Thanks to the generosity of a very special DUer...

[FedUpWithIt All]

i am able to join in the writing group. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

So here is a contribution...

Untitled

"Someone shut off that alarm!" she calls out before she opens her eyes. She hates it when the sound bores into her dreams. The sound drills on. She had thought that buying an alarm that sounded like the clock tower Big Ben was a great idea. A few weeks ago, when her oldest daughter Stephanie began to cringe at movies displaying the landmark's distinctive sound, she began to see the error of her ways. She realized, that to her child, this sound would always be associated with groggily rolling out of bed.

Her daughter like herself was not a pretty sight first thing in the morning. They stumble past each other in the hall with looks that would strike fear in the heart of any morning person. Occasionally, one would mutter an unanswered "Mornin" to the other. Rather than sounding like an affectionate greeting it always ended up sounding more like a curse.

This morning, her daughter Stephanie was stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the call of Big Ben. Bitterly she mumbles,"Fine I'll get it," and slowly sits up. Listening for the tiny voices of her younger two girls as they play in their room, she pads softly down the hall. She knows the girls will soon sense that she is semi-conscience and come running out of their room with requests for food and drink. She tries to be very quiet as she walks into Stephanie's s room so as not to set off her little morning-glories radar. Today she just wants to be able to piss in peace.

"Mom, I'm hungry, can I have a fruit snack?"

"I want milk Mommie"

Secretly wishing bad things on her ex-husband as punishment for passing down such a love of mornings to their young offspring, she grumbles, "In a minute," and shuts off the alarm. "Effie, get up, your running late and I'm not driving you to school."

"OK, I will," her oldest daughter says as she rolls over, turning her back to her mother.

"Now, Stephanie!". She walks to bathroom and turns on the shower. She learned long ago that closing the bathroom door was almost like an invitation for interruption. Now she just pees and showers with the door open and in relative peace.

As she undresses she listens for the sounds of her children. Stephanie, realizing there is no sleep prolonging battle to be had today, is moaning as she climbs out of bed. She smiles to herself as she listens to her younger children debating the merits of red fruit gummies.

She watches as the steam begins to curl up from the shower. The promise of a nice hot shower has to be one of the greatest luxuries motherhood can afford, she decides. The hotter the better because then the kids aren't tempted to reach their small hands past the curtain to try and splash her. A wave of momentary guilt washes over her as she ponders how leisurely her mornings would be if she had never had children. Ending the stream of thought, she sends a prayer up to heaven trying to convince God she wouldn't want her life any other way. Just in case today He is listening. She knows He won't believe her anyway.

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. Why is your main character a pronoun?

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. It is a section from a longer story...

Honestly, i had not realized that the character was not named in this part.

In fact i tend to repeat main character names very little. I mostly write for myself.

[petgoat]

3. Hi FedUp. Welcome to DU and to the Writing Group!

:hi:

You make interesting observations. I love the ambivalence in the part about the prayer,
and the zinger at the end.

Where does this fit in the context of the whole story? Is this the opening?

[FedUpWithIt All]

4. Thank you, petgoat...

:hi:

This is nearer the beginning, but not the opening. This bit and one other section are all i have left. : ( My hard drive crashed a few weeks ago. I have a half finished novel backed up, along with a few random things, but everything else is gone. The disk i had saved some of my stuff to was corrupted and i did not know it until the drive went. Was VERY upset at first. But then i figured, i can always write more. Time to get back to it though. It has been a long time since i have written anything substantial.

There is a note of exhausted bitterness to this bit, but in the context of the story, the character Maddy was in a rough patch any single parent can relate to now and again.

[petgoat]

5. Are you sure your drive crashed? If the problem is

elsewhere in the computer system and the drive is okay, you can
remove the drive and install it in another computer.

If your backup disk is a floppy there are tools for salvaging a corrupted
disk. I did that years ago using Norton Utilities on a 5-1/4" floppy.
Usually what happens is the File Allocation Table (a directory of all the files)
gets scrambled. The files are still there, but the computer can't find them.
Norton lets you look at the disk physical sector by sector, rather than
file by file.

If your corrupted backup is a Zip disk, I don't know if the files can be
recovered but I would bet they can.

[FedUpWithIt All]

6. I believe the drive is actually gone.

I put in an old drive and tried to access the damaged one. It said drive needed formatted before i could access it.

I will see if i can find a way to access the info on the disk. I hadn't thought of it. Figured it was just gone.

Fortunately, the things that mean the most to me are all still available. :thumbsup:

The story that is on my journal was gone but a friend mailed it back to me. :7

[petgoat]

7. A disk "crash" isn't as common as it used to be.

A "crash" is when the read/write head actually contacts the disk and
gouges grooves in it.

It's possible that your disk ceased functioning because its software or its
File Allocation Table was corrupted, and not because of physical damage.
If this is the case, a program like Norton can recover your data.

[FedUpWithIt All]

8. Ok, my ex is a programmer. I'll have him look at it again.

I will be very happy if it is all still there. :)

Thank you very much, BTW :yourock: