Happy Friday! My story “Dream Pastures” is live at Kazka Press. Please check it out. Sadly, this is their second to last issue before shutting down 
I’m so pleased I made it in one more time.
I also wrote 10,000 words this week! Finally. It’s been so long since I made my word count goal that I was worried I could no longer do it.
Robin McKinley always says she has no control over when the stories will come to her. She resigns herself to this cosmic storyboard. Obviously it works for her because she’s built her career on it, but it doesn’t work for me. Many of my Gwen stories fall in my head with the plot fully formed, but outside of those stories it can be a struggle. I’ll keep a story idea in the back of my mind for a long time. Last week, I ripped one of those ideas forward and decided now was the time to write it. I had 5000 words down in first person present. As I rewrote all those words, the characters formulated better in my mind. This week the words just rolled off my fingers. It was so nice to write that way again for a change. I feel the past two months have been a struggle.
How did you guys do?
2,444 words in my edits, though about 600 were cut and pasted from the original document.
Congratulations, Melinda. I read your Dream Pastures story and loved it. Also your dragon story. Both stories were wonderful. Glad you made your goal. I did not. I’ve been struggling with writing since I started working. It can zap creativity when you’re tired or worried about your job. But I used other excuses when I didn’t work so…1800 words for me this week, but I’m happy because I wrote a beautiful Easter poem and a short kids’ story. I have a lot of stories hanging in limbo waiting for inspiration for the endings. How does everybody else get inspiration for endings of stories?
I will definitely check out your story Melinda and congrats on making your word goal this week. 10,000 is no easy feat. Mostly polishing for me this week. My sci-fi novel is essentially done, but I’m sure I’ll never stop tinkering with it. Still, it’s something to celebrate!
@Julie Ha! Someone got red ink other than me!
@ Shari Thanks so much for reading and commenting on Dream Pastures! Good luck with your new job. Any schedule change is rough.
@Holly Big celebration for finishing your novel! I hope you had a party
Good luck finding an agent!