Wednesday, May 21, 2014

On Doing @StoryADayMay

May is Short Story Month, and this is the second year I've participated in Story A Day May.

Last year, I grabbed a prompt from a different place every morning: on-line prompt generators, random lines from books, prompt words from one of the writers' groups I belong to.

This year, I wandered around the house, taking pictures of stuff, then randomly numbered them from 1-31, and I've been taking them in order.

Of the two methods, the photographs are the more difficult. I think it's because I know what the objects are, where they are, where they came from. It's difficult to untether them from actuality and let my imagination play.

The Story A Day website has a prompt every day, and I may very well shoot my hard-headed independence in the butt next year and immerse myself in the community. I think I've proved to myself that I can do it on my own, so I'll feel free to work in company.

It's always fun to write, always exciting to belt something out without planning it to death first, but it's been a bit of a chore this year, possibly because of that extra effort it's taken to see the familiar as something else.

Have you ever participated in an "extreme writing challenge" or done guided freewriting? How did that work for you, if you've done either or both?

Marian Allen, Author Lady
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes

3 comments:

Debra Purdy Kong said...

What a great idea, Marian. Let us know how it goes when you're finished. I've never done it. Never had the courage, but I admire people who take on these challenges. Best of luck!

Marian Allen said...

So far, so good, Debra. It's May 28 and I've made it so far. Got my fingers crossed!

Pat Bertram said...

It's amazing that anyone can come up with that many ideas. Thirty-one in one month? Yikes.