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Tag: 2012 StoryADay Challenge

StoryADay update No. 3 #storyaday

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Here’s my report on this week’s progress for the May StoryADay Challenge.

Overall:  not great.

  • I wrote a sizeable chunk of a short story I’ve been thinking about for a couple years, but then the story decided to become a novella (probably about 7000 words when done).  So that became a multi-night project.
  • I finished a story for a contest that ended over a year ago.  It needs some editing, and a new title, but my beta readers have been encouraging with their feedback (“there are those that need to read this and find a kindred spirit. Pls get it out there in a journal where it can be read.”  Yay!)
  • I added another 500 words or so to the horror story I wrote last week.  The main character isn’t quite who I want him to be, so that’ll require some additional tweaking before I let the critiquers at it.  Fortunately I have a potential home for it in mind – an incentive to finish it soon.
  • I wrote a chunk of another story I’ve been working on for the last couple years.  I know where I want it to go, but I haven’t felt like writing it.  Today the mood struck. 

I think I might have to downgrade my goals.  Rather than write a story a day, I’d like to finish the month with 15 finished stories.  So far, I have 3.  But school is out for the summer in another week, so maybe I’ll still be able to pull this off?

If you’re doing the StoryADay challenge, how’s it going?

Six Sentence Sunday 5/13 #sixsunday

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This week’s six are from a new piece I wrote this week as part of the StoryADay Challenge.  A wife leaves her unstable husband at home to look after their daughter for the afternoon.

Carolyn pulled into the driveway beside Bryce’s car and hurried inside, leaving the groceries in the car. Of course Shanna was fine; it was the middle of a Saturday afternoon, the sun shining down on their rundown piece of suburbia. So why was a voice screaming in Carolyn’s head that everything wasn’t okay?

“Mommy’s home,” she called as she entered through the kitchen door, throwing her purse on the counter next to Bryce’s phone. “Did you miss me?”

No response.

Post a link to your six sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Six Sentence Sunday website.  

StoryADay update No. 2 #storyaday

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As I’ve mentioned, I’m doing the May StoryADay Challenge.  Well, at least in theory.

Because, to be honest, I’m not doing so hot.

  • Day 1:  Wrote a 500 word flash story for a Flash 500 minicontest.  Yay me!
  • Day 2:  Wrote a 1500 word short story about a demon in Indiana.  Double yay me!
  • Day 3:  Was at a loss for what to write, but fortunately Cleverbot came to the rescue.  Wrote about 500 words of that story, and outlined the rest of it.  Creatively it’s titled “A Succubus and the Man Who Loves Her.”  Kinda yay me.
  • Day 4:  I had every intention of writing, but putting out fires at school left me pretty drained (So, funny story. I was driving to school and saw two kids walking down the middle of one of the main roads in town. “Please don’t be my students, please don’t be my students….Crap.” Later I found one of them and asked her, “Why were you walking down the middle of the street?” Her response: “My friend wanted to see if anyone would actually hit us.” Sigh.), and then I had to finish the monkey finger puppets I was making my little cousin for her birthday on Saturday.  No writing, no yay me.
  • Day 5:  Rush to finish the monkeys, then my kid’s swim lessons, then birthday party #1 for my cousin, then birthday party #2 for my grandma, then get the kid to bed and pass out on the couch.  Oops.
  • Day 6:  Had every intention of finishing a short I’ve been working on, “Bradley and the Midget,” but I started reading JD Field’s Rock Anthem and finished that instead.
  • Day 7:  Writing a story about those monkey puppets.  Kinda. I’m still working on it as I’m posting this blog, so I’m not sure how much I’ll end up with. 

So at the end of week 1, I have a completed flash story, a completed short story, an outlined story, and a chunk of something else.  It’s actually better than I thought it would be.

But hey, it’s a new week.  I can still pull this off. Probably.

If you’re doing the StoryADay challenge, how’s it going?

    Six Sentence Sunday 5/6 #sixsunday

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    I’ve been so busy this week, I completely forgot about Six Sentence Sunday.  Better late than never though, right?

    This week’s six are from “Innocence,” a StoryADay Challenge companion to my flash piece “The Kindness of Strangers,” which was published last year in The Indiana Horror Anthology 2011.  While passing through a small town, Alec stops at a bar and tries to find the most desperate woman he can.

    “I try to fit in, but no one understands me. No one but you.”

    As her self-esteem plummeted before him, Alec’s heart rate increased with anticipation he hadn’t felt all night. He softened his expression, his voice. “Of course I understand you, Brianna. Why don’t I take you home and you tell me all about how misunderstood you are?” 

    Post a link to your six sentences blog entry, or join the fun at the Six Sentence Sunday website. 

    StoryADay update No. 1 #storyaday

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    As I said in a previous post, I’m participating in the May StoryADay Challenge.  Because I’m a crazy masochist like that.

    But I won’t be posting the stories here, like I did with posts in the A to Z April challenge.  First, most publications consider a story that appears on a blog to be published, so I’m not going to share for that reason.  And second, I’m lazy and busy.  Writing a post a day took a lot of time, and with the end of the school year in just a couple months, I don’t have the time to post every day, especially if I’m writing the story too.

    So instead, every five days or so I’ll give you an update.  Hopefully the pressure of writing them here, as well as the internet scorn and ridicule if I don’t make it, will keep me on track.

    So, Day 1:

    So far, I’m one for one.  I wrote a 400-word flash story called “Adolescence” (which also works for the Flash 500 prompt, which is to write a story without using any form of to be).

    Are you participating in this challenge?

    X is for eXtreme Writing #atozchallenge

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    Day 24 of the Blogging from A to Z April challenge. Today’s topic: extreme writing.

    My colleagues and I (and yeah, that includes you, Scott-who-thinks-I-made-up-being-a-writer) have been talking the past week about saying no when we’re overwhelmed and asked to take on a new project. I’m pretty good about voicing my opinion on this subject (too good, maybe; I’ve been told I can no longer send group emails), as well as pretty good at holding to my convictions.

    And as I’ve posted several times this month, I’m kinda overwhelmed with projects at the moment, both in regards to writing and to the rest of my life.

    But then I heard about the May StoryADay Challenge.

    It’s a form of what’s called “Extreme Writing,” which emphasizes quantity over quality.  It’s about pushing yourself to do something, to get off your butt and, well, sit on your butt and write.  Kinda like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, in November), but for short stories.

    And I, of course, signed up.

    So starting May 1st, I’ll be writing a story a day.  Many will be flash pieces, probably between 500-1000 words.  Most will probably suck.  All will be rough drafts, to sit patiently in the cloud and wait to be edited or deleted.

    I won’t be posting the stories here, because that counts as publishing them and I’d rather publish them for real, but I’ll give weekly updates as to my progress.

    For the writers out there, wanna join the insanity and write a story a day too?  For the nonwriters, any suggestions for story prompts?

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