Today is one of the days at work that I look forward to every year–the annual Holiday Lunch. It is an early Thanksgiving, with turkey and all the trimmings, put on by management as a way of saying ‘thanks for all of your hard work’. It’s also a chance to get together with other folks in the company, over brimming plates of food, to mingle and maybe even enjoy a piece of pie (or two).
My co-workers tend to roll their eyes at my fondness for the event. To them it is apparently on the same level as saying I like cafeteria food or maybe airplane meals. I’m pretty sure they’re planning to order lunch from a local BBQ place instead.
Well, their loss is my (leftover) gain. The food may not reach the Michelin star level or taste like Grandma’s home cooking, but it’s abundant and provided by a really good local restaurant, whose cornbread stuffing is amazing.
It’s kind of fun to be served by executives too. What I actually like though is the idea behind the event. We’re all so busy with our day to day tasks that it’s easy to forget we’re all part of the same company. It’s nice to have a brief break to pause, look up, and reconnect.
Of course a downside of the lunch is the almost overwhelming desire for a nap once it’s all done. I’m guessing napping wouldn’t go over very well in my afternoon staff meeting.
I better make sure to have coffee with my pie.
Once my fun-filled workday is over, it will be time to refocus and get today’s NaNo words on the page. My goal for the month is ’30 short stories in 30 days’. I think I’ll see what I can come up with today, using the writing prompt and random words below as a starting point.
Care to join me?
For those of you working away on a story (whether a first draft or a polished version on its way to publication), if you’re not feeling random, we’d love to hear a bit – whether it’s a scene, a paragraph, or even a phrase that you are especially pleased with and would like to share.
If you don’t have a story in progress, or just want to work on something new, I hope today’s story prompt and/or random words will catch your creative fancy.
Ready?
What if: “Your character attends a local writing event?”
Feel free to interpret the “What if” any way you choose and include any (or all) of the following random words:
insecure blindly bittersweet charade
fighter gold escalator ignorant
shake hemlock grease portrait
content fluent avoid bonus
I look forward to seeing your stories in the comments. If you’re not feeling in the writing mood today, or don’t have time, feel free to post suggestions you might have for future “what-if” prompts. Ideas are always welcome.
Happy writing to all!
Eight Ladies Writing 
Your annual lunch sounds like one of those holiday traditions that make me want to hibernate until it’s all over, Elizabeth. Right up there with a tree, decorations and the Hallmark Channel. Quilt over my head and fingers in my ears 😉 So I’d be with the BBQ crowd. But wouldn’t life be boring if we were all the same?
I agree with you that it’s a nice idea though. Back in the day, when I worked in an advertising agency, the Stockholm office would close for an hour at lunchtime so that everyone could have lunch together. That included the receptionists (so the doors were closed) and the phone operators (so all calls went to answering machines), which infuriated the Mad Men in head office. The custom seemed to work really well for the Swedes. It seemed like a natural cultural fit and made for an almost-family atmosphere in the office.
True, Jilly, things would be pretty boring if we were all the same. Your Stockholm office’s lunchtime closure sounds like a nice way to build a good atmosphere into the workplace. I can just see how that would go over here though, where the general tendency is to work through lunch in front of their computer.