March 2023 SOLC–Day 14
A huge thank you to Two Writing Teachers for all that they do to create an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write, learn, share and grow.
http://www.twowritingteachers.org
Sometimes mid-way through the challenge, I find myself diving into my old drafts, hoping to find some unfinished ideas that might serve as a spark for a new slice. Perhaps something that might resonate now more than it did then. Today I found a prompt.
The prompt was simple: “Tell us about a cookie.”
A cookie? Hmmmm…What would I want to say about a cookie?
And then memory flooded in. A sort of touchstone memory. Not a video, but a snapshot. Me, walking into the kitchen from school. Mom, pulling freshly baked chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. I linger in the memory and almost capture that elusive long-ago scent of warm cookies, our home, my childhood. The unquestioned feeling of security. The before.
The snapshot stutters into a quick video clip. I remember I was singing something, and she started singing along. I cut her a look and she stopped. The memory of that look cuts me now. But I was 13 or maybe 14 and how was I to know that soon there was going to be an after? After that. When everything took such a crazy, dizzying turn.
Sometimes I wonder if I’m still spinning.
You never know where thinking about a cookie can lead you.
Nix the comfort zone 
You took me on a journey in this one. Back to your past and the comforts of freshly baked cookies, until to my surprise, that memory became a painful one for you, one that “cuts you now… a marking of an after”
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A small memory sparked so much emotion. So much more to say, and your readers know what came to pass. I connected on a deep level with your post today. Small memories flooding my heart? Spilling over.
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Thanks for sharing that connection, Lynne.
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You have hooked me with this slice. It is about so much more than a cookie. Isn’t that always the case with our writing. It is about one thing and then so much more. Love the line: The snapshot stutters into a quick video clip.
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So often the little things can lead us in unexpected directions. Thanks, Sally.
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That was a stunning slice….you allowed us to linger in the memory just long enough to know that there was something more, just on the periphery.
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Thanks, Amy. Sometimes gauging how much to say and how little to say can be challenging.
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