Written As A He

Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts —

The Exercise:

Write a page in the first person, assuming the voice of someone of the opposite gender. This can be a description, a narrative, or a segment of autobiography. The main point is to completely lose yourself and become another.

The Objective:

To learn how to draw convincing verbal portraits of characters different from yourself and to make them sympathetic, rounded, and complex, even though you don’t especially “like” them or admire what they represent.

What else can I say, I’m in love. I really don’t know if she feels the same way I do, but that is okay. I will do my best to sweep her off her feet. And hey, we are partners in pickleball, and I know she loves pickleball.

She is perfect for me. She is lively and fun. She enjoys all that I do. We are both hockey fans and baseball fans. Our football teams are different, but does that really matter, afterall our politics are the same.

She loves family and brings her niece and nephews to watch pickleball. She thinks they will love it too. Like I said, what else can I say but we are perfect for each other. I just hope she can see it that way.

I called her to wish her a good day, and she told me to have a good day. Then I babbled something about getting together, maybe, later today. She agreed, and it made my day. I am falling hard for this girl, I must say.

I wonder if it is too soon to bring her flowers, maybe from my garden. We can get dinner, watch a game, the local sports are good and then who knows, I can dream, can’t I…