Monthly Archives: February 2011

Obsession

 

There are some people who say that the way I feel is an illness. I’m not one of them. What drives me is really the purest form of love. It is a love so powerful that it consumes my every moment. If everyone wants to be loved, why wouldn’t someone want to be loved so completely? My therapist is one of the people who think what I have is an illness. I know she does. I peeked at her notes once when she left the room, and her thoughts about me could not have been further from the truth. But, she’s a professional, so I guess she would know better than I, even if I think she’s wrong. Some day she’ll understand my point of view and change her notes to say “genius” or “enlightened”, but I’m sure that’s a ways off. She can be very stubborn. My latest love has been a woman at work. Her name was Jill Sanders. Most people would say Jill is pretty. Not in an obnoxious, supermodel sort of way, but more like a statue that was made with purposeful flaws to make her more human and accessible. I guess I thought of her in the same way, but I could tell there was something even more special about her. Continue reading


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Filed under Short Fiction, Writing

Announcing the March Writer's Challenge!

  Welcome to the first My Writer's Cramp Writing Challenge!

  Since I've started this blog I've met some great people and some great writers and I thought it might be fun to do a little writing challenge to share the works of my friends, introduce all of us to some new people and give us all a little something more to read (like we don't all have more than enough right?). The challenge will be broken into two categories: Short Fiction and Flash Fiction. For purposes of this writing challenge Short Fiction we be defined as being between 1000 and 7500 words; Flash Fiction will be no more than 1000 words. So what is the challenge? The challenge will be incorporating three of nine elements listed below. The more important to the story you make the elements the better, but if you simply mention them in passing that's okay too. Its important to note that its not about using the word specifically but the concept. An example would be if the element was “sword” and you never mention the word, but your story involves a pirate who uses a saber when he boards a merchant ship, that would be a successful use of the element. So here are the elements:
Swashbuckling Mismanaged Psychopathic
Rocketry Bedevilled Agape
Parricide Jive Rakish
Thank you to Creativity Tools Random Word Generator by Watch Out 4 Snakes for the random selection of elements. Continue reading


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Filed under Blogs, Contests, Writing

Distractions and Foci

Civilization V

Image via Wikipedia

 

Last weekend I had the major part of a day all to myself. I had nothing planned for except a phone call with a friend (which ended up not happening), yet I managed to get very little written during that time. That evening I wrote considerably more and ended the day about 1000 words short of my goal. I sat down and wrote the next day and was about as productive, though I spent the bulk of the day distracted by my parental duties. On the third day I punched out almost as much as I had during the previous two days combined although I was every bit as busy as the day before.

As I looked at the results of my weekend I asked myself what had made the difference in how much I was able to write during each day and at the different times of day. I questioned what had distracted me and what had helped me focus on my work and then I pondered what about the distractions and focus enhancers made them what they were. Continue reading


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Filed under Blogs, Writing