Matutinal Monday

matutinal ~ of, like or pertaining to the morning; happening early in the day

Last week was pretty uneventful - didn’t really go anywhere or do anything unusual, no holidays or side trips... All in all it was pretty mundane. Which makes for a really boring blog post.

So I sat here Sunday night, trying to think of something interesting to talk about and ... nothing.

Stared at the blank document file I had open on my laptop and ... nothing.

Watched some television for inspiration and ... still nothing.

I was starting to see a pattern.

So then I started surfing the net and ended up playing a few rounds of Bubble Mouse, then solitaire, then Word Garden ...

I got a little more writing in that normal last week, including an blogging award meme that I was sent a few weeks ago. You can read the post about that HERE

One of the things I worked on was a new short story. It’s been so long since I’ve worked on something entirely new that I was beginning to think I’d lost the knack for it. But I made a good start and if I keep at it there’s a chance I might even get the first draft of it finished this week.

The story is pure science fiction, which takes me back to my roots. When I first started writing, way back in the stone age when I was in high school, I had visions of being a writer of short stories. Specifically, science fiction short stories. I wanted to be published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.

Of course that never happened, but it didn’t stop me from trying. Later I entered a few stories in the Writers of the Future contest and one of them actually got an honorable mention.

I never even considered writing a novel back then - I was a writer of short stories! Even when my ideas turned out to be too long for a short story I’d stick to my guns. I’d abandon those stories and move on to something else. I still have folders full of them.

I honestly don’t know when I wandered away from short stories and into the realm of novels, but when I first started writing longer stuff I gave up on the short story completely. Eventually, a few shorter pieces did start creeping back but it was mostly flash fiction, and more often fantasy or contemporary, not science fiction. So like I said, this new story is kind of like getting back to my roots.

There’s something to be said for the short story, it’s like a quick glimpse into another world whereas the novel is more a long stare. I know there are authors out there who stick to either novels or short stories exclusively, but I think they’re doing themselves a disservice. The short story teaches you to write with brevity, you only have a few words to get your point across, while the novel allows you to stretch your wings and fully develop your ideas. Both help you hone your craft.

Like most things, it’s all about finding your balance.