This week I clothe the bare form with words I wrote 10 years ago.
What I’m Writing
I’d like to share a writing exercise I found this week from an old notebook. It’s dated October 24, 2011. The writing prompt was “Out of sight, out of mind.” It clearly needs polishing, but I will post it as is. An example of my writing, my thinking, from 10 years ago. I hope you enjoy it.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Bob Gillen
What can I do to make myself remembered? Will you never forget me? I slip away from your awareness. I slide out of your consciousness. I feel myself drift away. I see you look for me less and less. Like a sailboat moving out to sea, you stop watching from the shore. When? When I drift far enough that you can’t see my face clearly? Far enough that you can’t see my shape? My boat? When I am finally over the horizon? My boat moves with the wind. I can’t – I won’t – stop it or turn it around. I move with the winds. I stand tall and catch the wind. I move. You stay. We drift away. I want you to remember me. How? Will you remember me when you feel the wind in your face? The same wind that moved me. Yes, it won’t be a picture, a memento, a recording. No, it will be a breath. A spirit. A moving, tuned to the earth, to the spirit, to the air and the wind. Tuned to life.
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What I’m Reading
I enjoyed a book from Pamela Toler, whose work focuses on women in history. Her latest story is targeted at middle grade readers. I always enjoy this market. The stories are direct, basic, always a good adventure. This one, centered on World War Two, is titled Great Escapes: Across the Minefields. In the deserts of Libya, as the Allied Forces attempt to keep Rommel’s army from seizing the Suez Canal in 1942, nurse and driver Susan Travers fights alongside the French Foreign Legion.
In the desert the Allies are surrounded by Rommel’s forces. They attempt a daring escape, with Travers driving the lead truck through enemy lines… to freedom or to death.
Travers became the only woman ever to be accepted as an official member of the Legion. The book is available on Amazon Kindle.
You’ll find more about Pamela Toler at her own site.
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