Musings and Flashers and Hope, Oh My!

Let’s replace lions and tigers and bears with musings and flashers and hope, oh my! Because that’s the surprise sources of inspiration I’ve received lately. By stepping back, I’m vaulting forward.

It’s been a while. Three months, to be exact, since my last blog post. Part of that was planned. I wanted to take a month off from writing to address some limitations I kept running up against while crafting stories.

None of these obstacles were surprises. I’d entered the world of creative writing three years ago without the typical background or prerequisites, but I relished the challenge for another reason. I was craving self-discovery. Who and what I was had changed enough that self-assessment was in order. Writing about intimate situations and emotions could provide the canvas for the awareness and realization I was seeking.

Some friends recommended books and articles. I know they meant well, but that is not my best learning style. I’m primarily a tactile and experiential learner. Absorbing new information from written materials would be laborious. It’s probably why I’ve been a pantser most of my life. A renaissance man who needs to keep it fresh. It’s also why I’ll try just about anything twice. Once for the exposure, then again for experience.

Anyway, I found I kept butting up against my own limitations and naivety in writing. Experience and luck were only going to get me so far. I needed to put in the work.

I compiled some great resources and dove in.

Most of my resources were podcasts and audio books, but some were only available as text. For me, that often means reading for an hour, diverting to other activities, then returning to reading with some rehashing if I’d lost my bearings. Depending on how I’m feeling, I could read two or three times within a day before I had to stop completely. My body can’t handle much more than that.

It was during these diversions that I thought back to my collection of twenty-nine unfinished works. Twenty-nine potential stories whose current state lay somewhere between outlined and nearly-completed drafts. For the latter, I’d often run into creative roadblocks I didn’t know how to overcome.

I opened a nearly finished one. My propensity had been to beat myself over the head while sliding in and out of rabbit holes. This often left me somewhere between frustrated and overcome with too many potential endings. Now I focused on immersing myself in the theme and emotions of my characters. What were they seeking? I splashed in some notes, then set it aside to return to learning. When I came back to the story later, words flowed. Thoughts connected. I found it was nearly there. After one or two return visits, it was done.

I was excited!

I was on the path to musings and flashers and hope, oh my! I had flashbacks of when I gave up guitar because I was too uncoordinated to get through chord changes. Not here. I’d found the bridge that my wacky brain needed, and for the near term, the means to press on.

The next day, I grabbed another story. This one was only half done, but it called to me. I repeated the process, and it was ready to submit for sale three days later.

By the time July came to a close, I’d completed four stories. That doubled my output for the year! All are two to three thousand words, my sweet spot. All submitted to potential publishers. Now, I’ve focused on a new balance between learning and writing that’s hitting all the right buttons. Crack on, as my Brit friends would say.

Introducing Flashers

An acquaintance posted the start of a story the other day for feedback, calling it a flasher. It’s a term I’d never heard before, but I have come across other writers who through free or paid sites, ask their readers to provide feedback and direction.

I love the idea. It’s similar to a challenge DR. J and I took on in the MON app. Listeners were asked to provide a story prompt. They chose to make it more challenging by asking for two: antique shop and recording studio. The challenge spurred me on to create a lesbian tale that encompassed both. The resulting story, Seasonal Preferences, was just purchased by the Rosy app!

Anyway, here’s the link to an upcoming story I’m crafting, called Exposure. Please let me know what you think. In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful September.