Director Mike Nichols once said that if he has a good idea, he quits for the day because he won't get another. I've found that that is true for me, too.
All this week, I knew it was my turn to write a short story for Black Coffee Fiction http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com but the week was so delightfully warm I wanted to be outside. We gardened, we birded, we canoed. I procrastinated, only making a few notes about my story and making an outline. I did have a second short story I could use in a pinch, but I want to save that for this summer when writing anything will be more difficult.
This morning, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and wended my way down the stairs. I fed the cat. I ate breakfast. I read the news. Then I set to work. It helped that it was raining so there was nothing going on outside to distract me, not even birds at the feeder.
On Monday, I mentioned to Wade that though we have been writing our short stories since September, neither of us had written a love story. I asked him, "When did you know you loved your wife?" That led me to my love story.
I thought about Gary and remembered so many events of our own romance. I put bits and pieces of those memories together to write "Phenology: A Love Story". I wrote the story in two hours, finishing about 8:30 a.m. I put it aside, re-wrote it once and sent it off to the critique group for comments.
Gary and I went to the fitness center, then I took a nap to let the story simmer in my mind. When I woke up I had Wade's comments and corrections and did the final re-write of the piece which I posted just before 4:00 p.m. As you read the story, you can hear echoes of how Gary and I became a couple and how I learned to become an environmentalist as he educated me.
Once my story was posted, I did nothing but read and watch television. I had my big idea and nothing else has been going on, brain-wise.
I plan on writing several more love stories, so tomorrow, I start again.
All this week, I knew it was my turn to write a short story for Black Coffee Fiction http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com but the week was so delightfully warm I wanted to be outside. We gardened, we birded, we canoed. I procrastinated, only making a few notes about my story and making an outline. I did have a second short story I could use in a pinch, but I want to save that for this summer when writing anything will be more difficult.
This morning, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and wended my way down the stairs. I fed the cat. I ate breakfast. I read the news. Then I set to work. It helped that it was raining so there was nothing going on outside to distract me, not even birds at the feeder.
On Monday, I mentioned to Wade that though we have been writing our short stories since September, neither of us had written a love story. I asked him, "When did you know you loved your wife?" That led me to my love story.
I thought about Gary and remembered so many events of our own romance. I put bits and pieces of those memories together to write "Phenology: A Love Story". I wrote the story in two hours, finishing about 8:30 a.m. I put it aside, re-wrote it once and sent it off to the critique group for comments.
Gary and I went to the fitness center, then I took a nap to let the story simmer in my mind. When I woke up I had Wade's comments and corrections and did the final re-write of the piece which I posted just before 4:00 p.m. As you read the story, you can hear echoes of how Gary and I became a couple and how I learned to become an environmentalist as he educated me.
Once my story was posted, I did nothing but read and watch television. I had my big idea and nothing else has been going on, brain-wise.
I plan on writing several more love stories, so tomorrow, I start again.
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