I quiet enjoyed the train journey into the city on Tuesday nights, it was unusual for me as mostly it’s the bike or the car- but parking would have been impossible , so, I sat in the artificial light of the carriage observing fellow passengers engaged in books or I-pods or conversations – some half overheard – like the folks who seemed to be bent on discussing the downfall of a family member – I think the guy was egging her on so he could get her into bed – not suggesting he and her were related in any way- but it was all out there for anybody to tune in on.

Writing class met at 6 pm for around two and a half hours. I didn’t really know what I was doing there but as we talked and walked through various things I began to see the threads that bonded narrative and song. Hoping to get myself more oriented toward the page I had undertaken the task and was the faced with the challenge now of concocting a short story in a week! Where do you start? What do I possibly have to say? Surely I had to have some hint of selfness in the story, just creating something out of thin air would not do.

I open up a new word document, it’s whiteness staring at me like an interrogation light, shining into the back of my mind trying to pry some sort of answer out of me, and as usual a word appears, more a word than a concept so I punish the keys with that and then another and another – and lo and behold there’s a sentence, now whether it’s remotely good I don’t know, but it’s about something- a guy who fixes photocopiers, hmmmm what could he be doing today – hmmmm -fixing photocopiers, maybe we need some ‘love interest’, yes – he could be attracted to the receptionist who escorts him into the building, maybe she could be modeled on that receptionist from the doctors surgery last week….. and there it is , the ‘characters’ start to grow flesh and blood and have there own thoughts as if they have been existing in the world all this time, you get to know them the more you write the more they ‘talk’ to you. are they imaginary friends? The thing is, it’s a ’short’ story so you need to get to the point QUICK- unlike a song where you have to get to the point even QUICKER- but it’s good practice, useful for when that really good idea hits home and you set aside the time to work on things.