Preptober Writing Prompts Week 1 Activity

The Week 1 prompt is:

Write your morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

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The autumnal equinox occurs in September each year and marks the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn. It distinguishes the end of one season and the start of another. On this day, Earth gains approximately twelve hours of sunlight and falls into twelve hours of darkness. In those twelve hours of darkness, my life has transformed - placing me into a turbulent mix of thoughts and emotions that I cannot seem to place.

My father took his final breath last night sometime within the darkness and while it eases me to know that he is no longer suffering and walks with God, I am left with the realization that I now walk this world alone. He will no longer be there to discuss my latest readings with, nor offer the direction needed to run this farm. Like him, it must be a thing of the past - something from another season ago of my life. Time moves on and so must I.

Before anything, I must tend to his work. My father placed his heart and soul into this farm and on my last days here he would want me to continue to put forth the hard work that it entails: tending to the harvest and getting the fields ready for the approaching winter. In his memory alone, I must leave here knowing this is a place that was once successful, a once thriving homestead, where light once first fell upon a man and his beloved wife, but lost in childbirth would fall then only on the man and myself, his beloved son; a son that would give anything for him. If I knew how to properly care for a farmstead, I would continue on his work, but unfortunately I devoted my curiosity and intellect into other ideas and filled my head with them. I never was a farmer but a farmer's son, and no longer am I that.

I then set out to find a burial place, putting it right on the crest of a hill under a tree in which the morning sunlight can freshen and the high noon sun will shade. I create a final resting place for my father, thankful that a cool breeze pushes me each time the shovel seems to heavy or my emotions become too deep. I'll need my strength, because once this is completed there will be a wooden cross to make.

When these chores have been attended to, best I know how, it is time pray and say goodbye. Our priest has been gone for several weeks now and the clergy has followed and while I know this isn't the funeral service that my father deserves, I find comfort in knowing he had already been given his Last Rites, as his illness began long ago.

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away," I quote Revelation 21:4 before granting my father eternal rest, hoping that perpetual light will shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

As the sun, although casted beyond the clouds, rises toward noon; the morning is behind me, as is the life I once knew.

[Word Count: 548]

Week 1 prompt
Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

Ace like everyday woke up to his alarn clook. Ding!! Ding!! Din!!- He cut it short. If he could he would slam the snooze button. Sadly he had to get ready for the day, thankfuly it was the weekend, so no school just yet. He had a lot of work to do before it started, with trying to start a volleball team/club. It was way to early to think about that tho, first he had to get out of bed. That in its self was dificult. With a sigh he threw off his blankets to reveal his pajama pants, that were sky blue, with yellow ducks on them. His father had gifted them to him for his birthday, Luckly Ace liked them.

First thing Ace had to do was in the bathroom, He alwas brushed his teath first thing in the morning. He went to the bathrom, and grabed his purple toothbrush, and strawberry flavord toothpaste. Ace could just not deal with the mint toothpaste, He hated it more then anything. He put a line of paste onto his toothbrush, and ran it under the water for a few seconds, Before he began to brush. For two miniuts, as that was what he was always told to do. Next he used mouth wash, and wahed his face, his face that was covered in frecles.

Once all that was done he had to atempt to bursh his hair, knowing very well that it wasent going to lie flat. He still had to try, His mom always made him try.

Once that mess was done it was finaly time for him to choose his outfit for the day, He noramly just wore whatever made him comfterbal. More ofton then not, It was a pair of jeans and a hoddie of a band or something. Today! it was jeans and a hoddie of a band. The jeans were light blue from constince use, and had a few holes in it. Not inenonat holes, again ones from constily wearing them. His hoddie was from the band Falling in reverse, one of his favroits.

He had almost fished his daily rutine, All that was missing was an amzing brekfast made by his father. Ace basicly ran downstars he could pratily taste the waffles, He sat down at the table thanked his dad for making it and downed 2 full plates. After that he pratised his volleball.

