I wrote another short story. I should have been working on my novel, I know, but with all the activity in my life, my brain didn't want to wrap around the width and breadth of a novel. A short story, however, seemed within my grasp. So I heeded the call of another Echelon Press short story contest: Fast and Foreign.
It won't be a surprise to most of you that I wrote about Mexico, as it has been on my mind much these days. (I'm trying to determine a time in the remodel schedule when I can go visit my mother.) The fun part about writing this story was that my character, Rachel, was a woman who looked good in a bikini. On the eve of her vacation, she finds out her lover has more than one identity.
The whole story was fun to write, actually, and not just because of my characters. I wrote with friends. Elysabeth, Batya, Chai, and a new edition to the word-war club: my daughter, Hannah. Funny thing, it is, to be in the midst of a scene and to have your nine-year-old ask you a way to turn a phrase. My son is also a writer, and quite talented if I do say so myself, but he didn't feel the need to write a Fast and Foreign contest story. He's been working on a fantasy novel for the last year.
In the eleventh hour, my daughter had one of those contest moments that we writers all have. She decided the only way to fix her story was to completely rewrite it. She came up with a different plot for her beloved characters. She learned a valuable lesson in that she didn't get her story done in time to submit, but she did write a great story, and I'm proud of her.
Writing with friends is a singular experience. We logged on to conference chats, brainstormed, swapped stories, gave each other feedback, and generally encouraged and motivated one another. Elysabeth's character, Marie, faced a ghost from a past life at a chateau in France. Batya's character, Sarah, unearthed more than archaeological relics in Israel. Chai's character, Aleida, was caught in a flood in Holland. And Hannah's characters, Adamo and Allgeria, got lost on their vacation in Italy.
They are all entertaining stories and I hope to see them all in print.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Wow - great write up - I love how you just bring us all together in the few words you used. Of course, I don't recommend writing like this every time, not last minute because you forgot to mention how we were doing last minute revisions and edits to make sure our stories were as near perfect as we could get them and that some of us tied others up on the computer for hours, just working on the story revisions (I really do feel bad about that in that I woke you up and we both spent the better part of the day reading, editing, making sure, changing, questioning, moving and changing again - but hopefully it will be worth it.
Here it is 6:30 something PM eastern time and no announcement yet. Karen must be really bombarded with more important things than announcing the contest winner since her trip to Chicago this weekend. Well hopefully tomorrow first thing we will know and we do still have a few hours in the day left.
I think all the stories are worthy of publication and hopefully they will all see the light of day in that aspect.
Now from the timestamp on your posting, I see you stayed up roughly a couple of hours after I said goodnight to you and left you and Hannah. Shame, shame.
Guess because you spent more than half a day literally (more than 12 hours online which is a record for you to be on) is why you haven't been here today. If you don't show up this evening, I'll understand but if you win the contest, I'll still call you - lol - just because you won't know otherwise. - E :)
Post a Comment