Original in Spanish: Ejercicio de escritura intencional
Exercise 1: Tell something that happened today keeping in mind what I want to explain, what I want to provoke in the reader, and the tone to achieve it.
When I submitted it I was thinking it needed revision; I have the feeling I explained things in a very convoluted way. Actually I’m glad the next exercise is revising it :)
I don’t like that I insult the poor doggies so much, because I like them, because they’re like me; it seems incoherent that I say I lit the cigarette to calm myself down (I shouldn’t care); saying things as tragic as “succumbing to siren songs” is too much. I don’t know. The kind of things I keep writing while resisting the urge to backpedal.
I have a friend who quit smoking joints by swapping them for tobacco. Then she saw no point in suffering the disadvantages of smoking without the advantage of getting high, so she quit altogether.
I love people with a prefrontal cortex. That type of person who sets out to do something and then goes and does it. Just like that, all thought-through and logical. People with a scriptwriter in their lives.
I’m so used to not keeping my self-promises that I don’t even get disappointed anymore; it’s as if I knew my inner minions will go on strike every time I ask them for something not in their contract. I am not the one in charge of myself. When something means stopping doing what I feel like doing, whatever I resolved doesn’t matter and I run on impulses. Zero discipline.
You know those doggies that run training courses? Sometimes they’re shown a sausage mid-exercise and the naughtier ones stop to eat it. Then they wag their tails because they’re happy about the sausage. YouTube is full of videos of dogs as daft as me losing championships while wagging their tails.
Once I decided to quit smoking when I finished the pack I had; immediately afterwards I passed the petrol station on autopilot and bought another. It was very fast. I became aware of everything as I was collecting the change from the vending machine. Then I stepped aside to light a cigarette and calm down. Like I said: nobody at the wheel.
I know smoking is bad; it’s just that temptations call me loudly. I feel like wagging my tail. Look at me, here I am succumbing to the siren songs and reaching for the lighter.
Dieting or exercise, let’s not even talk about it. Luckily we’re past the 1950s and I’m allowed to fuck more or less in peace.
(Facebook, 2021-06-26)