At the dinner table, I try to choose the first sentence of my life.
I stop eating and wonder what the opening line would be if my life were a novel. Haewol says that when choosing a first sentence, it helps to look first at the…
Scenes
- I’m stuck on the first sentence. — I stop eating and open my notebook. I try to write the first sentence of my life, but my pencil pauses above the page.
- Which day should I start with? — If I write about the good days, the hard ones disappear. If I write about the hard days, it feels like the person I was before is gone.
- The first scene is in what keeps repeating. — When I look back on a life, I start with the scenes that keep repeating, rather than one big event. Repetition can show what mattered to you.
- The first day that came to mind — Looking at the keychain at the dinner table, I remember how, every time a move was coming up, I packed the plants before anything else.
- Write a scene, not a sentence — You don’t have to finish your first sentence today. Try jotting down one scene that keeps coming back, and what you took with you then.
- The first sentence can wait — Rather than starting with a first sentence, I follow the scenes that keep coming back to see where life has been heading. The scene you wrote down today is a small clue.
Stories by Haewol
- Haewol
- It’s my day off, but I couldn’t even clean.
- With so few customers, should I keep the shop open?
- Every Sunday night, I weigh living together against living apart again.
- After hearing the request, I took a window seat on the bus.
- You pause mid-scroll, unsure whether to say anything
- I opened a book while waiting for the results.
- On your first day, you’re unsure how to balance your main job and side work.
- Even when I catch my breath during a workout, I wonder whether to tell them how I feel or let it go.