Hey friends!

It’s been a while…but I’m back with my Writing Prompt & series, a series where I share a writing prompt with you as well as the zero draft it “prompted”.

This week is about $20 bills…

Prompt: Write a story that includes a $20 bill.

This is the story I wrote.

I walked to the bathroom as casually as I could, making sure to look back and smile sweetly at tonight’s conquest. He smiled back from his post on his bar stool and turned back to his beer, stooping slightly to take a sip.

I took the stall closest to the window, locked the door, and took the wallet out of my pocket. It was swollen with bills and plastic cards.

What a fool. This one was so easy. A little too easy. So easy that I was caught somewhere between pity and scorn. If you want to be that easy, you deserve whatever comes your way.

I opened the bill fold to expose a thick stack of $20’s and $50’s. I thumbed through the cash before I turned my attention to the other contents of the wallet. Credit cards. Maybe five or so. A driver’s license. And a picture of what appeared to be a wife and two young kids. Evidence that made him all the more deserving of this theft.

My memory floated to twenty minutes before as his lecherous eyes fell to the curve of my shirt. I lifted his chin with my right finger as my left hand reached into his back pocket.

He had no idea.

I opened the window and climbed out. In a minute he’d be wondering where I went. In thirty, he’d realize I stood him up. He’d decide to leave and ask for the bill only to be met with a pocket full of silence.

And I’d be so far away, he’d have no idea how to catch me.

A Little Backstory

In 2015, I bought myself a notebook that I filled with really bad stories. Dreams that I felt could be …something… BRILLIANT IDEAS that needed to be committed to the page RIGHT NOW. Journal entries. Observations while eating lunch at the little cafe across the street from the school where I worked.

I mean, the stories were fine, and the writing wasn’t terrible. But…I had A LOT OF WORK to do. And the only way to do it was to keep writing.

So, when I filled up that first notebook, I bought another one. I think that was in 2017. Well, I know it was in 2017 because that’s the date written on all the entries. In fact, the story above came from that notebook.

I recently found this notebook from 2017 amongst the stuff that had been living in the trunk of my car. As I read through it, reading the thoughts of myself from seven years ago, it was so interesting to see the progress from where I was then to where I am now.

Not just from a writing standpoint, but from an emotional standpoint. Even a GOAL standpoint. All the things I had wanted to do that I felt I’d NEVER be able to do…I did. 2017 me is absolutely shook and proud and excited that we accomplished all of it. And now we are on to making new goals.

I HIGHLY suggest everyone start a journal of some sort. Whether it’s a place to keep track of your feelings, your goals, your stories, some mixture of everything, it’s such a personal time capsule of that version of yourself. A living document of your existence, your progress, that moment in your life.

Stephen King says that notebooks are a great place to keep bad ideas for stories. I beg to differ. They are a captain’s log of where you’ve been and where you’re going to help chart your course.

Final Thoughts

That’s all for now friends!

Let me know if the comments how you keep track of your progress and what stories you’re working on.

Wishing you a week of words that flow with ease and progress towards your goals that makes you proud!