Seven

When you’re Alice, you begin the day with a greeting from your fictional goldfish. His name is Edgar, after the poet. Edgar watches as you flip back to gaze at the ceiling. You stare at ceilings often. Each one with the most peculiar stories to tell. Which is good, since when you’re Alice, you like stories.

When you’re Alice, each week is another new tale. Wednesday sits right at its middle. And although sometimes they find it hard to match up with as thrilling a beginning or ending, middles are exciting things. The central point at which anything could happen. For Alice, life is one big middle, one big Wednesday. So it is always the time to indulge in life’s more exciting experiences. Bare feet on scorching concrete, just before the pain kicks in; taking photographs in the rain; overhearing shards of bus conversation and trying to piece them together; and practicing left-handed writing on the napkins in cafés.

When you’re Alice, tidiness is as inspirational as a toothpick. Clutter, on the other hand, creates tiny worldlets on the desktop. Mountains of folders and valleys of pens to rummage through and discover – full of things long forgotten. Besides which if you lose something, there’s always hope that it’s somewhere in amongst the paperclips and notepads. Whereas, serene as tidiness is, it’s simply not as much fun.

When you’re Alice, you have a favourite pen. It’s maroon and gold, with a gentle grip. Black ink. You almost dread the day it runs out. But take solace in that you’ll probably move on to another favourite pen by that time. After all, you know your mindset is always changing. You know that the more new thoughts you think, the broader the concepts there’ll be to explore. And the middle of the story is always where the most exciting exploring takes place. In the middle with Wednesday.

When you’re Alice, you haven’t won any awards for literature. You’re not an internationally acclaimed author. But you have got something to say. There may not be so precise an aspiration in mind - but when you’re Alice, you know that one day “some day” will become tomorrow. When you’re Alice, it’s far from over yet.

Alice writes every Wednesday. You can contact her via the comments below.