Saturday, October 8, 2011

My writing exercise

Last week I attended the Hallmark Blogging Tour along with several other mom bloggers. The day included some interactive fun, including a creative exercise by one of Hallmark's writers. We were given envelopes with about 50 little pieces of paper with random words printed on them. We were to pick three or four words and then had about five minutes to come up with a blog entry using those words. I wrote about a day at my part-time job as a newborn photographer at a hospital. Here's my entry with the words I picked in bold:

The work day wasn't staring out well. Moms were sleeping or in the shower. Doctors were seeing patients. One little boy was going down to be circumcised. I'd been in eight rooms so far and hadn't photographed a single baby.

One mom was expecting dad within an hour and they'd then be discharged. I stopped in a couple more rooms and had some lunch then made it back down trying to time it right. I knew a nurse would be going in to do a teaching and you never know how long that will take.

I popped back in the room and mom was up and dressed and at the sink with a little blue-eyed blond girl. They were holding hands at the sink as mom dried the little girl's hands. "Dad will be right back," said mom. The little girl giggled at the sight of her new brother. It's a big contrast between being an only child and having a sibling. Whenever I encounter a sibling in a room, I never know how they'll react. More often than not, the siblings shy away at that age. She was just 2. When I asked her age, I was sure she'd say 3. She was so talkative and interested and gentle. She seemed well beyond the active 2-year-old mode.

As the baby fussed, she held a bottle, giving him a few sips to calm him down. He drifted off. The bottle slipped out and she moved in for a kiss. I almost forgot the camera was in my hand. I was lost in the moment - watching a little girl become a big sister.

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