Day 18: Short Story Marathon

Summary

Back to “Jump in Time,” but this thing has taken on a life of it’s own and is over 5,000 words with a ways to go. Lots more research and a much more complicated story that the other “In Time” stories. I’m not even sure if it’s a short story anymore. Ack! This puts the streak at risk. What to do?

I went back did a quick read and very minor tweaks to “Life and a Starling” and sent it to Dean, making the streak 9 days.

I set aside “Jump in Time” and decided to start fresh and shoot for something very short. I also reset my attitude. I don’t need to win any awards here, I just need to write a story. In other words, I took the pressure off. All the way off. I browsed the beginnings of a couple of pieces of flash fiction, just scanned them until an idea popped into my head (not at all related to those stories). 50 minutes and 1,500 words later I had a short piece tentatively titled “Dancing Kite.” Not sure if the story works, and frankly it doesn’t matter. It is a story and that what counts for this challenge. It’s one more mile down the long road of this challenge. Another pass for cleanup and I read it Aleia. Ready to go in 1.5 hours total start to finish and the streak can stay alive another day.

I’m planning to put “Jump in Time” on the back burner and work on it as I can.

Heard back from Dean on “Woody and June vs. the Grand Canyon.” All good there. Woody and June are starting to feel like  a novel, not sure if I’ll get back to them for this challenge.

Stats for Today

Strategies Employed: Taking the pressure off  and just writing.

Lessons Learned: Take the pressure off and the words will flow, and if the story sucks, it just practice (writers practice too).

Words Written: 4,600

Hours: 4.3

Stories Sent to Dean: 1

Story Summary