Writing Workshop Assignment #6: At Arms’ Length

For this week's assignment, our teacher had the class members fill out two pieces of paper: one with a job title, and one with a slightly unusual activity. Everyone put their pieces of paper in two separate piles, and drew a job and activity from the pile. The assignment was to craft a story in which the protagonist holds the job described, and the story ends with the activity described.

The cards I drew:

• Deli Clerk
• Massages a lover's back (actually, the card originally read "pops pimples off a lover's back," but I took some liberties)

One of the benefits of writing for a class is that it inspires you to write outside your comfort zone, or at least to write stories that you wouldn't write if left to your own devices. I don't know that I'd put this story together on my own, but I had fun working on it.

I sometimes feel slightly self-conscious if I'm writing about a romantic couple. It feels almost like writing science fiction for an audience of space aliens; even if the story makes sense to my eyes, I worry that it is ridiculous in a way that I can't perceive. But, I suppose that's true of anybody writing a story that is a bit outside of their own experience, and most good writers find ways of understanding outside perspectives and experiences in an authentic way.

Writing Workshop Assignment #5: For the Road

This week's assignment:

Please read The Sock. Then, choosing your own object, write your own story, using that object to explain and/or reflect on the feelings your narrator has for someone else. In The Sock, Lydia Davis looks at the sock and is reminded of many things about her former husband.....using her example, write your own. If that doesn't make sense, send me an email and I can explain further.

Whatever your object of choice, let us see, taste, smell, hear, feel what the narrator feels as he or she reflects. See how much characterization you can fit in, too, using the techniques of action, speech, image, and thought... You'll probably note that The Sock is not heavy on plot. That's the way it is with almost all of Davis' stories. She's not at all a conventional writer.

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Like many people, I sometimes reflect on my dependence on cars, and I know that I feel deprived when I cannot drive for some reason (because I'm carpooling or the car is being fixed) and resistant at times when I shouldn't be driving (because the car needs to be fixed or because I am tired). Given that even a temporary loss of driving ability can be difficult, I thought it would be interesting to meditate on feelings that might arise when one permanently losing his or her ability to drive.

By the time I started driving, I was able to rely on Internet printouts (now, of course, I can map things out using my phone), so I never used a Thomas Guide (I recall getting a smaller road atlas as a gift, though). Still, I do recall my mom using one extensively during junior high and high school, especially when I would tag around for my sister's auditions, which took place all around town.

A side note: In the original version of the story, the car was originally a Civic. I changed it per the suggestion of some of my classmates.