New Contest

Confession: I had an amazing headache this morning. All better now, though. Well, mostly better.

Reading:

• "Toga Party" by John Barth
  

Writing:

• Untitled Dark Fantasy Project
• "Hattie Donnelly's Favorite Doll"
  

Revising:

• "Cora and the Sea"

Future Projects:

• Dairhenien's Library - Development
  
• Floorcraft - First rewrite of 1-5, first draft of 6-8
• Ferian Fetlock - Next chapter, "Ferian Fetlock Catches a Cold," followed by "Ferian Fetlock Takes a Wife."
  
• July 26th 24-hour Short Story
• "Motley" - Expansion
• "Fireworks and Earthworks" - 5% into first draft
  
• Untitled School Mistress Story

Unpublished Stories/Status

• "The Revenant" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "The Frost Fugling" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "Leaves and Sunsets" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "Motley" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "Black Pudding" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "A Happy Ending" - 1st Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "Illuminated" - 3rd Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "Pictures of the Old Port" - 5th Draft, Unsubmitted
  
• "What Price Stamps" - 3rd Draft, Unsubmitted
• "Ferian Fetlock Cures a Horse" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted
• "A Cup of Coffee" / "Morning Tea" - 2nd Draft, Unsubmitted

Check out the topic for this season's 24 Hour Short Story Contest:

The bells on the door were still echoing as she stepped further into the old toy store. The owner winked at her and turned back to his black and white television set. She reached under the rack on the back wall and pulled it out. It was just where she'd left it last week. She approached the counter and put the item down.

He turned to her, grabbed the item with surprise, and said, "This is NOT for sale..."

It's a great topic, but I've had a harder time than usual in turning it into a story. I think the main reason is because the word limit this time is 900 words, which is about one scene's worth of writing. It's hard to tell an entire story in one scene, especially when all these other ideas kept intruding into my thought processes. I could have more easily written a 5,000 word story on this topic, within the time limit, than a 900 word one.

Still, I'm nearly done... it stands at 728 words right now, and I'm about to get to the climax. A little judicious editing and I'll send it in. (Not bad for three hours of work... I got the topic at 1pm, but I didn't actually sit down to write until 3pm, and since then I've also been to the grocery and eaten dinner.)

Okay, it's pretty much done. I'll step away from it and come back later on for a final check, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Publication Status:

• Submitted: 2
• Accepted: 1
• Rejected: 1
• Pending: 0