To amuse myself, but also in the slim hope of winning a vacation abroad, I entered a story contest through a tour company. The conditions: Your story should describe one of your favorite travel moments, cannot exceed three sentences, 75 words, and 450 characters. Simple, right? Au contraire! What started as a lark became quickly agonizing as I brainstormed and realized that it was impossible to describe the wonders of Egypt in so few words. Eventually, I arrived at a three sentence masterpiece... that was inconveniently nearly twice the character limit. Back to the drawing board. I managed to whittle it down to this more succinct version here. 74 words and 438 characters! If nothing else, it was a nice creative exercise and fodder for my blog!
A childhood dream—unquenchable as thirst in the Sahara—led me to where minarets mingle with skyscrapers, where businessmen battle traffic while Bedouins in flowing robes navigate by the stars. I didn’t lose myself in the saffron perfume of spice markets, or between temple columns, but on a common Nile felucca, where I danced with Nubian sailors. In this singular moonlit moment, I was lost to the outside world, but I had found myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment