My 60 seconds of WIP this week.
I also post these on my YouTube channel. If you want a laugh, take a look at my supposedly incognito clip. As soon as I turned on the camera, I realized I could not be incognito. Yes, that moment will make it into some writing in the future. In the meantime, enjoy. (I am fine, just recovering.)
I’m Johanna Rothman, and this is 60 Seconds of Johanna’s WIP for December 21, 2023, where I read an excerpt of just a minute of some writing in progress.
This excerpt is from a short story, not yet titled.
The dense six am fog muffled the sounds of Angela Vargas’s footsteps. While she was wearing sneakers, they didn’t squeak or make any noise at all. The birds were quiet. Only the truck that rumbled by, its tires spraying the last of winter’s grit and sand up onto the sidewalk, made any noise.
Typical of early April in Boston. The ugly remnants of winter, plus the bone-chilling cold were all that remained. Angela was more than ready for spring.
This part of Beacon Street in Boston’s Back Bay looked like the expensive part closer to Boston Common. But this side was much closer to the various universities, with all the frat and sorority houses. As a result, Angela didn’t just smell the truck’s diesel exhaust, but also the strong odors of alcohol and vomit.
Angela coughed and breathed out through her mouth as she passed the mess on the sidewalk. At sixty, she didn’t tolerate what she had at twenty. Quiet now, the frat and sorority houses had partied hearty last night. That’s when her intern, Maria Mendes, had vanished. Right off the street, a half a block away.