30 Sentences: 2013
I decided it was time to take the sentence-a-day project on the road.
I sent out an email invitation to friends, acquaintances and Facebook contacts. Fourteen adventurous people responded and, together, we set out to write a sentence a day for a month.
Our first meeting was a meet-and-greet where I explained that there were no restrictions to theme or type of sentences. I asked everyone to commit to writing one sentence a day, but even that was only a notion, really. I wanted this project to be something that each person customized into something rewarding for themselves. Once things got going, most people experienced some level of anxiety or resistance to the process, myself included. I think it was to be expected—it comes with stepping beyond the norm in some way, not to mention being creatively and quite possibly emotionally vulnerable in front of strangers. Some people also struggled with the lack of structure and many assumed there were rules where there were none. I keep realizing anew as I do these Periodic Table experiments that some kind of structure is necessary to ease people into experiences that are indulgences of my brain labeled “what if”.
After our month (and a few cushion days) was up, we regrouped for a potluck and reading. By then our numbers had shrunk to nine. Everyone was nervous to read their sentences aloud so it helped that we had two absent participants who had emailed their sentences. Reading those by proxy allowed the rest of us to get warmed up. In the midst of all the self-conscious hemming and hawing, I was struck by the creativity, poignancy and vulnerability in every set of sentences. People are just so lovely and clever and cool sometimes.
We decided to continue with the project by taking another month to “add on” to someone else’s sentences. The adding-on could be a continuation of the existing narrative or it could be the creation of something altogether different but inspired by the sentences. It was again a case of “anything goes”. We drew names out of a bowl and are keeping them a secret until the big reveal on July 27.
In the meantime, I’ve been given permission from some of the participants to post their 30 sentences here. I feel privileged to be able to share them with you and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. I think you’ll notice a few recurring themes pop up here and there.
