Mini-Steps

It's been a great time off with the holidays but it's time to return to the routine of work. I managed to take advantage of my last free day yesterday to take down all the holiday decorations and get the house back in regular order. The floors are clean and so is the kitchen and refrigerator. Laundry is all folded and put away which left me with the afternoon to head and out enjoy the 75 degree weather with a 4 miles run in the neighborhood.

I will be re-reading one of my completed short stories. It is about 18000 words and I want to start editing so I will need to make notes. It will take a fresh perspective and I already have some ideas how to change up the first few pages. Then I can delve into all the chapters. I will see how much I can accomplish in the next few days. I will need to see what I think after I've completed the reading and then brainstorm how to pull it apart and put it back together. New outlines will be on the agenda, I'm sure, to keep myself on track but that might be next week.

We shall see...mini-steps being taken here.
TT

Plans change

Ooops.

I took one day off from work and was totally distracted. I managed to keep myself so busy I didn't think of sitting and writing or to get out and run. Actually, those things did pass through my mind but I did other things and not those.

I have decided its times to turn my running schedule around again. Since the time change and the cooler temperatures I am thinking to get my runs done after work instead of waking before the dead and going to the gym. Since I've only gotten a few sporadic runs this entire month it's time to change things up again. I am hoping to get myself out there again and if it doesn't work I'll think up another plan that might.

Times are a changing. Again.
TT

Middle (finger)?

Hump Day.

It's the start of the middle day of the work-week and called hump day because, I'm assuming, it's pictured as going up an incline the first few days and then zooming down the remaining few days. That picture doesn't help me much since it means today is the toughest part of the incline. Again, I am guessing it can serve as motivation that when I get through this spot I will be at the top of that tough incline and it will be easier to glide down the remaining portion or rather, the rest of the week. I'm thinking too hard. I'm trying to distract myself from thinking about all that I might think of this morning as our country takes a turn. 

Talk about getting humped.

TT

Last on the List

I've been going back and forth with a story. I have only approximately 7500 words written but those words were put down two years ago. Somewhere in-between I edited those same words and changed the beginning.

I went back recently to start working on it again and re-read the original opening. It was far better than the edited/changed version. I knew where I was going to start out but manipulated it into something else at the time thinking it was the right thing to do. It wasn't and I'm back to looking at it with a more objective eye since being separated from it for all this time.

My real problem is my recent work or the lack thereof. It isn't the 7500 words, or the editing, or the going back to the beginning. The issue isn't the steps I've taken to read, assess, and get the proper objectives in line for the story. The real issue is my total procrastination about working on it at all. The amount of time I just described was probably a total of 15 minutes in at least a two week time frame.

I'm not exactly happy with that amount and even though I think in the back of my brain that I should be spending more time on this, I simply haven't. On my never ending list of tasks it is always the one thing that get's left undone. I guess that happens and that is when I need to make adjustments on the things I choose to do. It's time to choose the priorities on my own list and stop leaving the ones I'd  rather spend time on left undone. This story obviously isn't going to write itself.
TT

Plotter or Pantser

Where do you start?

It's usually with a blank page. It might be an open word document or a clean sheet of paper. You can do this electronically or grab a pencil or pen and use those fingers and hands to grip or type. The method doesn't matter. It's all a matter of what resources you have at the moment. I've tried both, all, and variations.

I think the key is to start and don't worry about the methods. It should be about the idea of filling the blank clean page with ideas. Can you do that? Can you get down some type of idea that formed from nothing. Can you take those few words that were scribbled or typed down into a first sentence and make them into something more. 

That's the easy part because from then on it only gets more difficult. Are you a pantser or plotter? Believe it or not these are real and true writing methods. How you proceed puts you into one of these categories. If you take the time to outline, and plot and fill in all the blanks of where a story might go you are a Plotter. It should not be confused with someone who writes a story by the seat of their pants. That would be a Pantser. A writer that just dives right in and tries to see where it will go. A good many successful writers do it one or the other way.

I'm not that good to land on either side of this fence. I've started out both ways. I've planned and wrote and also did some pantsering on others. So far I only have some pretty rough drafts no matter which method I used. But I have them and that is the way it starts. It could be worse. I could still have a blank page.
TT

'Just Write' Isn't Always Right

Write it all down.

Keep writing.

