It’s Friday again, so you know what that means. It’s #FirstLineFriday! It’s also the second to last day of Passover. I’ve somehow survived seven days of matzah and a diet known to make grown men cry. Funny thing, the reason we eat this diet is because when our ancestors left Egypt they didn’t have time to make anything else, but some scholars suggest that the Israelite slaves were fed matzah by the Egyptians because it lasted so long and was easy to make. So maybe we’re taking this “we all should feel like we left Egypt” thing a little too seriously.
Anyway, I digress. If you’re not familiar with #FirstLineFriday, here’s the deal. On Fridays, you:
- Create a post on your blog titled #FirstLineFriday, hashtag and all.
- Explain the rules like I’m doing now.
- Post the first one or two lines of a potential work, a work-in-progress, or a completed or published story.
- Ask your readers for feedback and then encourage them to try #FirstLineFriday on their own blogs (tagging isn’t required, but is encouraged).
This week’s entry doesn’t come from any particular story. It’s just something that came to me while thinking about my day Monday during dinner. So you could say that this entry is based on true events. In fact, it is based on true events. So I guess I’m doing memoir this week? Perhaps I am. Also, I’m counting everything after the colon and until the period as one sentence, so don’t get on my case saying I did three sentences. Though if I did, who cares? It’s my blog, and if I want to slightly modify the tag, why not?
Anyway, enjoy:
Summer and winter in central Ohio are marked by two things: extreme temperatures and power outages. So when, in late April, I walked into my house from a eighty-degree heat to find that my power was out, I knew summer had come early to Columbus.
Thoughts? Errors? Too long? Let’s discuss in the comments below.
And while you’re at it, why not try #FirstLineFriday yourself? It’s fun, and for those of us with the writing bug, it’s great practice on openings.
In fact, I think I’ll tag someone to show them the joys of #FirstLineFriday. And I’m tagging my friend and colleague, Ruth Ann Nordin. Ruth, you’ve been tagged. You have to do your own post this or next Friday. Good luck and have fun.
That’s all for now. Wish me luck as I try to survive the last two days of matzah. If I live, I’m ordering pizza. Have a good weekend, my Followers of Fear!
Rami Ungar The Writer 
I’ll do this next Friday. I still have to finish up the A – Z Blogging Challenge for April. 🙂
It sounds like Columbus and Springfield, Nebraska have a lot in common. When I lived in Nebraska, you could go out on a bright sunny day, mow the lawn, and come back to the power being off for a couple hours. The power was so tricky in that town. I never did figure out why, but I don’t miss going without power several times every year for hours on end.
I think you’re fine using a colon and everything after it as one sentence. That’s what I would do. Do people pick on you about colons?
I look forward to seeing what you come up with next Friday then. And no, no one’s ever gotten testy with me over a colon. I just thought I would cut off anyone who tried. I’m crafty that way.
I was in a writing group once where people nearly had a heart attack because I used a colon in fiction. The sentence made more sense with it, so I kept it in, but I did have to question whether or not it was technically okay to do. 🙂
Sounds like whoever nearly had a heart attack feels there’s only one good way to write.