Twenty Minute Stories and Poems Volume 2: Twenty-Minute Stories and Poems, #2

By Linda Gabriel, Marcela Grad, Mary Elizabeth Holmes and 6 more

There is a kind of magic in a 20-minute word sprint.

This the second volume of stories and poems were written in 20 minutes or less, presented with minimal editing (for spelling and grammar) as they were written. The last chapter features pieces that were written in only 10 minutes! Whether you're a reader, a writer—or thinking of starting a writers' group—we hope these stories and poems will inspire you. And if you ever experience "writer's block" we invite you to set a timer for 20 minutes, borrow a few of our writing prompts, and start writing!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Gabriel
• Release date: May 4, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224213443

Book preview

20 Minute Stories and Poems

20 MINUTE STORIES AND POEMS

VOLUME II

MARY ELIZABETH HOLMES MARCELA GRAD LINDA GABRIEL BRANDON D. REIM MERRY ELKINS DENISE MANDEL NONA GRANCELL MELANIE LUTZ BRIDIE MACDONALD

Edited by

LINDA GABRIEL

20MINUTESTORIES.COM

Copyright © 2019

All rights reserved. Each author holds the copyright to their own material.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from an individual author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

The writer’s life is not about self-expression.

It’s about self-discovery.

STEVEN PRESSFIELD

CONTENTS

Introduction

MARY ELIZABETH HOLMES

1. Strange Graffiti

2. Fresh Laundry

3. Let There Be Fireflies

4. Me, Watching Myself (I Turn Around)

5. It Lives

6. The Seraphim Key

7. Hangry Birds

8. Egg Heads and Glass Animals

9. Plan B Sucks

10. Sunday Report

MARCELA GRAD

11. The Alhambra

12. When Their Eyes Met

13. Sailor

14. Like a Child

15. The Glance

16. The Message

LINDA GABRIEL

17. The Last Black Jelly Bean

18. Meeting with an Archangel

19. Pyramids

20. Fire Eater

21. Supplicant

22. Sticky

23. Holy Grail

24. Coffee

25. Expiration Date

26. Labyrinth II & III

BRANDON D. REIM

27. It Starts with an Itch

28. We Are Wonder

29. Roads

30. Nod and Hum

31. Drift

32. An Even Pulse of Eyes Breathe

33. Tell Me About

34. Unfurling

35. Periscope Garden

36. Sum Us All Up

MERRY ELKINS

37. Immortal Days

38. Maybe

39. Pomegranates

40. The Old Actor

41. Gaia

42. The Man in the Ralph Lauren Suit

43. The Storyteller

44. Outsider

DENISE MANDEL

45. Your Arrival

46. Flight

47. Pixels

48. A Sheltered Pool

49. Clara’s Secret

50. Angel of Peace

51. Spring

52. One Moment

53. Times Have Changed

54. The Seashore

NONA GRANCELL

55. The Stairway to Heaven Is Through the Mouth of Pleiades

56. Shining Knight in Stainless Steel

57. Not Even a Shadow

58. The Newest Sailor

59. The Drumbeat of Knowing

60. It’s a Small World After All

61. Small Victories

62. Symphony of Contentment

63. Anew Reunion

64. Ether Way

MELANIE LUTZ

65. We Who Bare the Sea in Our Chest Rise and Fall with the Tides

66. Blue, Blue Ocean

67. Proud Mary

68. The Mat in the Key of Light

69. The Vintage Harp

70. An Old Diary

71. On the Stairway to Heaven

72. Foretellers

73. Missing

74. No More Excuses

BRIDIE MACDONALD

75. Truth Bearer

76. Fire

77. Found Remote

78. Her Face

79. Soda Pop

80. Slightly Better

81. Goodbye Pomadoro

82. Choose Love, Choose Joy, Let Go

83. Love’s Memory

84. Cheesecake Queen

10-MINUTE SPRINTS

85. Black Bird Crow’s Nest

86. It’s A Fairy Question

87. Collector

88. Seas of Life

89. Cadillac Kachina

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INTRODUCTION

A little over two years ago, I got inspired to start a writing group. Other than my sister, Mary Holmes, few of my friends showed more than a passing interest. I felt nervous about inviting total strangers into my home but knew if I wanted to make this happen, I would have to reach out. I considered posting a notice on a neighborhood website, but I hesitated. Who was I to lead a writing group?

