Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Possibility of Epic Failure

I signed up for Write1Sub1 with a lot of optimism and commitment. I thought it would be no big deal, very doable, just one story a month. I put the words, "Short Story," on my calendar every day for the last full week of the month. Now that the last week of the month is approaching, excuses have begun to fill my mind. 
They sound something like this:
I don't have time.  I just want to work on my novel.  I can't do it.  I won't find a publisher.  My stories suck.  Blah blah...blah blah blah....

The bottom line is I don't have a story I'm confident enough to submit or self-publish, and I definitely don't have twelve. I have doubts I can write and polish a new story or just fix up an old one before the end of the month. I don't want my first story to suck. I don't want to publish anything before it's ready. That would definitely scare away my Muse, who is very sensitive about these things.

But last night when I least expected it, I found the ending to a story I started earlier this month - the marionette one. The ending is cute and horribly sad, wonderful and tragic, light and dark, funny and serious. Perfect, right? 

So I'm going to do it. I'm going to finish it this weekend, polish it next week, and throw it onto Smashwords as a free read on the 31st.  (Maybe, probably, possibly...assuming it's done.)

9 comments:

  1. I wouldn't stress too much at not achieving an arbitrary goal. I'd rather write 1 really good story than 12 I threw together as part of some blogfest thing.

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  2. I'm teetering on that same precipice. Hang in there. It's too early to get freaked out about stuff.

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  3. Alex - I can do it!

    Grumpy - I was hoping for twelve good ones, but will definitely settle for one. You're right, it's just a blogfest.

    Rusty - Good luck with yours. I need a little pressure to get things done.

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  4. Yeah, definitely get that story polished up. Even one fully developed story is a win!

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  5. Great! I really hope all goes according to plan for you. Enjoy!

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  6. Oh - the marionette is back !!!! Good for you! I have to confess, these things don't often work for me for the reason you expressed - I feel forced to have an idea, and if I'm not really that excited about the idea ... well,nothing comes. it has to come from inside you. So the marionette is inside you, waiting to come out - I feel scared now!

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  7. LG - I'm going to work on it tomorrow morning - maybe tonight - over an over-priced cup of coffee at the corner coffee shop.

    Murees - Thank you. :)

    Melissa - Initially I was leaning toward something Poe-like where someone was going to get buried alive possibly with a creepy marionette, but it's a totally different story now.

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  8. You've got a plan so that's good!

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