402 words

Week 1 prompt

Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character

It was a normal Saturday morning and Charlotte woke up at 7 am but she was still really tired and sleepy, and there was no school that morning, so she did not have to get up early. She decided to continue to sleep until her parents told her to get up and do some running before breakfast. Her father told her yesterday evening that she did not have to get up early the next day, as he would call her to get up at about 8 am, but no matter know late it was, she still had to run in order to keep fit and lose some weight since she was a little bit overweight according to her age and height. She returned to her bed and quickly fell asleep until she heard her father calling her, "Charlotte! Time to get up! We will go running very soon!" Charlotte stayed in bed for a few minutes, then got up and looked at the clock to find out it is already 7:50 am! She quickly put on her running outfit: a plain white shirt, white shirts, and red socks, then went to her bathroom. She carefully brushed her teeth and washed her face, then spent some time combing her long blonde hair that was in a huge mess because of a night`s sleep. She went downstairs, drank some water, and grabbed a small piece of bread to give herself some energy for the morning run with her father. After that, Charlotte put on a cap and her grey sneakers did some stretching exercises to prepare for running and went out of her house for the morning run. The weather outside was sunny, but not too hot since it was autumn and just 8:10 am in the morning. Charlotte tried her best to run as fast as she could, and quickly her father could not catch her. Because she ran quite fast, she gradually felt tired and sweat quickly ran down her face as she tried her best to keep on running. She thought of giving up, but she was determined to keep on running, until when she ran a few kilometers and arrived back home after 40 minutes. When she arrived back home, she found out her mother has finished breakfast, some bread with bacon and sunny-side up fried eggs, which is one of her favorite dishes. She did some after-run stretching, took a shower to wash away her sweats, enjoyed her breakfast, and began reading some books to start her new day. That was how Charlotte`s morning started on that Sunday. Quite normal considering what happened later that day.
Word count: 439

Week 1 prompt:

Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

Pax was not a morning person. Pomona was the night owl, staying up until 12:00 in the morning sometimes, but Callista woke up like the rooster at the crack of dawn. In other words, she was definitely a morning person. Callista didn't even need an alarm clock, but Pax certainly did. She had to get up at 6:30 every morning and be ready for breakfast/school by at least 8:00. On Mondays and Fridays, it was 7:15. Urgh. Pax often slept for "5 more minutes", which often turned into 15 or even 30 minutes. Often, somebody has to yell at her(her grandmother mostly)to get up so she wouldn't be late for school! The traffic was absolutely heavy, so getting up early was Pax's top priority. During summer camp, however, things were different. And not in a good way. Pax had to wake up as early as ever, and she had to wake up her older sister, Nikki, because she always made up an excuse to not go to summer camp. How could she? Camp Everything was where everyone wanted to be. Well, at least the people who could afford it...Pax went to the bathroom to do regular bathroom stuff, made an attempt to comb out her curly brown hair, and went back to her room. Pax got dressed in a tie-dye t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and then grabbed her computer, checking for anything new. Ok, that book that she wanted was available...nothing else? Wait a minute- what's this suspicious email? And why isn't it in junk mail? Hoping that she wasn't inviting malware onto her computer, Pax clicked the email. "Your journey is not done yet. The answers you seek are within your grasp, all you have to do is ask the questions, child. Your destination harbors secrets that are waiting for you to find..." Okay. Definitely not a normal morning! Should she tell someone? Pax didn't know, but for now, she just put it in junk mail. She got her stuff ready and rolled her suitcase and bags out into the living room. Nikki was there too, straining to bring her stuff out. Had she packed her entire room in there? "You know that we're only staying for about a month, right? That's not a long time," said Pax. "It IS a long time," Nikki huffed. "Most camps usually last like, a week or two. But this one lasts FOUR. Four! Four weeks without proper AC, four weeks in those latrines in the WOODS, and four weeks being holed up in cabins. I packed as much as I can for this purpose." Pax wondered if Nikki had packed their home's AC, too, but she didn't say it aloud. "Ok, all set?" Said a voice from down the hall. Grandma jingled the car keys and said, "Come on girls, we'll get breakfast later." Pax didn't like the sound of that! But she still couldn't wait to see her friends. For the 5th year, they were going to Camp Everything. Maybe, she could even tell them about that suspicious email...

