Starter for 10 is a writing exercise where I write for 10 minutes and try and complete a story/idea/thing. I'm doing 30 days of these and I'll be posting some here onto my new Paragraph newsletter. I won't do every day as I know that can get a bit much, but if you want to see all of them then follow me on Tiktok, Instagram or Facebook.

Content warning: these stories are just off the top of my head so you should brace for weirdness and probably death.

Music plays. A calm, swell of chords that holds you steady.

We begin.

As you take a breath in, you close your eyes. You breathe out and your eyes want to open. Let them if it adds to your feeling of security. But as you breathe – in…out – you feel the need to open your eyes reduces.

Your eyes are closed. Gradually, like the emergence of dawn, you start to become aware of the world inside your mind. It is a place of great beauty and a serene, epic grandeur.

You are aware that you are sat comfortably on a small lawn of grass. Before you are a set of stone steps that lead down to a sunken garden of fountains and square hedges.

You take a moment to breathe. In. Out. You feel the warmth of this world’s sun on your shoulders and you feel the comfort that it brings to your chest and your heart. Your heart beats strongly, passing this warmth around your body. Your fingers and your knees are warm. Your hips and your shins are warm. Your body tells its warmth to each part, like a village sharing the story of a hero.

Slowly you rise to your knees and then placing one strong foot on the ground in front of you, you ease yourself to standing. Your spine lengthens and your mind releases as you breathe. In. Out. Your spine lengthens and your mind releases as you breathe. In. Out. Now warmth and serenity pass with your blood around your body. You feel the surge of it in your stomach and your neck. A whisper of warm sea air passes your nose and you know of all the good that this world has for you.

You breathe confidently now. In. Out. When you are ready, you take a step towards the stone steps. Your feet touch the warm, smooth concrete and you feel it charging your body. One at a time you take the steps down to the patio area.

In front of you is a small fountain that sends forth a cascade of water into a deep blue pool beneath. At the side of the fountain is a silver platter and on the platter are a selection of fruits. You move forward and admire the perfection of the fruits. The deep yellow of the banana and the full, rich green and purple grapes.

You take a grape and throw it in the air. You watch it arc through the air and catch a glimpse of the sun as it travels down and you catch it easily in your mouth. You cough as the grape catches in your throat. You breathe. In. In. You breathe. In. In. In. In.