Doug Johnstone

At parents’ evening the other night, we got a look at Aidan’s jotters from class. One of the things he had to do was ‘A Day As…’, imagining the life of someone else. He did me. This is what he wrote, and it’s awesome:

If you can’t read it, here’s a transcript:

9.10.12 a day as dad

hello I am doug and this is what I do I eat brekfast then I get ready for work. I then start writing a new book. Then I go to the book shop and sell soum books and get mouny. Then I go home and have tea. I wash the dishes. Then I get redy for bed and then I go to bed. Tmorow I get the kids redy for scool and nursury. Then I go on and on with my book about a life jotter and then I get the kids home. I have tea and go to bed.

I particularly like ‘Then I go on and on with my book…’, which is how I feel at the moment, halfway through a first draft. And no, I don’t know what a ‘life jotter’ is, but I like the phrase.

I notice he has inherited my stripped-back prose style, while the use of repetition to evoke the workaday nature of existence really makes the existential pointlessness and drudgery of life shine through. Top marks, Big Guy.

Dx, proud dad.