"All the Wonderful Things" (StoryADay Challenge/Day 22)
The Prompt: ( by Grant Faulkner, who is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. He has published two books on writing, Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo, and Brave the Page, a teen writing guide.)
Be playful.
Playfulness can open up an expanse in confinement.
So… write a story in 26 sentences, with each sentence beginning with a sequential letter of the alphabet, starting with “A.”
*
“All the Wonderful Things”
After it happened again, I knew things were going to work out. Business and personal relationships can sometimes mix beautifully. Cool, calm and collected is my usual approach when attending these cocktail parties. Daiquiris, martinis, whiskey, and Jameson shots started to flow through the guests, hours later everyone was in a trance. Events like this begin with a clear idea, and take an excellent team to execute. Fortunately, Nadia Monroe is incredible at what she does, she deserves every bit of that forty-five percent salary increase we negotiated. Getting people like Nadia is what strengthens the foundation of this firm. “Happiness has to be fought for,” she once told me. I couldn’t have agreed more. “Just in case that doesn’t work, denial helps too. Keep yourself guessing.” Loosening the tie around my neck, I never laughed so hard. Many people can’t properly appreciate humor. Nothing pisses some people off more than you being genuinely happy in the skin you’re in. Only then can we begin to see all the wonderful things life has to offer. Pretension is exhausting and boring. Quality living is opting to be yourself, nurturing your own ideas, and following your bliss. Realizing that we don’t have to be anyone other than ourselves is a game-changer. Simple mindset shifts can lead to enormous results. Thinking about all of this with a martini in my hand surrounded by friends and colleagues nearly brings tears to my eyes. Under no circumstance, would I wish to change any of the hardships I’ve overcome. “Vacant actions lead to vacant dreams,” my father used to say to me as a kid. We didn’t have the most ideal relationship, but still, I appreciate all the things he passed on. Xenophobia is real, people see me and judge me strictly on the way I look. Yoga helps with my mental health dealing with things like that. “Zoom through the nonsense and remain focused,” thanks dad, will do.
The End.
**This is a work of fiction. Names. characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.