I told you earlier about stumbling across the site Deadlines for Writers and how it inspired me to start writing. What I didn’t tell you is that the first story I wrote back in June was the first story I have ever published (okay, uploaded to a website).
What I didn’t tell you was that I’ve had stories running around in my head for years. I have started and stopped journaling more times than I can remember and have always thought there was a story inside me that needed telling. But I didn’t tell you that I’ve not written a story since high school.
I didn’t tell you that in high school, my lowest marks were always in English and that I hated creative writing. I guess, it wasn’t so much that I hated writing, I hated having my writing judged by others.
But back at the end of May, I decided to set that aside and write a short story. I wrote a draft, edited it many (many, many) times and when the deadline came on June 19th, I held my breath as I submitted it.
Moments later, before I’d even stopped to think about what I had just accomplished, I received an email with the prompt for next month, “Trial”, 750 words. I was stumped. The first prompt seemed so easy and now, what would I do with Trial?
I let it roll around in my head for a couple of days and pulled out a sticky note to brainstorm ideas. I carried a little notebook to jot down ideas when they came up. (I learned this after feeling like I’d finally found an idea only to forget it by the time I sat down to write. Work was definitely becoming inconvenient to my writing process.)
Last week, I finished my story and got it whittled down to 750 words. The more I reread it, the more I realized that too much of the story was lost getting it down to the word count goal. I decided to rewrite it from another perspective, dropping many of the plot points I had decided the first version needed. It fit better within the word count but I still wasn’t feeling it.
I decided to let it sit for a couple of days and see if my mind would come up with an idea to make the story work. No go. Still didn’t want to post that story.
Needless to say, I was starting to feel the pressure of the deadline. I didn’t want to break my streak (Yes, I’m protecting a streak of 1.), but I also don’t want to post a story that even I don’t even like.
Yesterday, with 4 days remaining, I decide to write a new story. Problem is, I have no ideas. Not one.
I decided to try something new. I packed up my laptop and walked down the block to the park, sat down and started writing. I’d read somewhere that a change of scenery could help. The park wasn’t that great of an idea, it had benches but I needed to balance my laptop on my knees and the sun was shining in my eyes but I persevered. I decided to give it 30 minutes and just see what happened.
I started typing. I wasn’t writing anything in particular. I started by describing what I was seeing and just went from there. I started talking to myself with my writing, it was like hosting a brainstorming session with multiple copies of me building on each thought and asking questions to pursue the idea further. By the time the timer went off, I hadn’t written a story but I did have a documented conversation with myself about how the story might go.
I’m not sure why it worked, whether I had a story in there and had to clear the other thoughts to find it or if I just needed the blank page to act as a sounding board. However it worked, by the time I left the park, I had an idea about what I was going to write and I feel pretty good about taking this one to the finish line.
So, today, I’m going to write a new short story based on the typed conversation with myself.
I have three days. Wish me luck.
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