WIP Wednesday: What's Cookin'

I can feel myself getting sick. You know, the scratchy throat, the heavy eyelids, the general ennui (I've always wanted to use that word!). So, this is going to be short today. A nice, short, sweet Work-In-Progress Wednesday to make up for the long (probably terrible) story I posted yesterday.

*Ding, ding, ding!* I'm past the half-way mark in my WIP Back. I've really been flying through it lately. I think it's coming so easily because I have lots of percolation time in between writing binges. You know, while folding laundry I can think, think, think about my characters, about what they'd do and how they'd act. I'm having a ball.

This last Monday I went to my first Writer's Workshop at our local library. I met five other ladies in our community who either have started to write a book or are interested in writing one. It's fun to sit down with other wanna-be authors face-to-face. When we lived in China, all I could manage for critique groups (with the exception of one brief moment of sunshine when my friend Cheryl Ward and I met to read each other's first chapters) were online ones. Now, I can sit in a room with real live people. We did a writing prompts exercise. Mine turned out weird. As usual. For some reason writing prompts always make me write strange things.

And finally, I am so happy about this new challenge I've made for myself, writing a short story a week for a year. I'm still going to be working on my novel, but this should keep the creative soup bubbling. And my novels will hopefully be better because of it. Plus, I think after writing the story I posted yesterday, I'm realizing one of my shortcomings is that I'm too impulsive. I wander away from what I have planned much, much too easily. This challenge might teach me how to focus, because I'll have lots of opportunities to write beginnings, middles, and ends. Lots of opportunities. I'll be posting stories every Tuesday, not because I'm necessarily looking for critique and/or feedback, but just to keep myself accountable.

Thanks to the two brave souls who have agreed to do the challenge with me: B. Michael Swanson and Nicole Moscou. You guys rock!

Now, on to cooking dinner so I can look domestic when the husband walks through the door. Ciao!