The start of a new piece of creative writing.

This week my friend Monna's creative writing prompt has given me food for thought. I selected the first of three which was ..............

"You can see through your mirror to another dimension."

photogragh by the blog owner

I thought about my next poem, but in this instance for some silly reason which now eludes me, I decided to write a short piece of prose. maybe not as long as a short story (in fact how long / short does a story need to be to be called a short story?) but enough to tax my grey matter. After a while I soon realised that I had taken on a project which would need rather more than a perfunctory or half-hearted attempt to come to a conclusion. I am now looking at several chapters or episodes or simply a short step forward in measured leaps.

I simply set off writing, without considering where it would take me. A silly idea! With a poem, the rhymes often suggest things to me; this however is going to take a serious bit of thinking about where and why and what is it all about. But here are the opening paragraphs, far away from the prompt. But finding myself stuck for a way forward, I decided to stop and do a little research. Create a plan and decide how to arrive in one piece at a reasonable conclusion.

Oh by the way the title may be familiar - no apologies.

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MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL

The sun coming through the slit in the orange striped curtains struck my face, found my eyes and of course woke me. I edged over into the shadows and tried unsuccessfully to find sleep again. Typically though, once awake my body started to crave its early morning shot of caffeine, and it was not to be denied. Throwing back the remaining covers, and forcing myself to swing my legs over the edge of the bed, my feet found the floor and squared up, ready for a final grand effort from the rest of my body.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Just stretching, seemed to bring a little life back into my still tired bones and I was able to move. First stop was the bathroom. Opening the door off the landing, I stepped inside and I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. The wall mirror seemed to shimmer, as if it was a pool of clear water. I was tempted to think it was nothing more than my half-closed eyes playing trick with my imagination, especially when I looked more closely and the mirror's surface appeared as solid as it ever had been. I moved on and carried on with the morning's ablutions. My body was still crying out for that caffeine shot I had promised it.

Feeling a little more like a human being, I shuffled to the kitchen and the luxury of a coffee became a definite possibility. Taking the kettle and removing the lid, I held it under the tap, splashed in enough water for a cupful. This early the immediacy of a strong instant coffee was the main driving force; it was the caffeine and not the pleasure of a decent cup of coffee which drove me on. I'm not a coffee snob. Well two shakes of a cat's tail and the fast boil kettle had produced a cup of boiling water whilst I had spooned a sufficiency of coffee granules into my mug. A quick pour and a hasty swirl of the contents of the mug and my breakfast was ready. Good morning to me!

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Well there it is, The next step is to plan out where I want to go and how to get around to the main (intended) idea. From there it should be a doddle. All I need is a little free time, not readily available at the moment. However having started I really would like to see it finished. I have a record of starting writing projects ambitiously and not being able to sustain the momentum and finish what originally seemed like good ideas. Maybe it is the ideas and not the subsequent slog which tempt me, who knows. Poems can be as long or short as the time I have available !

Hopefully having made this project public, I shall be shamed into a completion. Wish me luck - please.