Prompt 32-Teach

If you were to teach as a career, what would you teach?

I’m gonna freestyle this one because I have been struggling all day to come up with an idea to turn this into a short story. I was going to write about a math teacher, but when I went digging through my old notebooks for my math notes of yesteryear to guide me, they were nowhere to be found. I apparently purged them the last time I arranged my desk drawer.

Half a dozen notebooks all half filled with old poems and scrawlings and musings, but nothing left of school days. It was a fascinating turn of events though, because I rediscovered my earliest notes for Lara’s world. There was a mutation I had completely forgotten I’d created and after reading the name for it I am baffled that it never returned to me as I finally set to writing her tale.

It was also a surreal trip down memory lane as I stumbled across pages of poems and lyrics I had all but forgotten. Lot of dumb angst, but there were some rough gems among them. Who knows if I’ll ever let them see the light of day though.

In college I had been in a “band” with some of my best friends. Really, they all had various instruments and loved to get together and play while I hung out on the couch and observed. At some point I joined in as a singer, though we didn’t really have any lyrics and I was by no means a songwriter. We did a couple covers though, and they taught me some basic chords so I could play the rhythm part.

I knew I’d attempted some lyrics for one of our songs, but I didn’t remember getting very far. I have a notebook with lyrics in my handwriting to prove me wrong, though. So many lyrics. None very good, all pretty awful actually, but way more than I remember ever writing.

I also had several “love” letters scattered throughout those notebooks. Really just pages of vented frustrations with a boy who had toyed with my feelings. Writing my thoughts down on paper had always helped me to rationalize my own emotions and try to make sense of the nonsensical. I had also written a handful of interactions as though they were stories being told from the outside. Scenarios I had long forgotten and now look back on with fondness. There is good fuel for my characters there.

There were several pages of The Ninja Spaz and Captain Leo Peaches story as well. I’d written more of their tale than I remembered. Those pages will be worth revisiting when I resume telling their story.

So many references just holed up in my desk drawer, and me, completely oblivious. All rediscovered because I went hunting for notes in what I had always believed to be my strongest subject, mathematics so I could write a short story about a math teacher that was credible.

Maybe I ought to teach English instead. Though I always disliked English. I didn’t like being told what to read or what to write and when to do it by. I’m still stubborn like that. Look at me refusing to write a short story to a prompt I don’t like.

Well, this site is about writing daily, regardless of the form it takes. It’s my own pigheadedness that insists every entry I write be a short story. I’m honestly a little surprised I’ve made it 32 prompts without a ramble post. Then again, I’ve worked 21.5 hours in 2 days to get ahead of the storm that is going to keep me at home tomorrow, and I managed a short story yesterday so maybe my brain is a little fried and I should cut myself some slack.

Notes: Oh am I doing one of these for a ramble post too? Ok, sure. The struggle bus hit me hard tonight. Other topics for teaching careers included: meme professor (or general studies of internet culture/subcultures), Microsoft Office Suite Basics, What Not to do if You Want to Be Productive, and Popular Culture Analysis, with sections covering Harry Potter, American Idol, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood versus the 2004 incarnation, to name a few.

What sorts of things would you be qualified to teach? What would you enjoy teaching? How about your characters? If they could teach, who and what would they teach? Why? Just get some ideas down on paper. It doesn’t have to be a big production. (She says, mostly as a reminder to herself.)

Wednesday’s prompt: Write about a time everything changed in the blink of an eye.

I kinda did this already with Lara. But turning points are important to all character arcs and stories, so it won’t kill me to come up with something for this tomorrow. It’s not like I’ll be driving to work in the blizzard! Stay safe if you’re in Quinn’s path! I’ll see you tomorrow!