Wednesday Excerpts #1
Background. My fiction-writing journey began when I stumbled upon the Deadlines for Writers website sometime during my second year of retirement, in 2017. Back then, it was called “12 Short Stories in 12 Months,” and hosted exactly that - monthly prompt-based short story challenges, with a firm deadline and an exact word count required (different each month, 300-2500 words). Since then it has grown to include other monthly, weekly and 30-day challenges. See previous Writing Badges post for the ones I’ve completed so far. As of today (May 22, 2024), my profile on the site claims I’ve submitted 179 posts. They are all first or early drafts, posted on a private site not for publication but for workshopping with other writers. Participants comment kindly and constructively on one another’s work. It was through the 52 Scenes and Rewrite challenges that I created the first and second drafts of Retire to An Island, They Said and about half of a first draft of a second book in what I am calling the Lighthouse Island series.
I’ve also posted many of the challenge pieces in a private Facebook group I created, for friends only, for short-story sharing. I thought other friends of mine who liked to write would also share there, but none did. I am keeping that site private, as I hope to start submitting short pieces either for potential publication or as contest entries, and a common requirement is that only unpublished work be submitted. Some rules specify posting on a personal website counts as publication if the website is public.
Presently I am participating in 4 challenges.
12 Short Stories in 12 Months - After last completing the challenge in 2020, I started a new attempt in January 2024. I missed April, so my count restarted at “1” this month.
12 Poems in 12 Months - Each month we receive either a word prompt or an assigned poetry format. I started in January 2024 and have not yet missed a month. I’ve never had any formal instruction in either reading or writing poetry. In my teens and twenties I used to write rhyming verses with matching syllable counts and call them poems, but I doubt they were any good. Unless assigned a specific format, my recent poems are all “free verse” or “prose poems.” Definitely not masterpieces, but fun to try.
52 Scenes in 52 Weeks - Typically, this entails a new 1300-to-1600-word scene per week, with the goal of writing a whole novel in one year. A new “write what you please” option was added for 2024, allowing participants to submit either flash fiction (up to 1000 words) or poetry each week. I am most often writing mini-scenes to plug holes in my two novels-in-progress, and submitting them (with the admin’s permission) under the guise of flash fiction. I chose this option as I did not feel ready to commit to a new whole scene every week. I’ve also occasionally submitted a poem.
30 Days of Flash Fiction - Running May 1-May 30, 2024, this entails a prompt and different word count every day. Some of mine end with “to be continued” because (as encouraged by the site admin) I am also using this to plug holes or jump start existing WIP (“work-in-progress”).
Wednesday is deadline day for all of the challenges. I had three pieces due today, which amounted to 1,985 words. I wrote about 1,000 words last night between about 8:00 and midnight, and the rest this morning between about 9 am and 1 pm. Definitely all “first draft” stuff!
Here are today’s excerpts:
Freedom’s Herald (1500-word short story, prompt: “Tides”)
OPENING PARAGRAPH: On her tippy-toes, Belle hunched over the sink in her kitchen so small you couldn’t open the refrigerator and the microwave at the same time. She applied all 98 of her pounds to the heels of her hands, pushing into the threadbare sponge, trying one last time to clean the black scruff marks off the once-white porcelain sink. Why she bothered considering the overall dinginess of the rest of the cramped room plumb evaded her. Especially tonight. Because after tonight – if the plan worked – it wouldn’t be her problem.
FINAL PARAGRAPH: All her life she’d heard islanders say how calming it was to drive home across the bridge and causeway, away from the mainland. How their blood pressure eased and their shoulders relaxed. But today, for Belle, the quickening of her pulse as she drove in the opposite direction was freedom’s sweet herald.
Belle’s Decision (300-word flash fiction, prompt: “33” - follows the above short story)
OPENING: Thirty-three hours. That’s how much time passed between Belle’s leaving and the phone call. She’d leveraged the 4:00 am King Tide to seal her escape from life with Gus, a life of servitude and violence. Safe in Cousin Sarah’s home, she filled the kitchen sink with soapy water to wash lunch dishes.
Sarah had left the room to check her kids. Now, she returned holding her phone in an outstretched hand.
A Matter of Perspective (185-word write-what-you-please entry, prompt: “near”, mini-scene for 2nd Lighthouse Island book)
Red pulled into a parking lot and checked the address she’d been given. Yes, this was the right neighborhood. Upscale, suburban. This convenience mart even had healthy landscaping; the damn bathrooms were probably clean.
Both her newly discovered five-year-old quasi-niece, Audrey, and the labradoodle, Sally, had fallen asleep in the back seat. The two of them were already best friends.
Damn, it hadn’t been on her radar to be this kid’s taxi service from Kansas to Colorado, but she’d enjoyed the company. At least she’d still have Sally for the rest of the trip. It was supposed to be a foster situation, but Red couldn’t imagine life without her. Of course, a lot had already happened she couldn’t imagine.
“Why are we stopped here?” Audrey shifted in her seat, rubbing the slumber out of her eyes.
Red smiled over her shoulder. “Do you want anything to eat or drink? Do you need to use the bathroom?”
“Are we near my Daddy’s house?”
“Yeah,” said Red. “I think we’re only a few minutes away.”
“I can wait,” Audrey said with a grimace. “This place looks gross.”