Narratrice

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here's one-tenth of that.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 052

Tapping my foot. Shift in my seat. My fingers twitch. I wait and finish my dinner and look longingly at your dessert then close the bag and grab my drink instead. I know you’re coming; you’re always last one out. That’s what happens when you’re a key bearer. But watching the clock makes me even more antsy and annoyed. So I grab my book. Finally, you appear, loaded with the day’s business, pleased to see I brought you food and the chance to turn off your brain.

I’m just glad to see you smile. I forget about the waiting.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 052

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day051

Is this before the pulp's pressing? or after? Distinct markings on a background of white, or green, to red-gold-brown. Blown to turn over, flipped, sent tumbling. Dropping into another world through words. Sliding into another world of woods. By falling, we mean "drifting slowly" or even in Gaiman-style "sauntering vaguely downwards" at the whim of the winds into drifting piles of detritus that crunch and crinkle with each destructive step, becoming textured with serrated, roughly profiled edges or a mountain range's contours on what was once planed/plain. Trees to reams: paper/leaves/pages Just add ink.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 051

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 050

I chose this particular book because of the (your) notations.

Your handwriting: pen in the margins, pencil underlines, yellow and pink highlights. Ink boxes around monologues; markers tint one-liners, bleeding through to the other side of the page. (I wonder if the accidentally highlighted lines can be just as moving?)

Flipping through reveals stars in the corners of some pages. Occasionally I spot circled page numbers. (Did you not have a bookmark?) I almost expect to see notes falling out of the back pages, more leaves drenched in ideas you discovered here, the ones that made you think.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 050

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 049

That’s it. I’m done. Let’s go. Time to get out of this world and out into the world. There is so much living left to do, so much ‘there’ to see and feel. Quit reading to escape; open that door and start walking. Break out in person, not just in mind. Ask why those boundaries are there, then ask “why not” when you come to cross them.

Go ahead, leave a note behind. Something you read or someone said pushed you out of your seat. Pass it on; share the momentum. Inspire yourself, carry your confidence, and start a movement.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 049

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 048

Lines and angles and squiggles marching across the pages in neat rows, but never at the same pace, leaving gaps among the ranks even as the files remain spaced the same. They manage to clump and chat, become cliquish and hang out, leaving meaning behind from their group presence, rather than the individual statements. Except for I and A, who like to stand alone or flirt with others: introverted but social, friendly.

Upon this foundation of ordered bricks, mortared with concepts from between the lines, dance bigger ideas that tug at our hearts /make us feel /stretch our minds.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 048

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 047

Eeeny meeny miney mo,

Catch a story by its toe,

If words sing out, do let me know,

Eeeny meeny miney mo.

------

Library has my stories,

Library has my books,

Library has my summer days,

Of adventures, gold, and crooks.

  The stories are so varied;

They can open up the world,

To anyone who looks in them

And finds hair or toes curled.

------

Fairy tale, fairy tale, about the magic fish,

How many lost dream's things did you wish?

Not because you've struggled,

Not because you've tried.

Just because you wished, prayed, dreamed,

And held a hopeful heart safe inside.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 047

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 046

A lot of readers I know tend to find the coziest little places to hide and read. Some are simple, like upside down in the papasan chair or the sofa by the fire. Some call for a bit of burrowing, tucking yourself under the desk with a flashlight and pillow. Some require a bit of balance, finesse, patience, and strength to attain, like the perfect tree branch.

And if tight, small, and tough to be found isn't their thing? They're probably cuddled up under a blanket or draped in a shaded hammock, still as comfortable as they can possibly be.

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 046

[narratrice]

Project 365 : Storytelling : day 045

A soundtrack's medley or Overture:

Introduction -"The beginning"- Set the environment, story's theme.

First theme -"There was a person"- Enter protagonist.

Another theme -"And another person"- Enter antagonist.

An action piece -"Something happens between them"- Themes from earlier dance, alternate; building together and against until CONFLICT. They're subsumed by Agitation! Tension! Panic! Until the lull- 

The Pause. Just before the Hero's Theme sings solo.

Battle revives: quick, restate Enemy's theme, but ultimately lost; Hero's and story's themes intertwine and wind down.

Closing -It may be a triumphant, breathless finish, or bittersweet and wanting; but clearly,

"The End."

[narratrice]

project 365 : storytelling : day 045

[narratrice]

Project 365 : Storytelling : day 044

V: I love that book!

B: I read the community copy!

D: The community copy has gone so far that I needed to buy myself my own, because I have no idea when it will make its way back.

C: I've never read it.

V, D: What?!

B: Really?

J: Can you add me to the list to read it next?

D: As soon as the traveling version gets back in town, sure.

C, J: Yay!

D: No, I am not donating my new copy to be a replacement Community Copy.

B, V, C, J: Aww...

D: It's my signed copy.

V: Oh well.

Note: /// The community copy of "Looking for Alaska" has the signatures of all its readers. ///