Three years ago, I launched ‘Just Write, Right’.
Putting a renewed emphasis on my creative practice - outside our broader Encouragement - acknowledged a. Writing brings me joy and 2. I had a history of hiding my words out of sight thereby diminishing their importance to me.
The intention set out in my ‘About’ page holds true.
This is a live experiment; it is a challenge to me to write stories - to create fiction every day, whether it is ideas in a notebook or words on a page. It is a deliberate provocation to the writer inside me to nudge him out into the open. This publication seeks to force the tales out of my pen; in time, the process may flow. Until then, this is accountability - mainly to me, but perhaps you’ll keep this fiction writer honest.
I have tried to learn, to improve, and to become more confident as a writer. It is hard to judge progress. Some folk have offered kind encouragement and warm words about particular stories that have engaged them … as an encourager by nature, this support has propelled me. The fiction community here is particularly collegiate, especially supportive. I guess we all know how it feels. We understand what it takes to wrest a story from within us and, even more, we understand how hard it is to summon the confidence to press [publish]. Inner voices nearly always speak louder than quiet murmurs of support … we question ourselves, and the value our stories offer, way more than any gatekeeper. Writing is tricksy.
“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
―Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades
I decided to mark this 3-year anniversary by writing daily for 30 days.
Perhaps it is a sub-conscious attempt to recapture the energy of the early days when prompts by Miguel S. | The Fiction Dealer, Justin Deming and Erica Drayton pushed me into producing a lot of 100-word stories. In a sense, this felt like I was flexing my writing muscle, limbering up for something more substantial. But some of the work was good. The tightly-honed ‘Dear Diary’ still feels like one of my sharpest pieces.
If you love flash fiction with a limited word count, check the back catalogue - I know I will write more in this month of celebration. Until then …
Like many writers, finding the ideas is as hard as finding words.
Early on - inspired by an article about Edward Hopper and his wife Josephine (thank you Jillian Hess) - I stumbled on a thought … when we look at paintings, moments are frozen in time; but what is going on just out of view, what is the story in the moments before or after the scene that’s been captured. Art-Inspired Fiction has brought me a great deal of writing pleasure, few more so than the place it all started; ‘Nighthawks’, is a short story that brings Hopper’s well-known artwork to life through the characters he painted into being.
Recently, as the pace of my output slowed, the quality - as I judge it, I suppose - is higher. The stories feel substantial. I spend more time on each one, editing more assiduously, even offering one to a skilled writer as I prepared it for submission (a thousand thanks Matt Inwood, I learned so much from your generous work: ‘Little Butterfly’ may not have flown for the judges, but it feels like my very best work).
I am still terrified of exposing my storytelling to judgement. I try to overcome this by submitting pieces to competitions.
However … and this is for the writers peeking in … we must ensure we don’t allow the foghorn of rejection to drown out the sound of the waves on the shore. Judges do not define who and what we are as writers. I feel more confident saying this out loud than I was three years ago when I started.
“The stories? Thanks so much for asking … I still love them. Not seeing them on someone else’s list isn’t going to change that. They will still make it into my collection of short stories when I publish it.”
Three years ago when I started this encouragement to myself, there is no way I would have attempted my latest piece. Who am I to write a story in the style of renowned author Paul Auster … well, I am a writer and my story matters as much as anyone else’s, I guess. Three years ago, that sort of courage was what I was looking for. Perhaps I have found it.
Good luck with your self challenge Barrie… I would do much to have the time to even think about such a luxury right now, two short posts a month is already a big (make that a very big) win! Summer holidays next though… and they will arrive in a hurry!
That's quite the challenge Barrie - I hope it gives you much pleasure (plus a little difficulty!) And congratulations on the three years