A Scary Story - Day 29

  Hello friends and fans. It has been a bit since the last time we spoke. The good news for me is that I have been busy. I have been writing and editing the Nicholas Tales. I am hoping to have it published by the Christmas season!

    Unfortunately, I haven't been posting here much. I had another project I was working on, but I wanted to keep it under wraps until it was further along. It started as a writing exercise, and then became an interesting story. It was kind of fun. I would write on it for a couple of days, then read the new chapter to my family to get their feedback. Once I was ready I was going to present it to all of you. 

    Unfortunately, it stalled. My role at my job changed, some different things happened, and a few days went by without me writing anything. Then a few weeks passed. Next thing I knew, it had been a couple of months and I had left my main characters in the middle of a scene, suspended, not knowing what was going to happen next. Worse, I was having trouble getting up the motivation to sit down and push through, to get some words down, get the pump flowing again. It sometimes feels overwhelming to just sit down and type.

    I follow several authors and author groups on Facebook. It keeps me connected to people who are good at the craft, and I learn tips and tricks as I go along. One of them is an old classmate of my wife's who is quite an accomplished author. He writes mostly horror, of one form or another, and I've read some of his work. It's really good.

    The other day on his Facebook page he asked if any authors would like to be a part of a Halloween project he was working on. I answered without thinking. Sure, I'm an author. I'm a writer! I write! I've written...well not much but...sure! Strangely, he didn't ask for out writing credentials, or links to something we'd written. He just told us to stand by for more information.

    That's when the panic set in. How was I supposed to write a short story? I'd never written one before. And Halloween? All I've ever written at any length is pleasant little kids tales. The one time I tried to write something creepy in college it came out...well...let's say, less than perfect. What was I going to do? I began a rough draft in my head. It was an email on how I was going to gracefully bow out. That was when the next update came. This was going to be a paced thing, a new story for every day of the month of October. That sounded great! I would have a whole month to write it, if I didn't drop out that is. Then I saw the next sentence. He was placing us in the order we had responded. I couldn't remember how long it had taken me to respond. Surely I had been pretty far down on that list.

    I began to go over some ideas in my head. A long time ago I had come up with the kernel of an concept based on an unusual fear that someone had told  me about. Maybe I could make a story out of that. There was plenty of time. Then the list came out. I was number 4. I started to panic. I couldn't drop out now that he was counting on me. I couldn't possibly come up with a story in time. It takes me weeks to write a story. I had to write it and get it edited by, basically, October 1st.

    I was in the middle of my own scary story. But I kept thinking, building a rough draft of a tale in my head. I kept mulling it over and playing with it. I had no idea what I was doing. I have come up with hundreds of rough drafts this way, ideas that have never played out, never been written down. I hadn't sat down to actually write something new in months. This was never going to work. Even my normal writing time had now been taken up by something else. I wasn't even in my normal writing space anymore. My normal writing equipment was being used for that other story!

    Then, I sat down. I cleared off some space and pulled out my laptop. I procrastinated for a few minutes, then typed the first line. Procrastinated some more, then typed the second. And then, within minutes, I was lost in this story, this weird creepy story, this absolutely exhilarating story to write. I was in the middle of creating and I couldn't stop. I wrote for hours. I took a break for dinner and went to the store, then came back and wrote some more. I finished and watched tv, then opened it back up and did some editing on my phone until late into the night.

    I am proud of this story. I don't know if it is objectively good. I don't know if it is scary or creepy to anyone else. All I know is I had a blast writing it, and it felt good to push through the fear. It is currently in my editor's hands. She will go over it and tell me where it is broken. After some back and forth, I am proud to say, it should be ready on time. I'll hand it over to a real writer, and he'll post it along with some other real writer's work. My scary story, that I was scared to write, will be out there, for all the world to see.

    There is something amazing about creating. There is something wonderful about being afraid and doing it anyway. Thank you for walking along with me on this journey. I can't wait to show you what I've made.