Just write.

I was told to do all of the above. It was drilled into me over and over. Keep it up. Get the words down. Keep at it. Write it and don't worry about it now but keep stringing words together. Put a timer on and go until the alarm goes off. Just words and more words and then more words.

I tried and I did. I had a hard time because I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I didn't understand the concept of writing words to only have words. I was trying to do more than fill up a page and I didn't see how 'just write' was right. I fought it the entire way but I kept doing it because it was the way to do it. Everyone said so.

What I found out was that they were holding back on other things I should have known. Maybe they didn't know. Maybe they couldn't figure it out so gave the only advise they ever heard. I wrote an entire 70,000 first draft completed piece of fiction that is only good for pages and pages of word after word. That was when I realized how much longer I was going to have to keep writing.  This was only a first draft and everyone will tell you it's not the stopping point. There are many more drafts to come.

Wait, wait, wait. Can I get ALL the instructions at the beginning, please? Just write is a good way to start but it was being taken as the instructions for completion. Sorry. It isn't. There is so much more. I should have known that was too simple. Just write? Sure. Look at me go. I was envisioning the brilliance and how each word should be engraved on a page. It was fun. It made me feel like rock star but it wasn't real.

What this did for me was give me the experience. It takes work and more words to fix all the words already written. That is the process. It's the part no one mentioned. Maybe they didn't know but I know now. I understand that after you write the words upon words, you can get down to the business of getting rid of a lot of those words so you can write the correct ones. All that writing, no matter how good or bad, gives the foundation to pull it all into what it should be. I know what to change since it exists on the page. All those words already created can be shaped into what they should become. Will it take work? Yes. Lots. It will need to be broken down to be built back up. It will take major deleting of words to be replaced by more words that will do it all better. So I've come full circle with the advice as I start again.

Write it all down.

Keep writing.

Just write.

I can see where this advice can seem to be a little deceitful in its representation. I am figuring out the process and will be more planned and a little more calculated when I begin again. It will still have elements of the 'just write' theory in order to let those creative ideas flow but will have a firmer hand on the overall progression of the plot and characters. Maybe the advice was good and I had to experience it to learn the process. Maybe. But is doesn't seem just right.
TT

Making it new again

Here is what you do with most new, exciting projects.

You start to a build up and store a bundle of energy . You can't wait to get started and think about all the exciting ways it will make you better, more confident, stronger, give you more expertise and a feeling of accomplishment. It makes you feel energized. You also have a certain amount of anxiety about the unknown and that trepidation can pull you forward and fuel you on to what you are about to embark on doing. It's a natural course of feelings and actions when we are looking forward to that new, exciting project.

You prepare mentally before you start even if it's in different degrees and times. Eventually, you get started or sometimes, if you are like many, you only keep thinking about that new exciting project you want to get started on doing. It becomes a circle of thought. It is sometimes fits and starts and bits and pieces of that one thing you keep wanting to do but never quite have the time. It's that trepidation that was supposed to pull you forward and fuel you and it's only creating fear in your mind that you somehow can't achieve that project you've been spending so much time and effort trying to do.

So now, all you have to show are fragments of things that was supposed to be a started project. It seems a lot of effort for a poor amount of work. You start judging yourself through the fragments. All the energy that started out so positive has given way to a mind set that crossed the line and pulled you the wrong way. It would be an easy fix to quit. It would be easy to give in and say it didn't work out which would be a true statement at that given time and in your judgmental state. You could also try to stir up those original ideas of being better, confident, stronger. You already have more expertise because you have actually worked on those bits and pieces, those fits and starts and fragments. They didn't come out of nowhere. It's only time to regroup and refocus. It time to use what you have already created and get excited about that again.

Everything starts if you make the move. It always starts at different points whether you have done them before or not. Don't spend the time thinking about where you are too long. Each time you work on it, get started again with the same bundle of energy you had that first time and don't bother with the rest. Use that anxiety the way it should be used as a fuel to power you forward and see how much better it works. Everything can be a new project no matter how many times you have done it before. Just remember, it's the first time you are doing it right now.
TT

Focus on the real work

You might have noticed I've gone back to my original layout of this blog. It's almost the same one I had when I originally started writing here at this spot. The header is a picture of all my handwritten notes that happened to be on my desk at the time. My glasses are in the corner because I don't need them for close up work and reading. Okay, yes, all of it was sort of staged for the picture. But everything is all real and still appears this way on some occasions. My desk will be covered in handwritten notes, pens, pencils, glasses, flash drives,calendars, and note cards. It turned into how I would work instead of the staged representation it started out to be.

