Hey, Ma, I Wrote Somethin’!
Maybe writing a novel right off the bat is an overly drastic goal. Maybe I’m trying to bite off more than I can chew. So I decided to practice chewing something smaller.
Writer’s Digest magazine runs an annual short-short-story contest, with a 1,500-word limit. Such a small quantity – I figured that would let me focus more on quality.
An idea suggested itself from my daily life. I’m such a creature of routine: park the car a certain way, hang up keys & put away cell phone in a certain way, etc. For the story, I strung some of those routines around a central plotline featuring a guy who’s just been the driver in a hit-and-run (that part is not from my actual life). As night falls, he wrestles with what he should do.
I cranked out about 1,300 words, ran an edit pass, let it sit for a couple days, then tinkered with it some more. What author is ever satisfied? In this case, I’m not; the story has some nice attributes, but it ain’t Great Literature.
Given the chance, I might have played with the prose endlessly, but that wasn’t feasible. Deadlines were approaching. So, after a few final word switches, I pasted the file into a form on the WD website, typed in my credit card info for the $20 entry fee, and clicked the submission button.
Winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day. The top ten writers get cash and – more important – their names and story titles published. Considering how many entries they’ve probably received from dedicated writers, I have little hope of receiving a prize.
Still, this was one of those experiences where the process – actually writing a fully realized piece! – is more valuable than the outcome. I’ve already gotten my “prize”: the knowledge that I can sit down and put words together. Time to employ that ability in a more ambitious way!