Sunday Serial: 280 x 70, 70.70. Get online, bitter lemon

 

Introduction

This collection is a collection of seventy stories, each 280 words. They were inspired by the first picture seen on my Twitter feed on a given day. 

The way around it of course was Zoom. If you couldn't meet in person why not Zoom? Why not Skype, or Teams, or Web X, though? Because Zoom had more of a ring about it.

Some sat there with pads over their ears, and some had little buds in them. Some had a microphone on their desks. Even sometimes an old-fashioned round one. Like the guy on the telly last night. On the BBC of all things. Who’d have thought it?

He should really get himself set up like that. How much did it cost, that sort of equipment? He searched through his favourite on-line shops. He read the reports. This was the best. And cost-effective. He'd saved more than that by not going to the pub, by not taking the tube and by learning to  cook.

So, he filled out the order carefully and tracked it anxiously. It had left the depot. It had arrived in the nearest town.  It was less than a kilometre away. There was a van in the street. The doorbell rang.

"It's on the step, mate," the delivery man shouted to him.

He opened the parcel, washed his hands, disposed of the packaging, washed his hands again and set it all up according to the instructions. And washed his hands again.

He opened Zoom and saw himself on the screen. Yes this was it. Now he looked right.

He started letting his people into the meeting room.

"The first news," said Thackeray, the chairman," is that we have made the office safe. You can all come in as form tomorrow.  This will be the last meeting we need to hold like this."     

About the author

Gill James is published by The Red Telephone, Butterfly and Chapeltown. She edits CafeLit and writes for the online community news magazine: Talking About My Generation. She teaches Creative Writing and has an MA in Writing for Children and PhD in Creative and Critical Writing. 

http://www.gilljameswriter.com 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B001KMQRKE 

https://www.facebook.com/gilljameswriter 

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Sunday Serial: 280 x 70, 69 ,69, by Gill James , The Marketing Writer, americano

The writer stared at her blank screen. Heavens above! Why must she do this? She was a writer not a marketer, not a car salesman. Couldn't someone else do this?  She should be writing. 

"Remember the thousands of dollars," a more experienced writing friend had told her. "That is your ticket to giving up the day job soon. That will give you permission to spend your time writing."

She found a picture of bundles of bank notes and pasted it into the document she was working on.

Keep it simple, she persuaded herself. Tell them what they need to know: the title of the book, ISBN, number of pages, release date, what it's about (but a blurb, not a synopsis?), what she was willing to do, when she would be available for interview. Maybe a line or two about why she had the expertise to write this book?

She looked at her handiwork. Yes, it all fitted neatly on to one page of A4. This looked professional. Everything was very clear. What further questions could they ask? 

Yes, it all looked competent enough. But it lacked sparkle. Did that actually belong more in the covering email she should send with this perfect press release? Maybe. What should she say?

It came to her suddenly. She should say how this had really been her mother-in-law's story. How she had actually written it for her. How she'd had this wonderful primary resource in a bunch of young women's letters.

That was it. She went through her list, pasted her copy into the body of the emails and attached the press release.

She sat back and waited,

Ten minutes later the phone rang.    

About the author

Gill James is published by The Red Telephone, Butterfly and Chapeltown.  

She edits CafeLit and writes for the online community news magazine: Talking About My Generation.

She teaches Creative Writing and has an MA in Writing for Children and PhD in Creative and Critical Writing.    

http://www.gilljameswriter.com  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B001KMQRKE

https://www.facebook.com/gilljameswriter   

 

Did you enjoy the story? Would you like to shout us a coffee? Half of what you pay goes to the writers and half towards supporting the project (web site maintenance, preparing the next Best of book etc.)