WC: 501 words-ish

Week 1 Prompt:

Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

Word count: About 430

Lily was not a morning person.

She never had been, to be quiet honest, which was unfortunate in a house full of people who seemed quite eager to start their days as soon as the sun rose. By 5:30 on the dot, Lily's dad would have started the coffee, and, just a few minutes after that, he was frying potatoes, bacon, and eggs (on weekend mornings, there would be pancakes, and everyone would be allowed the blessing of "sleeping in" until six.

Some blessing.

By six, the whole family (except, notably, Lily) would be up, fed, and dressed, hunting for bookbags and sports bags, getting ready for school. Lily, however, lay peacefully unaware, wrapped in her huge comforter, content to shut out the rising sun (winter was a true blessing), and pretend she didn't have a single thing to do that day. If only. But the world is full of responsibilities, and Lily belonged to it--which meant that waking up and tending to those responsibilities was inevitable, try and hide though she might.

By six thirty, her twin sister (Abby), would come banging on the door to the room they shared, shouting, "Lily, wake up! It's time for school, and breakfast is cold, slowpoke."

Which meant Lily had to rise, as much as she might dislike it, and start the day. As her siblings were all early risers, the bathroom was always blissfully empty, and today, like all others, was no exception. She plaited her hair (twin plaits, just as she and Abby always did, despite the fact that their classmates were beginning to call the style babyish--their opinion had never mattered much to Lily, anyway) and brushed her teeth. It was already seven fifteen, and there would be no time for breakfast today. Not that any would have likely been left. Her father gave the rest to the dog, if Lily wasn't in the kitchen by seven. This had been supposed to encourage her to get up faster, but, so far, had had no affect, much to her father's dismay.

Lily stumbled into the kitchen, grabbed her bag, and walked blearily out the door, following her chain of excited, overenergetic siblings. They were all "up and at 'em" something Lily would never be, ready to face whatever the day might hold--tests, sports games, friend drama...you name it, they were ready.

Lily was not.

And, really, she'd like to go back and have a nap, right about now.

Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

Lili woke up to the sound of Charlotte's voice, the one she heard the most every day. "Hurry up, slugs! Or you all are skipping breakfast!" She bellowed from below. Another ordinary day. Lili thought. She wasn't sure how much longer she stood hearing Charlotte's voice shriek out orders.

"Rubi, wake up, Charlotte is calling us again." Rubi was her favorite sister out of all of her siblings. She was nicer and was the only one who listened to Lili's plans of escaping this place. The others just laughed, or told her no one will ever escape so you might as well forget it. Well then when I escape, you just all see. I won't bother saving any of you besides Rubi.

"It's like, 5 in the morning! Why do we need to wake up now?" Rubi answered, yawning. "Did you forget? That woman is crazy, come on let's go downstairs before she comes here and screams at us!" And that's what they did.

Lili and Rubi were the last ones there, but Charlotte hardly noticed. She counted them all, and made sure they were all here. "Okay, everybody is here. Now eat breakfast and get into the living room in 10 minutes! Oh and also, you can't eat breakfast because your shirt is kind of ugly." Charlotte said, pointing at one of Lili's sisters. "I'm wearing a dress, not a shirt." Her sister muttered as she headed towards the living room.

Breakfast was the same, Bacon, eggs, milk, or water. On special occasions, you got orange juice and pancakes but today was not a special occasion.

"What's she going to teach us today?" Rubi asked Lili. "Hopefully not something crazy. Lili replied, half-teasing half-serious.

Lili gossiped with Rubi for pretty much the whole time. She always gossiped at breakfast, mainly about what Charlotte was up to, how to escape, or embarrassing moments that happened around the house almost everyday.

