October 14th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! Sorry there was no post yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well. I don’t know about you, but allergies this year seem a whole lot stronger than usual. My sinuses are working overtime, and the headache from them is making my eyes cross.

A friend of mine has offered me a unique opportunity. A publisher friend of his is putting together a compilation of short stories and such for Halloween, and he asked me to be one of the ten authors. The submission needs to be between 4,500 – 7,000 words.

I have said time and again, I cannot write a short story. I’m all about the building of the characters and the details, so this is going to be a real challenge for me. I have no idea what I’m going to write. I could go ghost, or witch, or séance, or Jersey Devil for that matter. I could even do a cute love story where the characters meet at a Halloween party. I just don’t know.

What I really should be doing is finishing Faerie Tale Queen, but I guess with being so busy lately, compounded with not feeling well, I just can’t get back into the story. This happened to me before with my other stories. Then, as if someone flipped a switch, it all came back, and I finished the novel in a flurry of writing.

I think I have decided to forego NaNoWriMo this time around, but I’m not sure. I may just submit another combination of my daily blog posts with what I write on my novel. I am going to concentrate on finishing Simply by Chance, but because it is a historical, it’s not really NaNo material. Since there is such extensive research which needs to be done while I’m writing, the writing goes at a much slower pace, making 50K words unobtainable.

I have come to the realization that nothing of significance occurred in the region in early 1806, so instead of wasting more time hunting, what I might do is plant a seed for an event which occurs a few years down the road, and then just wing it. I abhor doing that, but what are my options?

The next scene I have to write is where one of my characters dies, and I have not decided if it is going to be the actual death or just his co-workers finding his body. I’m sure, after I go back and read everything I have written up to this point, the scene will become clear.

Okay, I am off to try my hand at writing something scary. Wish me luck…I’m going to need it.

I hope you have a fantastic day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge:

Another Fairy Tale Twist: When Prince Eric’s ship sank, instead of saving Eric, Ariel turned Eric into a merman ...

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.