Short Story Fun Write In My Day

In My Day

We all know of or have seen depictions of the “typical old guy/gal” who is always talking about, “back in the day when…”.

Your creative writing task is to create an “in my day” paragraph where you take the point of view of this “old guy/gal” and tell how things were for you, ‘back in the day”.

The topic(s) are up to you but it must be school appropriate and, should connect. In other words, while we may “suspend our disbelief” a little, there should be a healthy dose of verisimilitude in your writing.

REQUIREMENTS:

•   A paragraph of 8-10 complete sentences. Give lots of detail and be specific.
• Do not use quotation marks/dialogue unless you know how to do it right. A narrative paragraph does not require quotation marks.
• You may have to read your paragraph aloud.

Prompt for Writing Activity: In MY Day . . .From a Washington Post Report, in which readers were asked to tell Gen-Xers how much harder they had it in the old days:

Runner-Up: In my day, we couldn't afford shoes, so we went barefoot. In the winter we had to wrap our feet with barbed wire for traction. (Bill Flavin, Alexandria)

And the winner: In my day, we didn't have no rocks. We had to go down to the creek and wash our clothes by beating them with our heads. (Barry Blyveis, Columbia)

Honorable Mentions: In my day, we didn't have dogs or cats. All I had was Silver Beauty, my beloved paper clip. (Jennifer Hart, Arlington)

Back in the 1970s we didn't have the space shuttle to get all excited about. We had to settle for men walking on the crummy moon. (Russell Beland, Springfield)

In my day, we didn't have days. There was only time for work, time for prayer and time for sleep. The sheriff would go around and tell everyone when to change. (Elden Carnahan, Laurel)

In my day, we didn't have fancy health-food restaurants. Every day we ate lots of easily recognizable animal parts, along with potatoes drenched in melted fat from those animals. And we're all as strong as GKK-GAAK Urrgh. Thud. (Tom Witte, Gaithersburg)

In my day, we didn't have hand-held calculators. We had to do addition on our fingers. To subtract, we had to have some fingers amputated. (Jon Patrick Smith, Washington)

In my day, we didn't get that disembodied, slightly ticked-off voice saying 'Doors closing.' We got on the train, the doors closed, and if your hand was sticking out it scraped along the tunnel all the way to the Silver Spring station and it was a bloody stump at the end. But the base fare was only a dollar. (Russell Beland, Springfield)

In my day, we didn't have water. We had to smash together our own hydrogen and oxygen atoms. (Diana Hugue, Bowie)

In my day, we wore our pants up around our armpits. Monstrous wedgies, but we looked snappy. (Bruce Evans, Washington)

In my day, we didn't have virtual reality. If a one-eyed razorback barbarian warrior was chasing you with an ax, you just had to hope you could outrun him. (Sarah M. Wolford, Hanover)
Subbmitted by Ginger Houston-Ludlam.