Lili dragged herself into the living room, which smelled quite fresh since Flora had cleaned it yesterday. Most of her siblings didn't seem to notice anything new, she guessed it was because they were much older than her and were more used to it than she was. Maybe they've been here for too long, and were used to all sorts of weird things happening all day. Maybe they've given up on escaping, because they thought it was too impossible. Thoughts flashed into Lili's head.

"Today we are learning how to read chapter books, it's pretty easy, now read! Count all the words you don't know and if it's over 5, go do some chores." Charlotte ordered. Lili and the others started reading that instant, the books Charlotte had passed out were basically random. That's why Rubi got a book about cooking and Lili got a book called Madame Bovary.

Lili was never really interested in reading, within the first few minutes, she had fallen asleep, again. Soon, Charlotte noticed Lili never changed position or flipped a page. "WAKE UP!!! NO SLEEPING DURING CLASS TIME!" Charlotte roared. Lili got up just in time to see Charlotte's angry red face.

"Sorry, Miss." Lili said, innocently.

"Get back to reading, if I catch you slacking off again, I will make you clean every single room of this house." Charlotte said, in a very serious voice.

So Lili did go back to reading, it was boring, of course, but she mainly just thought about escaping and flipped the page every once in a while.

WC: 580

Fletcher squinted blearily away from the book he was reading and down at the time on his watch as he heard the muffled shufflings of one of his brothers get up from their beds. Hell. He'd gone and stayed awake the whole night. Brilliant.

He stifled a yawn behind one fist as his other hand rose to close the book he'd kept hovering above his bed and set it back down beside him. A very big part of him wanted to curl into the blankets and not rise until dusk, but the promise of eggs and toast waiting for him in the kitchen was enough to rouse him. Though, casting them a longing look, his rumpled sheets did look incredibly tempting. Regardless, he braved to swing his bare feet to the cold stone floor.

It was chilly in the room-- it always was-- and he shivered despite the ratty brown sweater that hung loosely on his scrawny frame. Not for the first time, a small part of him mourned the fact that he couldn't live in a house with more of an emphasis on central heating systems. Maybe some hot tea, strongly caffeinated hot tea, wouldn't go amiss.

"Morning, gentlemen." he greeted the other three boys that shared the bedroom, though none of them looked any happier than he was to crawl from bed. The golden sunlight that filtered from the windows cast a dreamy shadow over the whole room. That quality wasn't helpful in inspiring him to wakefullness, so he slipped quietly into the bathroom and closed the door.

He showered with steaming hot water to drive away whatever cold clung to his skin, and towelled off quickly. He messed a little with his hair to make it lay flatter then went back into the bedroom to get dressed. His brothers were up and about, and he engaged in some idle chatter as he slipped a bathrobe on over a fresh red sweater and jeans.

He cast a tired eye at his bed. It was a crumpled mess. There were several books scattered about, some loose papers, and the covers were in utter disarray. He could almost feel his mother judging him, but brushed it aside. He'd pick it up later, after he'd eaten and downed at least two of those teas he'd been wishing for earlier.

Good morning, Baltimore!

Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

687/400 words

As I crossed into Charlestown proper, I marveled at the changes. The buildings, the cars, the sheer amount of people. I thought Charlestown was crowded when I lived there, but it now boasted a population of well over 70,000. I quickly found a long term hotel and paid for six months in advance. I had learned a lot about investing and business over the years and I now rarely had to dreamthieve money any more due to the payoffs. Actually, I had not taken anything from dreams in quite a long while: just when Gedeon popped up. To be honest, I was becoming less and less comfortable with his visits. Just the thought of his black eyes and the smack of his boney hand on my shoulder was enough to set my skin to crawling. I had actually gotten to the point where I knew the c-click c-clack of his walk as he came up behind me. He never approached me from the front.

Over the next few months I settled into a sort of routine. The growth of Charlestown had included a kind of restructuring where there was a definitive tourist and entertainment district and my hotel was at the very center of it, so I could walk almost anywhere I wanted to go. Honestly, even though automobiles had been around for quite some time at that point, I was pretty sure I would never get used to them and I avoided their use if at all possible. Rolling metal death traps is what they were and their use in the World Wars did not raise my opinion of them.

