‘Why? Whyyyyyyyy?’ I flung my hands up to the sky as I realised that, as usual, I had bitten off more than I could chew.
Let us consider the evidence. I had already decided that it would be a great idea to commit to writing an average of 600 words a day on the hot potato during November. That would make 18000 words in 30 days.
That’s OK, I thought. It’s a first draft, it doesn’t have to be perfect.
600 words a day doesn’t sound like much, and normally it isn’t. However, when you’ve committed to write every day, and suddenly you have all sorts of things in the diary, writing seems to get into every nook and cranny of your day. I sit outside the kids’ Taekwondo class and write, a process punctuated by the flap of the swing doors leading to the swimming pool. I get up early on weekends to cram more words in. I wrote half a flash story on the tram last week. And of course, various stories I’d submitted and almost forgotten are now coming back with proofing requests. Which is great, but yet another thing to fit in.
So this week I have been doing a flash fiction challenge as well. It’s the Ether Flash Fortnight challenge: a story a day for a week, then a week of promotion. I’m still not quite sure why I thought that this was a good idea, or possible. But I’m enjoying it. I’m taking the opportunity to revisit some of the flash stories I’ve entered for comps like Flash! Friday, and give them a bit of a wash and brush-up.
Who needs sleep?
The featured image, The Only Spot With Internet, is by David Joyce, and is shared under the terms of Creative Commons license 2.0
Liz Hedgecock 