Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Strange Beginnings

Once upon a time, OK, according to electronic time stamps it was 2/3/2007 and 2/9/2007, I must have been fooling around with Google Documents.

The document storage area of Google, which you can access from anywhere with a web connection, does seem like a good idea for capturing story ideas or great sentences when you're on the go.

At work? Log in and jot down that great notion before it slips away, then back to work and the story can be resumed later.

On the go? Log on via mobile device if you got 'em, or Internet cafe if you don't.

I must have thought that in February of last year anyway.

I happened to open up Google documents the other day and discovered on the dates mentioned I jotted down some lines in separate files. Or maybe they're quick brown fox sentences to show you how it all works? I don't know.

Maybe I read the lines and thought they'd be great to save. The flaw in the great plan is that it doesn't work if you enter the ideas and then don't access them for a year and a half, so that you've pretty much forgotten everything.

On 2/3/07 apparently I hammered out:

He found the note under his lunch box just after his shift ended at the welding shop.

And on 2/9/07

He doesn't remember growing a beard. Yet his face is covered. It feels like a mask as he slowly awakes. He rubs the whiskers, more than a few days' growth.

At last he opens his eyes and the light hurts.

I don't know about you, but those lines kind of make me want to read more.

What was I thinking? Or what was I reading? Does anyone recognize those lines?

Or, can you use those lines?

If anyone wants to take them and run with them, thank me in the acknowledgments. And if you use Google documents to move files or save files, again, remember to check them now and then.

9 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I like both of them. Sets up a quick mystery. Great hooks. Even if you can't remember the theme, you should try running with them anyway.

AvDB said...

I agree with Charles, be stingy and use those lines. They're too good to just give away.

Lana Gramlich said...

I think they're cool, too. You're missing one, though;
He opened Google documents & had no recollection of what those scant sentences were about. ;) *L*

Shauna Roberts said...

I'd keep reading for both.

You could try Googling the beginnings of the lines if you think you might have copied them from somewhere. Amazon often gives the first part of the first sentence, and Google might catch it.

Miladysa said...

LOL @ Lana

Perhaps they were meant to be?

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

Hey, Sid. Reminds me of all those dot matrix sentences you sent me inside of that brain. Lots of references to some redhead possibly eating your ribcage. I think you were shopping and this was circa (well, dot matrix tells it all) 1990.

Here's a line I'll offer up to you for future usage: The clowns laugh at midnight, but I couldn't make it there in time if I tried.

PS If amybody wants to see Sid's brain, email me. I have a photo of my border collie eating it.

Steve Malley said...

Gotta love those jotted little thoughts!

Erik Donald France said...

Aha, I was wondering about those Googly Docs. . . . .

This is like some "exquisite corpse" opening . . .

Sidney said...

Good points, guys. Maybe I'll use them. It is kind of like the exquisite corpse, Erik, and I like your line, Lana. :-)

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