There must be a lesson learned somewhere in my reflecting on the past that made me go back to the beginning. There are times you can get so far along on your journey that you forget the reasons you started out in the first place. You go so far into what you are doing, it becomes such a routine, you keep on doing it and lose track of all it meant except the doing. You can travel very far this way but when it loses purpose it's time to stop and think about it. So I did and went back to originals to find out why I started.

Somewhere along the way my ideas changed. They moved in a different direction from what I was doing in the beginning  as sometimes they should. I changed my header picture, changed text, then removed it completely. It was part of the journey. My desk became more cluttered with handwritten notes of ideas. It all seemed to be clicking along at a good pace. But soon all it became was an accumulation of nothing. It was a collection of fragments, pieces, and bits that didn't come together in any way except for the routine, to keep on doing. It was a misdirection that made it seem as if I was really doing something when I wasn't. So I stopped. I thought. I cleared my desk and spent time, not on writing down any more ideas for what I could do, but going back to see where I started and why. It was so I could get to the real work.

The idea was never to write snatches of ideas on paper. It was to write entire thoughts, entire stories. It's too easy to get caught up and get purposely distracted by the bits and fragments. It gives you the false feeling to doing the work when you're not. So I cleared my desk of all the unrelated notes and threw them out. The focus is back with a stronger sense of where I am and where to go from here.

The original header is a reminder of where my focus was at the start since I seem to forget when I get busy. I'm well ahead along on this path. I'm no longer at the beginning but I'm no longer willing to wander around lost. It's good to sit still and find that purpose again in order to find a stronger stride.

My desk is cleared. 

TT

After Just Write is Just Work

I never started writing with any expectations. If anything, I tried to avoid thoughts of being published. It was too much to consider I could ever achieve that lofty a goal. Those thoughts were pushed to the very back of my mind. I told myself to never think about something that will never happen.

But at the beginning, I couldn't help but imagine writing that piece of work that would skyrocket to the top. It would be so brilliant it would be snatched up and rise to immediate popularity. The first words I put down were so good. It was an honest feeling. I was so attached and excited about the fact I put all these words down that they must be excellent. Except they weren't. Some were very good. Some were brilliant, like I thought, but many were not brilliant. Some weren't even good. Many were downright bad but it's hard to see through all the emotional excitement. 

I would feel foolish about so much of it when it was re-read. It was awful, I can't. 

Then the realization dawned. It takes work. Those words you've written are only the beginning. Detach yourself from the crush you have on your own words and get to the real work at hand. This takes time and effort. First words are not the end. Yes, it's taken a while to get them all down and that is what everyone says to do. Just write. But you need to understand that isn't the end. You haven't finished and you've only begun at that point. Now the work starts and if you can't get beyond that thought, it will go nowhere no matter how much you have done so far. If you stop there, then you have reason to feel foolish.

So I've written some pieces. Next step is to get to work.

TT

Writing: An Enjoyable Challenge

I purposely stopped writing here for a while. I've done a bit of reflecting. Correction. I've done plenty of reflecting but that covers more subjects that I need to discuss in this space. In particular, I've given some thought to this blog.

I started this blog with the intention of getting myself to simply put words down on a page. I had the problem of never getting past a few paragraphs because I would continually edit those paragraphs to the point of never writing any more. This was a discipline for me to stop the editing and just get the words down. It's worked and I went off and wrote about anything and everything and then I got lost. I needed to pause a moment and figure it out again. So I went back to the beginning.

I know what you are thinking. Yawn. But I'm not going into all the unnecessary details about how, what, and why of all this thinking. I'll spare everyone the tiring past of the conflicting thoughts and impressions that have been in my mind. Let's stay with the present. Not yesterday or what went on before, but the here and now. Let's stay in the present. Today.

I questioned myself and asked why keep writing? The answer was pretty simple. I enjoy writing. It's a hobby, a pastime, an enjoyable challenge. I don't have any high expectations of where it will take me but that was never the intention. It was the idea of sitting down and writing thoughts right now. It was to get past more than two paragraphs without stopping.

