I reread some of what I wrote yesterday, and though it would undergo some heavy editing if there were reason for it, for stuff written off the cuff there are some bits and pieces of value in the exercise. (Sorry for the propensity towards rhyming poetry which a good night’s sleep has done nothing to resolve.)
The most obvious idea to come out of the exercise (aside from the natural inclination to remain in rhyme mode once knee-deep in it) was that I forced myself to come up with eight different story lines, eight totally unrelated narratives to cover the topics in a complete story arc with conflicts and resolution within each.
And…in under five hundred words or less (in most cases, under 200). That’s something new for me, although I suppose each entry here at Spinning is in reality a short to short-short story in itself.
There are many writing websites that give you one theme a day to write about. I simply don’t do well under pressure unless it’s self-imposed, and with nobody standing over me with a whip, I won’t do it unless I want to do it. Yet I wrote over 2,500 words yesterday, and more importantly, came up with some degree of inspiration to make each story unique.
Though it sounds like I’m blowing my own horn here, what really amazed me was the channeling of the creative energy and the ability to stop and switch focus to each plot at hand.
Maybe I’d have the discipline to go pro some day after all!
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
That sounds like fun. I think I’ll give the exercise a whirl over Christmas break.
Who said tooting your own horn wasn’t worth the thrill of hearing the sound reverberating in the silence? Who better to recognize your accomplishments than the one person who is usually so harsh with their opinion? Bravo!