Hi Folks,
I set myself a personal challenge. For the month of June, I want to write a new short story every day. That’s tough enough.
But in addition to that, I want to write those stories truly “in public.” I want the public to be able to watch virtually as the stories grow, scene to scene.
To that end, in the original challenge, I was going to paste each scene to a Facebook page I set up just for that purpose.
Only a couple days ago, my conscious mind wheedled its way in and I lost control. I decided maybe it would be better to post the whole story (albeit still once a day) to the Facebook page.
I reasoned that (1) apparently there weren’t many folks all that interested and (2) those who were interested would still see the end product each day, follow my progress on the challenge, etc.
But then Robert J. Sadler, a dear friend in Texas, pointed out to me in an email that, frankly, I was chickening out. (grin)
And he was right. (Friends respect each other enough to tell each other the truth. In my world, that’s the main qualifier to earn the title.)
In part of his note to me, he wrote
“…I can understand if the prospect of no story-starved pedestrians standing outside the window seems a reasonable reason for not implementing your challenge.
“That said, you made a point that this was your challenge and not issued to anyone other than yourself. So with that perspective in mind, whether the tree falls in the forest with no one around to hear it, the tree still falls. …
“So … if you wanna write-in-public, as you suggest, then knock yourself out… even if there is no public to witness it.”
Or as Yoda put it, “There is no try. Do or do not.”
And the epiphany?
Writing scenes has always been easy for me. Scenes pop into my head all the time, complete with characters, setting, dialogue and so on. So I can write scenes all day.
But with my conscious mind creeping in, I allowed myself to “hope” the scenes would connect well and the characters would lead me through to the end.
And that’s what I was doing wrong without realizing it. That whole “hope” thing.
Once I replaced “hope” with “trust” (thanks to my friend’s email), everything else fell into place.
So the challenge is back on, in its original form. Beginning on June 1, I will write one short story per day for the month. Each time I finish a scene, I’ll paste it “live” to Facebook so whoever wants to can see it.
But my friend was right. It’s my challenge. I’m not challenging others to do something similar, though if they do, it’s all right by me. I’m not even challenging others to watch.
I’m only challenging myself to give others something to watch.
If they watch and enjoy, wonderful. If they don’t, it will still be one hell of an experience. (grin)
By the way, if you want to follow along on this madness, visit https://www.facebook.com/HarveyStanbroughWritingInPublic/. There’s already some preliminary stuff there. The fun begins on June 1. If you have friends who might be interested, please feel free to share this post.
‘Til next time, happy writing!
Harvey
PS: If you enjoy great photography and great fiction, stop by Robert J. Sadler’s website at http://robertjsadler.com/ and browse. You won’t be disappointed.
Good luck, Harvey!