Last full day in Dixon with Gary. The sleet is beginning, though three hours later than we expected it. The plan is to stay here in the farmhouse eating ourselves sick on rocky road ice cream.
Tomorrow morning, I'll leave, driving a mile and a half down Plock Road to get to the interstate, which should be cleared. By 5:00 p.m. I should be in Sikeston, Missouri.
So, as I sit here waiting, I thought I would write about my process of writing a short story for Black Coffee Fiction.
The first thing you have to know is that almost all of my stories evolve out my experiences to create entirely new stories. I've had a lifetime of experiences.
This past week, I was too busy getting ready for the trip to sit down and write, yet I had to have a story ready by 4:00 p.m.on Friday. I had a story outlined and in my mind, but it takes place on Mother's Day. I thought I would rather save it for May, but at the moment I had nothing more. As I drove to Dixon on Thursday, I worked on the details of that story, firming it up in my mind. I would write it on Friday morning.
I woke up around 5:00 a.m. here in the farmhouse, and let my mind wander. I thought about our partner at Black Coffee Fiction, Betty, who lies in Colorado. My mind wandered as I thought about the places I've visited in Colorado and settled my mind on an old cemetery east of Boulder. It was really old, with tombs dating back to the 1800's. There were prairie dogs all over the place, burrowing through the graves.
Then my mind went to the time Gary and I planted my mother's old cat next to her grave.
And then I thought about Gary's Aunt Shirley pushing a walker and wanting to die. I thought about other patients in the nursing home with their oxygen packs, gasping for breath.
A new story began to form in my mind. I got out of bed, went to my laptop computer and began to type. In an hour I had the story I posted that afternoon. I sent it out with very few edits.
One reason I go out on tours is to save up more memories. They are all there, in the back of my mind, to seep out as new stories.
http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com
Tomorrow morning, I'll leave, driving a mile and a half down Plock Road to get to the interstate, which should be cleared. By 5:00 p.m. I should be in Sikeston, Missouri.
So, as I sit here waiting, I thought I would write about my process of writing a short story for Black Coffee Fiction.
The first thing you have to know is that almost all of my stories evolve out my experiences to create entirely new stories. I've had a lifetime of experiences.
This past week, I was too busy getting ready for the trip to sit down and write, yet I had to have a story ready by 4:00 p.m.on Friday. I had a story outlined and in my mind, but it takes place on Mother's Day. I thought I would rather save it for May, but at the moment I had nothing more. As I drove to Dixon on Thursday, I worked on the details of that story, firming it up in my mind. I would write it on Friday morning.
I woke up around 5:00 a.m. here in the farmhouse, and let my mind wander. I thought about our partner at Black Coffee Fiction, Betty, who lies in Colorado. My mind wandered as I thought about the places I've visited in Colorado and settled my mind on an old cemetery east of Boulder. It was really old, with tombs dating back to the 1800's. There were prairie dogs all over the place, burrowing through the graves.
Then my mind went to the time Gary and I planted my mother's old cat next to her grave.
And then I thought about Gary's Aunt Shirley pushing a walker and wanting to die. I thought about other patients in the nursing home with their oxygen packs, gasping for breath.
A new story began to form in my mind. I got out of bed, went to my laptop computer and began to type. In an hour I had the story I posted that afternoon. I sent it out with very few edits.
One reason I go out on tours is to save up more memories. They are all there, in the back of my mind, to seep out as new stories.
http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com
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