your own time.
After yesterday’s humiliation over the AI articles and the suspicion that my writing career was over before it started — I slept surprisingly well.
Got up around 1:30 p.m., feeling refreshed.
No email from Janice. No calls either.
I looked at my “Being Content” article for a while and added a few words here and there. Up to 112 words now. My writing is getting faster.
At 4:30 p.m., I received an email, subject line: “Today’s Assignment.” It was short and to the point: Write anything you want, 250 words minimum, send it in by 9 a.m. tomorrow. Use AI again and it’s game over.
Despite the dressing down from Theo, I hadn’t given up on the idea of writing. If anything, it made me want to try harder.
Not really. That’s just the kind of crap they put in Hollywood movies. I hate the bastard and his flea-ridden cat.
But I need work badly. With a prison record, even for a mild nothing-at-all thing, it’s hard to get a job. And who wants a proper job anyway? Writing offers an easy way to make legal money, on your own time.
I opened up “Being Content” again and stared at it. There was no point in starting something new. Not with this mad deadline. Another 100 words to go.
I got nowhere for a while, nothing came to mind, so I went out for a walk. Just like a proper writer when they get writer’s block.
The charity shop was open. They had a sports jacket, probably thirty to forty years old — definitely the sort a proper writer would wear.
I bought the jacket. Put it on. Went home and began to write.
I got nowhere for a while, nothing came to mind, so I went out for a walk. Just like a proper writer when they get writer’s block.
The charity shop was open. They had a sports jacket, probably thirty to forty years old — definitely the sort a proper writer would wear.
I bought the jacket. Put it on. Went home and began to write.
At midnight, I switched off the machine. My eyes were tired, my back hurt, I had barely moved for several hours.
But I had my 250 words!
I emailed the article to Janice, hung my writing jacket on the good coat hanger, and skinned up a celebratory wobbly one.
I imagined the delight on Theo’s face when he receives my new piece and how he will feel to have misjudged me so harshly.
For now, I am a writer.
Might buy a pipe to go with the jacket tomorrow.
But I had my 250 words!
I emailed the article to Janice, hung my writing jacket on the good coat hanger, and skinned up a celebratory wobbly one.
I imagined the delight on Theo’s face when he receives my new piece and how he will feel to have misjudged me so harshly.
For now, I am a writer.
Might buy a pipe to go with the jacket tomorrow.
Will my new article be accepted? Will Theo apologize for mocking my obvious talent? Find out on Day 5 of Being a Writer.