Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Easter season

Easter promises of warmth and flowers are slow to appear this year.  A day of sun here, followed by a day or two (or more) of rain and chilly breezes.  A real downpour yesterday. 
I had hoped that by starting my blog again, I might be prompted to do more writing.  The blog got stalled by its heavy message, but I have been trying to write.
I can't get my head into my novel yet, so I've been trying to write a short middle-grade mystery for the Children's Writer competition.  I need to submit a 900 word story by April 30th.  I've been toying with an idea for the story for a couple of weeks, and this morning I actually wrote the story.  Well, A story.  It needs lots of work before it can be submitted.  But I remembered that when I wrote my nanowrimo story, I followed a pattern someone suggested, and it worked today as it did then.  It's simple:  write 20 minutes, take a 10 minute break, write 20 minutes again, take another 10 minute break, and so on until you've written the number of words or the length of time you planned.  I planned to write from 9am until noon, but got interrupted about 11am.  That's okay, because my 900-word story was already at 920 words, and I was busy trimming it down.  Now, whether the story line stays the same throughout other rewrites (assuming I follow the same regime tomorrow), that's the big question. 
At least I'm writing again.  Ken prefers that I don't fuss over him, so this keeps me out of his hair, and within calling distance.

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