My experience with writing groups was limited. Many years ago, I attended a week-long Writing the Unthinkable workshop with Lynda Barry. Lynda taught me the value of reading one’s work out loud immediately after writing it, before the Inner Critic could kick in. And she modeled how to create a safe place for writers to do so by treating writing as a sacred act—something delicate, to be approached with reverence. She never critiqued but listened deeply, often kneeling at the foot of the writer who was reading. She would take a moment to let the words sink in, then say, Great! or, Thank you.

Writers blossom under such encouraging conditions.

Later, I took a 9-week Method Writing class with the deservedly beloved Los Angeles poet and teacher, Jack Grapes. Jack assigns simple exercises to be completed in daily 20-minute journal entries. At the end of each week, you choose a piece to read in front of the class.

You learn a lot from Jack’s exercises, about how to write like you talk, or how to find the transformational line and the Deep Voice. Jack asked us to focus on process rather than product but assured us product would emerge organically, and it did. Like Lynda Barry, Jack never criticized content; if the writing seemed lacking, he simply asked, Did you do the exercise? The answer to that question was obvious.

My writing was improving week by week, however I began to develop a case of self-imposed performance anxiety: Instead of spending twenty minutes a day like a normal person, I would labor for hours before class until my Inner Critic conceded I might possibly have written something decent enough to read in front of Jack and the whole class. I want to stress that this had nothing to do with Jack’s teaching methods. He’s the best. I believe it happened because I was writing in isolation and had nothing to stand between me and my self-judgment. I was torturing myself—and it wasn’t fun.

I wrote and published a couple of non-fiction books but I still didn’t feel like an authentic writer. Longing to write fiction and poetry, I signed up for a half-day creative writing workshop led by a woman who had been trained by Pat Schneider, author of the book Writing Alone and with Others. The statement on the brochure was straightforward: A writer is someone who writes.

That Saturday afternoon, I joined a handful of other writers in the meeting room of a church an hour’s drive away. The method was similar to Lynda Barry’s: We started with a prompt and wrote for a pre-determined length of time, after which we had the option to read our work to the group. No critiques, just listening.

Yes, it can be terrifying to read something you’ve just written in front of an audience—even a supportive one—especially before you’ve even read (and judged) it yourself. But it’s also freeing—and revelatory. As you listen to your own words, you realize your writing is better than you imagined.

That afternoon, I rediscovered how much I loved writing and sharing in a group. Our collective energy had created a supportive place and time with nothing else to do but write. This was working for me!

Writing was enjoyable again, and I longed to experience this feeling of writing in a group on a regular basis. Feeling encouraged, I went home and read Writing Alone and with Others and learned a few basic rules. A few months later, despite my fear, I put out the word inviting people to join my newly hatched writers’ group.

Marcela Grad was the first to call. We hit it off on the phone and talked for over an hour. Our conversation helped relieve some of my anxiety about inviting strangers into my home. Merry Elkins contacted me next. Others followed, and a dozen writers turned up at that first Sunday meeting. People have come and gone, but a core group of regulars continues to gather every other Sunday afternoon to write and share for two hours of precious time. To my delight, former strangers and undiscovered neighbors have become friends.

Nona Grancell has been with our group nearly since the beginning. Last year she moved from Los Angeles to Atascadero but continues to join us via Skype. We are grateful to Nona (and her husband Norin) for generously hosting two wonderful writing retreats for our group at their new home near Morro Bay.

My sister, Mary Holmes, supported my idea from the start. Mary and I first crossed paths with Melanie Lutz on the stairs outside my apartment door when Mel and the cable guy were searching for access to the roof. Turned out she lived in our building and when we found out she was a writer, we invited her to join the group. We also encouraged her to join our local Band of Singers community choir—and that’s where we met Bridie MacDonald, who lives up the street.

Brandon Reim is a friend of friends who heard about our group and asked to join. I mentioned the group to Denise Mandel on a phone call, and she became a recent addition.

As with the first volume of Twenty-Minute Stories and Poems, I’ve asked the writers to not edit their work except for spelling and grammar, or changing a word here or there. We want the honesty and freshness of the work to shine through. More importantly, we want to show the excellent quality of writing that’s possible to create in a 20-minute writing sprint—or even in 10 minutes, as you’ll see in the last chapter.

At the start of each writing session, we write words on slips of paper and put them in a bowl, drawing out three or more at random. These are our prompts. We are each free to use one, or as many as we choose, or none at all. Once in a while, we might choose cards from a divination deck and use those instead. Then we set a timer for 20 minutes and start writing. When time is up, we take turns reading aloud. It’s a simple formula that works.

You will find the prompts listed at the