Off and Running

Over at Forward Motion it's the Story-a-day marathon.

Yep, that's writing a short story every day. For me, anyway. There are four levels to choose from: Apprentice (10 stories), Journeyman (15), Master (20) and Insane (31). I fall into the last category.

Why? Because, on a fundamental level, I cannot resist a challenge and push myself. I also think it has something to do with the structure. You have 31 days to write 31 stories. They can be via a story generator, or not.

Before you think this is easy, think again. When I first decided to do this challenge back in 2003, I'd never written a short story; never thought I could... they were too restrictive. I'd written books. Whole 400+ page books. How could I possibly have a beginning, middle and end in less than ten thousand words? Or five thousand words?

I pushed myself that year. Pushed hard to achieve the covetted gold pip. Not for me the silver or bronze, I went for gold. And did it, too. The stories... well, they need work. Not much, but they do need it. Better yet, they can be edited down for flash fiction, edited for the size they are or expanded to build novels out of.

Since then, I have done the challenge to boost my store of shorties. This gives me a cache to dip into for submissions. I knew one day I'd be ready for that step, and if that day ever came, I'd better have a good store to choose from.

So, I'm off and running. Two stories done. Not the most cheerful creations, but each has a kernal of solid writing, and that's what's important. You can't edit what you haven't written. You can't submit what's not there.

All I have to do now, is think of another twenty-nine stories to write!