My Club

I discovered my proverbial club yesterday. And, no, I did not find it on Ebay.

After some insightful conversations with two writing relatives of mine, I found inspiration. It was craftily hiding within short stories.

Whenever I think of a decent story idea, I hoard it greedily, tuck it away in a semi-full file labeled "ideas" and never worry over it again... unless it can serve as part of a grander scheme. In other words, an actual novel.

Needless to say, I've never been much of a short story writer. I always felt that a short story was a wasted perfectly good idea. To reduce some fabulous plot or setting to only twenty pages seemed a bit like taking a few bites and then tossing a fifty dollar steak to the trash. I preferred full-blown two hundred and fifty paged monsters. Or nothing at all.

However, I discovered that writing short stories when going through dry spells actually increases creativity rather than deplete it. I once thought that writing anything besides my current novel was more a form of procrastination than actual work. But that isn't true at all. Developing other ideas helps me develop even more ideas. It keeps the creativity pool from becoming stagnant. And, instead of hiding my ideas away like money in a mattress, I'm investing in the bank of inspiration.

My creative juices are flowing again... I began writing a short story about a young girl and her experience with death. Not exactly my typical medium... but it's a good workout for my imagination.


Novel update: 197 days remaining, 16 chapters complete