So why stop.
TT

Action over analysis

I spent two hours yesterday afternoon writing. Well, okay, maybe it was editing and not actually adding new words but it's an entire first chapter. I can only remember thinking about writing for that long and longer but not actually sitting down and doing it. I don't have any recollections of when the last time I actually sat down and worked on writing before yesterday.

It started when I got a review request from someone on the writing.com site. Someone wanted me to take a look at their first chapter/intro. I took a look. I gathered my thoughts and I sent back a review. Since it was a public review (most are visible in an specific area of the site) someone else read my review and gave me good feedback on it. I had to thank them on the acknowledgement but then I got a thumbs up on a review I had given a book I read on a different site (goodreads.com). I had to take a moment to tap down the excitement of getting a nod for anything, especially reviews. Somebody, somewhere, took the time to read them and actually thought they had some value. I'm talking two in one day which was reason enough to try to tap down anything.

I couldn't help thinking how I'm able to give out others meaningful feedback and yet not able to find the errors of my own ways in my writing. That isn't entirely true but I pretend. I found myself in my upstairs office and opening the document I have of the story about the young woman with the imagination. It's the one I just started writing without any idea of what the story was about or where it was going. The working title so far is Imaginary Lines and I started by giving it the same type of review I gave to the others. It was merely a piece of work that I was going over as if it belong to someone else and by the time I was feeling like I needed to get up from my desk, two hours had blown by and I had the entire first chapter drafted.

I woke up extra early this morning and knew I had some notes on this same story. I got to looking and sure enough I found some really organized ideas about this story. Somewhere, at some point in time, I put some thought into where this random bit of writing was supposed to go.

So, I am working to assemble these notes to have a clearer picture of how I am going to approach the progress on this story. I already have some clear cut ideas worked out and even have a frame of where I might proceed through chapter three.

This was a throw-away piece. I started putting down words that I had no idea where they might lead. I've even avoided working on this because I have the first draft of a completed novella I have stopped and started revising and thought I should work on that. Let's not even mention the entire novel that needs serious rework - no serious, serious rework - we won't mention that right now and how I keep thinking these other completed works should be the priority.

But maybe because this is a throw-away piece I can approach it from the place of the outside reviewer. Maybe it's because I've gotten past having any sentimentality about all these words that spill out and I can try to organize what I want for this particular piece. Maybe I just got past all the trappings of having to tap down the feelings that something is more than it is and just go for the things I'd rather spend time on doing. Does it matter if I work on this piece over the others or is it still a matter of what would I rather be working on instead of thinking about what I should be working on.

Because, who cares? Why try to figure out if I should work on this or that. I'm going to work on this and then maybe that and not waste the brainpower on trying to figure it out. I'm simply glad I got that boost of motivation and now I can take it wherever I want to go.
TT

Seemingly closer

I've been meaning to write more. Not just here on this blog but away from here on the other stories I've started or have written first drafts. They need work and I keep thinking I'm going to work on them. I think about scenes and characters. This character would be doing this and the other would have a good reason to react a certain way and that would be a good place to take the plot. The ideas drift through my head and I try to freeze frame it all so I'll remember it later. When I write. Except I haven't been writing. And the ideas are probably all jumbled up and half forgotten.

But I know I'll get to it. I know I will. It will be fun and I'll fit it in at a time least expected. So meaning to write isn't writing, but knowing I will makes it seem a lot closer.
TT

I have been

I've been writing up a storm lately. I've been spending a lot of time with editing and taking a look at characters from this angle and that. I've been looking for action that moves stories along instead of slowing their pace. There is only one problem. I've been doing it for other people's writing and not my own.

I've been a member of the site writing.com for the past two years. I come and go and I have a few items posted to my portfolio but nothing recent. I'm not much for the social media aspects and that doesn't do me much good in this community, as they call it, but I was given some good feedback when I asked on those few pieces in my portfolio. It helped when I couldn't get anyone else to do it. So, for some reason, the past few days I've been giving reviews to a few posted items for others. I even took on a first chapter for someone that couldn't figure out why it didn't sound the way she wanted it to. I read it and wrote out edits, and suggestions, and how she could do this and that. It took some time and it made me focus. I'm not sure how she wanted it to sound but I gave her suggestions on how it could sound better. She e-mailed me back and seemed very grateful. She wanted to know if I would take another look after she worked on it. Well, okay. That made me feel good. 