Anyway, when you don't sleep and you don't really work, you have to find things to fill your day and night with or it will quite literally drive you mad. Sometimes I thought about getting a job just to fill the void, but learning various languages and instruments and well, anything but a job usually won out.

At this point, I was learning how to speak Japanese and how to play a few Japanese instruments in preparation for the next migration. I would spend a few hours each night learning and practicing and then when the sun rose, I would head downstairs and greet Amy as she began her shift behind the counter. She was an energetic, friendly girl from Boston, if her accent was anything to go by, and was good at her job.

Once I said hello to Amy, I would head over to this quite café a couple of blocks down and enjoy a cup of coffee and and egg sandwich. After a bit, a few of us regulars developed a friendship and would talk with each other about our days. A few of them were business men, some were retirees, other were veterans just trying to get back to normal live. All of them were great to talk to but I found a particular friendship in one Elijah Jameson.

Elijah Jameson was a family man who wanted to open a few of his own businesses in the area. Very traditionalist. Once he found out that I was unmarried with no real job and an orphan on top of that, he just had to take me under his wing and I just kind of, well, went with it. We would have breakfast together most mornings, talking about my future and his family, then he would go to work and I would go about exploring the city. It was amazing what 120 years of advancement could do to a city. This new Charlestown made my Charlestown look like a rustic little village. I was pretty sure that if I walked around for 10,000 days I would still not be able to see everything it had to offer and it was still changing constantly.

About four months after I had returned to Charlestown, Elijah came to me with a proposition to go into business together. I definitely should have said no, but he looked so happy when I said yes. It was like having a real father. I should have just left him alone entirely.

Write your (or someone else’s) morning routine from your main character’s perspective/ as if narrated by your main character.

When cruel reality densified in front of my eyes again, I was staring drowsily at barely glowing cinders. My fireplace had smothered by itself some hour of the night, and the room felt deathly cold. The skin on my hands was cracked and itchy from having been exposed to the cold for too long.
The lingering memory of a lovely dream was quickly lost to realizing that my clock wasn't running. There had been no alarm, and I had no idea what time of the day it was.

I sprang up and despite curling my toes with a tiny screech and hopping instead of laying my feet normally on the burning cold floor, I made my way to the window and pulled the narrow curtain aside. The opposing brick wall was cast in natural light, white like the sky above. It could've been morning or noon, this season rarely indicated a difference if the day was overcast. Turning around, I quickly found some clothes to put on.

The curious thing was that there was still wood in the hearth. I looked and wondered, while I was pulling a pair of thick socks on. Technically there could be something wrong with the draft, up from the chimney. This place was old as rocks. No, the ash in the fireplace somehow was in no concurrence with this idea. The fire had been burning hungrily, until it hadn't. I was about to grab my patrol uniform from the closet when I saw it.

Black as a heap of coals, it would've been impossible to notice hadn't it moved. Why it moved I wouldn't have liked to acknowledge. Even while staring at it from a distance, it seemed like the worst thing that could make its way into my life at this moment. It was not the creature, it was me. The creature was nothing but an omen of me. Still, I would've liked to not know, to grab my things and run out of the house while making up better-than-the-former-excuses about why I came late to the shift, and have the malfeasance at work be my headache for the day.

"What am I going to do?" The whisper echoed around the room and amplified, bouncing back at me like an accusation. Now, what are you going to do? What is there to be done, now that you've come all the way here? The para in the fireplace waited. I was crouched down, hugging my knees, staring at it from beside my bed. There was no telling if staying and sitting here, mind numb of thoughts, would make something not happen. The para waited. I dreaded that moment of clarity which I was afraid would come, when you snap back to a boring place from a mindtrip and realize that for the last ten minutes, you've been thinking about a perfect levelling of fortunes, of hacking off all that perfect hair your best friend has.

479 words.