The Seven Year Retrospective #13 - Constructing A New Life (Patreon)

Me? Not release something on time? Never!

Welcome back to the Seven Year Retrospective Top Twenty and this time we'll be looking at number twelve on my list: "Constructing A New Life". As I mentioned when I first posted the story, this was an idea born out of my frustrations at work, but I thought I'd go into some more detail about that with you all now.

Now, as some of you may know from discussions on the Patreon discord, when I'm not writing I'm also an English teacher which, while useful in getting me to think about my own writing, isn't a career I'm all that in love with. This story was written during a particulrly tough time when I was drowning under essays I needed to mark and reports that needed to be written, plus my general dissatisfaction had me considering a career change. 

At the time I was going through this mini-crisis my school had begun some building works and the builders were stationed directly across from my office, with my desk positioned right in front of the window looking out at them. Now most of these builders were what you might expect: forties or fifties, balding and rotund. There was one among them though who was rather unlike the rest; he was young, lean and had a handsome face with a near-permanent cocky expression. I found myself enraptured with him for obvious reasons!

Just like the viewpoint character in the story I would go on to write, I began to grow fascinated with the idea of what my life might look like if I was him. I'd certainly be away from the admin-heavy stresses of teaching, that was for sure, and I was craving the ability to do something more physical and be out under the sun anyway. As is the fashion with me, these thoughts soon turned into a swap fantasy and I knew I had to capitalise on the inspiration and get a story written. Boy am I glad I did, because this is still a hot little slice that I revisit from time to time - especially when I'm getting angry with work!

The guys featured in the story can be found on Instagram at furrypup (as my stand-in, albeit more handsome than I!) and eastwood100 (as a stand-in for the builder in question). Even though I was able to visualize the real people who had inspired this story, it always helps me to have visual aids and I always find the best faces for these non-celebrity stories on my Instagram. Of course, it does often lead to me getting distracted from writing and instead just drooling over all the hot guys...

As always, I hope you enjoyed this little revisit and I'll see you next week with #11!