Today, I’m going to write from a prompt I found in the Observation Deck: A Tool Kit for Writers by Naomi Epel. This tool kit is comprised of a 160-page book with short chapters filled with writing advice, which also corresponds to a 50-card deck. Chapter titles include Change Your Point of View, Follow the Scent, Raise the Stakes, Take a Walk, Ask a Question, etc. For example, in the chapter, Take a Walk, Epel starts by quoting Thoreau, adds tidbits about how walks helped other writers, and then provides some suggestions for how walking might help your writing. She has prompts such as, “Look for an object that might symbolize a particular emotion or idea,” or “Take a walk as one of your characters and notice what that person would notice.”

Pretty cool.

Maybe this little observation desk can guide my blog writing for the next while. We will see.

My card from the deck: Open the Drawer.

The quote is, “Thrust your hand deep into life, and whatever you bring up in it, that is your subject,” said the poet Goethe.

My prompt from the book: Thrust your hand into a pocket or a drawer and use the first object you touch as a subject in your writing.

Okay, here’s mine: a brown extension cord I carry in my computer bag to reach a plug when traveling. Hmmm. Okay. I’m not sure where this is going, but we will see. I’m setting my timer for 20 minutes.

The Symbolic Value of an Extension Cord

Maya’s extra-long, multi-plug extension cord stretched across the empty living room. She usually carried it in her computer bag to connect to a far-off electrical outlet when she traveled. Today, she was packing up the final contents of her apartment of twenty years, and that cord would be the last thing to go since two small lamps were plugged into it, providing the only light in the room. It was 11:30 PM, and she had to vacate by midnight.

Leaving her long-term home was more difficult than Maya had expected. Her soon-to-be ex-husband, Daniel, had quickly moved out after informing her of his new love interest and the life he planned to share with her. He threw his favorite clothes, razor, and a few pairs of shoes in a bag and said, “Donate anything else of mine to Goodwill. I’m outta here.” She’d never seen him stride with such purpose as he headed for the front door, flung it open, and then closed it with a firm click.

That definitive action left Maya to sift through the memories of her shared life with Daniel, sorting out what to keep and what to throw away. One memory in the throw-away category was their recent trip to Cabo San Lucas, where Daniel acted as if he was having so much fun. Instead, each time he headed off to get her “a treat,” such as a special pastry from the bakery next to the hotel, she now knew he was using that opportunity to call the new love of his life. Maya had the phone records to prove it, and the deliberateness of that deception made her sick to her stomach. Of course, she had to admit it made the goodbye much easier. Nobody wanted to feel like a fool.

Maya glanced at her phone. 11:45. It was time for her to firmly close the door on this part of her life.

She clicked on her iPhone’s flashlight, turned off the lamps, and unplugged the extension cord. As she rolled it up and stowed it inside her computer bag, she realized that the cord symbolized the qualities she needed in a future partner: flexibility, dependability, and the capacity to bring light into her life.

As the door locked behind her, Maya smiled. She knew what she’d had in the past and what she wanted in the future. For now, though, she was heading to her new apartment, where she could enjoy a cup of warm cocoa before heading to bed.