Collins Writing Conference: Short Fiction - Scope of Work

 Note: The short fiction workshop at the Collins Writing Conference was focused on stories that pretend to be other things. This is where the writer utilizes some sort of format like a list or calendar or a How-To Guide to tell a story. We studied examples of this and then prepared one of our own to be workshopped. My story is told using the scope-of-work format I use in my day job as a proposal writer. Basically, this is the outline we create stating what we are going to do on a job. Instead of writing a proposal for surveying or engineering job, this is a scope of work for a first date. I think it almost turned into a choose your own adventure type of story. The formatting what a bit of a challenge in the blog text box, so hopefully you get the idea. 

Scope of Work

Project name: Anderson-Lamb First Date                          Date: June 28, 2024

Project Number: 24002                                                       Revised Date:

Project Description: Mr. Anderson and Ms. Lamb agree to an evening that includes moderately priced cuisine and beverages, a mutually agreed upon public activity, and a concluding moment that may include one or all of the following: ice cream, walking next to a body of water, and/or limited consensual physical contact in a well-lit exterior location within earshot of other humans.

Project Location: Downtown Jordan, within walking distance of the community theater, bowling alley, and three dining locations meeting the couples’ economic requirements.

Project Limits: One evening, an evening consisting of the time between 7 P.M. and midnight. Any activities beyond that will require additional scope and budget.

Proposal Assumptions

1. Attire is assumed to be casual, although, Mr. Anderson will insist on tucking in his shirt and wearing dark socks with his sandals, and Ms. Lamb will spend more money on a summer dress that she’ll never wear again than Mr. Anderson will on the meal.
2. Mr. Anderson will arrive at Ms. Lamb’s apartment at 7 PM, and they will walk three blocks to the downtown area.
3. Mr. Anderson will buy a single carnation at the local grocer and not formally give it to Ms. Lamb until it’s too late for her leave it at her place, forcing her to carry it the entire night.
4. Mr. Anderson will say nothing remotely funny, but Ms. Lamb will laugh thirty-two times.
5. Ms. Lamb will go into great detail on her Schnauzer’s inflamed anal glands.
6. Mr. Anderson will return Ms. Lamb to her apartment door.

Proposed Tasks

1. Greeting
1. “Hello” is customary.
2. Mr. Anderson will say “How’s it going?”
3. Ms. Lamb won’t actually answer, but murmur “Cool” and then giggle for an awkward period of time. 
2. Dinner
1. Options:
1. Mama’s Pizzeria – third-generation family-owned restaurant known for greasy pizza and a broken ice machine.
2. Salamanders – authentic Mexican cuisine with the average dining experience of 17 minutes.
3. Duffy’s Bar & Grill – there’s no gum on your shoe, but still, it sticks to the floor.
4. Mr. Anderson will order a gigantic-portioned entrée which he will eat entirely thinking it will impress Ms. Lamb.
5. Ms. Lamb will spill a dark-colored salad dressing, enchilada red sauce or ketchup down the front of her dress that she’ll always see no matter the stain-fighting precautions she takes.
3. Post-Dinner Activity
1. Options:
1. Lucky Strikes Bowling Alley – half the lanes will be occupied by the Friday night’s lady bowling league.
1. The ball will stick on Mr. Anderson’s thumb on his first throw, causing the blue orb to glide majestically through the air and thud dramatically on the oiled lane. All the ladies in the league will stop and frown at him.
2. Ms. Lamb carries a 230 average and will beat Mr. Anderson’s score by at least a hundred pins. She’ll be asked to join three teams before they leave.
2. The Bard’s Barn – local community theater currently performing their modern take on Hamlet set on a rural Nebraska farm. Rather than concluding with the death of the main character and many others, it ends with Hamlet and Ophelia winning a square-dancing competition.
3. Forgo the above for walking the town square since it’s such a nice evening
1. The town square takes approximately 12 minutes to walk. Mr. Anderson and Ms. Lamb will traverse the distance 23 times.
2. The sensitive skin of Mr. Anderson’s heels will blister in four places. 
4. Concluding Moment
1. Options:
1. Ice Cream at the Dairy Mart.
1. Mr. Anderson orders a banana split that he offers to share.
2. Ms. Lamb doesn’t like bananas.
2. Walking next to a body of water
1. The nearest body of water is the ravine that runs along sixth street. It smells like rotting fish despite the absence of marine life.
3. Consensual physical contact in exterior location within earshot of other humans.
1. A sturdy handshake at Ms. Lamb’s door where Mr. Anderson squeezes too hard to compensate for his bowling loss.
2. A friendly hug where Mr. Anderson hopes that whatever Ms. Lamb spilled on her dress doesn’t transfer to his shirt.
3. A brief kiss, lips closed, eyes open, with each wondering if the other will propose a second project.

Deliverables

1. One wilting pink carnation
2. One stained summer dress
3. Four blisters on heels.
4. One bruised ego from being defeated at bowling by 100 pins.
5. The hope of happily-ever-after balanced by the despair of nevermore with the statistically probable outcome of something in between.

Collins Writing Conference: Poem - A Star in Hiding

 Note: I'm apologize for being gone for so long. The reasons are many, but most of the reasons aren't that interesting or unique, so I won't bore you with them. It's time to get back on the horse. A while back I won free registration to the Collins Writing Conference in Rock Island, hosted by the Midwest Writing Center. Last week, I attended that conference, which among other things, consisted of 3 days workshops. There were four workshops each day, each covering a different genre (short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and novel editing). I took all four. I thought I'd share some of the work I generated in the workshop here. 

This first piece was generated in the Poetry workshop: Obscured Environments with the instructor Sara Lupita Olivares. The prompt for this piece was to pick one of two pieces of art shown (or you could relate to both, but I only picked one). The poem was to focus on what we thought was the center (metaphorical more so than physical center) of the painting. We were to avoid using the word "I" until the last line (or not at all, as I did). We were to start the poem with the phrase, "It wasn't that..." and the last line with "Underneath,"

The painting I chose is "Thistles" by John Singer Sargent. An image of that is below. My eyes focused on the bright spot near the middle in the bottom third of the painting. Below the image is the poem I generated. 

 A Star in Hiding

It wasn’t that the star was dying in the thicket
It was simply hiding
Tired of the soundless ether
It tucked into the tangled bramble,
Scared not of sharp fingers or dark corners, but
Glad for the respite from the exposed scrutiny of space.
Here things blew and howled.
Here things shivered and cowered.
Here things are and were.
Underneath the thicket, this star is dying.