Three days ago, I started using a certain text-sharing social networking service. In those three days, I posted nine articles, and my total view count surpassed a thousand. During that time, I simply wrote whatever came to mind and posted it as soon as it was finished. As a start, I felt a decent sense of accomplishment. I intended to keep posting every day at this pace.
On this SNS, I mainly post flash fiction. I’ve posted an essay as well, but only one so far. Today, I was rummaging through my past writings, thinking I might post another essay.
It is now the fourth day since I started, and the time is 10:00 PM. There are only two hours left before the day ends. I haven’t posted anything yet today. I have no finished works ready to go, and I haven’t even prepared any ideas.
Should I just be honest and write about having no material? I opened my notepad and started typing.
“I’m taking today off.”
No, that won’t do. I’d be living up to the “three-day determination” stereotype. Besides, the commitment to post every day was just a personal vow; to the people on the internet, it would just be a case of, “Oh? Were you supposed to be posting every day?”
I resigned myself to the situation and went outside for a smoke. As I lit my cigarette in the parking lot in front of my house, a gust of wind suddenly blew. The road bordering my home is a slope, and the wind was whipping up from below with incredible force.
Then, a middle-aged man who looked like an office worker came walking up the hill. I stared blankly at him while puffing on my cigarette. Exposed to the wind, he continued his trek up the slope. He was a man I saw frequently at this time of day.
“Are you in trouble, young man? If you’d like, I can give you an idea for your writing.”
I continued to smoke blankly. I wondered if such an interesting person might actually come up the hill and say something like that. I stared intently down the slope. Nothing—and no one—came up.
Giving up, I returned to my room and collapsed into my chair. While sitting there, I thought back to the man walking up the hill. He was probably on his way home from work. No matter when I looked, he was always climbing that hill at this time.
I made up my mind, opened my notepad, and started typing.
“I’m taking today off.”
As soon as I finished the post, an idea for my next piece suddenly flashed into my mind. I let out a deep sigh and fell fast asleep right then and there.
