FreedomToTheReaders' Exercises for Cat's Writing Bootcamp

Exercise 1 Part 1

"Earth to Rozenn, come in Rozenn."

"Hmm? Sorry Trystan, you were saying something?"

"Nothing vitally important."

"Oh."

"But come to think of it, you are acting odd, like more than usual I mean. In fact, ever since you told me –"

"Trystan!"

"What?"

"When I tell you something in confidence I expect it to stay that way. If I'd wanted the whole world to know I'd have told them!"

"Roz, seriously, it's not that big a deal!"

"Maybe not to you it isn't!"

"Oh, I get it, this isn't about you, it's about her."

"Not exactly. Or at least, not completely."

"Okay, well in that case, what is it about?"

"I ... don't know. I just don't know."

"So, let me recap, this is either about you, or her, or –"

"Ugh – Trystan it's about everything okay? I thought I knew everything about myself, where I stood in the world, who I was, what I wanted from life, what I believed in. And now I don't know. And I hate not knowing!"

"Wow, Rozenn, I didn't know this was eating you up so bad. Then again if you would tell me everything instead of just half the bits and pieces, maybe I'd know. But one new facet of yourself becoming evident shouldn't turn your world upside down."

"I know, but I thought I'd finished with all the hard parts of life for a while. I mean, school's almost done, work is going okay, it could be better but I wasn't complaining! What cosmic vibration did I disrupt to end up in this chain of events?"

"Roz, chill okay? This amount of emotion from you is a little disconcerting. Seriously though, you didn't do anything. Sometimes I wonder how you got to be an art student, in a world full of grays, you're very black and white."

"My favorite mediums are ink, graphite and charcoal, its nothing but blacks, whites and shades of gray! Besides, at the moment I don't feel like much of an art student anyway. Everything I try to do just turns out wrong."

"And you know why? Because you're being too hard on yourself right now. Stop punishing yourself when you did nothing wrong, and just let life happen for a bit. Everything will work out even if it's not in the way you first thought. Hey, where are you going? Roz? Rozenn? The bus is gonna be here in like five minutes, if you miss it you'll be late to class!"

"I'm not going to class today."

"Wait, I couldn't possibly have heard you right! You, the person who has had straight A perfect grades since the day I met you, who only has time to study, work, or draw and needs to be coerced to go out and do other things, who's never skipped a day of college in her life, are consciously electing to not go to a class? On the class before the midterm exam?"

"Don't worry, I'll be there for the test. I just can't stomach Psych today. Tell the professor I went home sick or something, I honestly don't care."

"Uh, okay I guess, but be home when I get back! This isn't like you and new leaves aren't supposed to be so drastic! And Roz, whatever you do between now and later, be careful!"