here to discuss her writing journey. Her winning piece is titled
Congratulations, Deborah!
Have I become a
writer?
I definitely did
not always aspire to be or think of myself as a writer. I have spent most of my
life being other things.
Going through a
recent life transition, I started to read what others were writing about. I
felt like I was crossing over into unknown territory and needed some guides.
One of the websites I found was open to submissions to post on their site. I
submitted a post and was published. Another well
known writer accepted a guest post from me.
Jeune femme lisant dans un jardin by Henri Lebasque via Wikimedia
This was very
exciting.
Would this be the
new direction?
I started my own
blog. Visions of being an overnight success swirled through my head. You would
think it would be nothing but up from then on. It has taken longer than I
expected. I do have a following but haven't gone viral yet. :D I decided
to blog about what interests me and feel strongly about. Gathering a blog
following is very time consuming and takes away from other interests. I need a
lot of open space to reflect and down time to write.
I discovered I
could write Flash Fiction and was
encouraged when some of the pieces were well received by other writers. It was
a challenge to write a story in 100 words or so. I learned that it is possible
and it has shown me how you can trim your writing down to the bone. Some of my
stories are completely imaginary while
others have some basis in issues I care about.
This image provided by
Connie Gayer was the prompt. My story was
inspired by a piece in the LA Times about the mudslides after the rain:
Copyright Connie Gayer
Disturb At Your Own Risk
The wild fires had
prepared the site, El Nino rains brought the mudslides, and the hillsides
gave up some of their secrets. Two skulls and a femur were found by some
mountain hikers. The police said they would open their missing persons' files.
The call came in to the Sheriff’s Station on a quiet Sunday
morning.
Another hiker had spotted something. The deputy dispatched
to the scene called it in, I think this is a job for Animal Control. Yeah,
it looks like a tentacle. Wait a minute, it’s moving! The dispatcher
heard a muffled scream and then nothing.
***
I feel that now I am moving into another phase
of my development as a writer and wanting to progress into longer pieces. I
need more of a challenge than writing short Flash Fiction and blogging. Who
knows if this will lead to anything, but
I would like to find out.
I want to be brave, and I want to enjoy writing. I have come
to realize that you can write about anything, even small everyday things. The
secret for me is that the topic has to inspire me.
***
Thank you, Deborah, loved the post.
What about you, readers and writers,
does the topic have to inspire you?
***
We'd love if you'd Tweet one/all of these:
Please click the social media buttons to share this
post!
And don't forget AUGUST is
the
REUNIONS CHALLENGE
To help you with some ideas:
Families separated by a multitude
of reasons-- ill feelings, separation at birth, kidnapping -- many reasons
for such, or a holiday reunion lends itself to a fantasy reunion that can be
heartbreaking for its reality.
Happy Writing!
