The Story Match Challenge—Day 2: July 8, 2015

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I woke up on July 8, 2015, to find that Dean Wesley Smith had met his challenge with another 3,000-word story—A Matter for a FutureYear. Seeing the final count, I breathed a sigh of relief, because I’d been dreading he’d write more and I was still just feeling my way. I noticed his story was set in his Seeders Universe, and envied him being able to draw on a developed setting. I’ll add developing my novel settings to my task list - as in, focussing more on writing them and so forth, which sounds silly, but I know what I mean. I see lots of writing ahead.

The opening line came when I glanced up and saw a butterfly flitting across in front of Princess Alexa in Barbie and the Secret Door—so, no one said where the inspiration had to come from. Of course, there was no gilded lawn in the scene, and the palace was out of sight, so where the rest came from… well, of that, I’m not sure.

I was 68 words in when I realised I was writing science fiction and not fantasy. It was a hard piece to write. 3,000 words—piece of cake, right? Should be 3 hours work, right? Yeah, right. I was into the sixth hour in a stretch interspersed by more breaks and a nap than I had planned before the first thousand had been reached. Shame on me, right?

Maybe, or maybe this is just what writing, real writing is like. Or maybe it’s just me. Who knows? And that is what this challenge is all about: discover the writing, swim deep instead of just getting my feet wet.

Anyway, the challenge, success was as follows:

  • Story Match: Complete at 3,676 words, a fantasy-science-fiction blend – Hammer and the Trolls
  • 366 Days of Flash Fiction: Complete, two science fiction—Tani’s Fate and The Starmen and the Sand
  • 366 Days of Poetry: Complete, urban fantasy—Two Worlds, New Worlds, and speculative—Living Through Time
  • Another 365 Days of Flash Fiction: Complete, science fiction – Hasken’s Luck
  • Another 365 Days of Poetry: Complete, a fantasy poem – The Sea Troll in the Sand


Word total for the day, including blogging: 7,108.
Location: Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

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