It seems that if I am able to figure out someone else's guide to improvements, I should be able to spend some of that time (if not all) on my own writing. It isn't as if I don't have pieces I could be editing. I have plenty or at least enough to keep me very busy. I could be writing up a storm on my own. If only I would.

TT

Not blocked

I bet I can stare at a blank document longer than anyone else. I seem to be able to sit longer and longer in front of a page without putting a single word on it. Oh, don't get me wrong. It isn't that thoughts aren't having their own little parade in my head but did anyone think to organize this promenade? Why don't you write that down? Why not this? No. Don't think so. What? You're kidding. What does that have to do with the price of eggs in China?

Okay, that made me grin. The thoughts are there. It isn't as if it's all hollow within. The steady stream of marchers are making their way down main street, one after another, some with more enthusiasm than the others, but all keeping up a constant flow.

I guess there isn't really such a thing as writer's block. I don't know a time thoughts haven't stomped around in my head. It's just a matter of letting them all parade through until you can see what you have and get an idea of how to get it all organized. I think that means I need to get what I've already written a little more organized to make it a better parade.
TT

The Photo - edited

I had some time to kill this morning and after boring myself with a few websites I turned my attention to my own document files. I found this piece I last touched on 8/8/12 and thought I might do some editing. I've crossed out unnecessary words, added present tense, and eliminated the word 'She' that started almost every sentence in the second paragraph and the word 'had' that drags down every sentence.

I understand this is a boring post but I couldn't resist showing all my red markings and cross-outs. This is an old piece and I probably should be writing on my new, but what the heck. I  posted it to writing.com in hopes of suggestions in order to learn more. It can't hurt.
Here is the link of the edited short on the site:
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1992819-The-Photo

And below is the reworked piece prior to my posting on the writing site.

A young woman decides to take on the mundane task of sorting through a box of old photographs.  It was only supposed to help her pass the time on a lonely evening but finding one particular photo has memories of an old friend the past flooding back to her.

The Photo

At the time that particular moment, she couldn’t have told you what made her go into her closet and take down that old box.  Maybe it was the accumulation of quiet evenings spent all alone.  Maybe she was looking for something that could fill that particular the end of the day without expending any energy.  Maybe she thought it was a good way to try to escape from the permeating melancholy that had invaded her life recently by the moving out of her ex live-in boyfriend.

She didn't have more than a sigh left as far as feelings for that relationship.  It was over and done, she thought, as she hefted the box up, and carried it out of the closet, and set it on her old worktable in the extra room.  She stood over it and opened the flaps.  She reached Reaching in, she and drew out a handful of snapshots. and She held them in her hand as she settled while settling down into the chair she kept at the table.  She was already l Looking at the picture on the top, she movinged it to her other hand and putting it down as she did the same with the next photo and the next.  She placed each down on the table after she scanned it. Soon there was a small pile of photos on the table.

It had been ages since she had gone went through these old photographs.  They were thrown into the box with no rhyme or reason.  There was no order to the chaotic assortment and as she finished looking through one handful, she would reach in and get another mix of pictures.  There she was at 4 years old in this one and then another when she was 15 and older.  Her mother had shoved the box in her arms when she moved away from home.  She had Mom insisted she take them with her.

She had progressed through a good measure of pictures and had them randomly stacked them on the table.  She went in to get another handful and had to stop and stopped to stare at the one that appeared on the top.  There were two people in the picture and she was one of them.  She grinned as she realized she was 18 in the picture.  She knew that immediately.  

She saw the simple county fair and remembered how she had spent the day riding the Ferris wheel and eating cotton candy with her best friend, Gail.  They had planned it together for what they thought of as a childish escape for the now grown two young women.  They had gone went through the fairgrounds trying their luck at stuffed animals and alternating being silly and girlish, to serious and sophisticated when any good-looking boy happened along within their sight.  

They had become  became such close friends and were inseparable from the time they had met freshman year of high school.  They shared all their secrets and talked for hours on the phone in the evenings even though they would spend the entire day at school together.  It had been was that way with them the entire time.  It had was always been easy, and fun, and simple.

She kept thinking of Gail as she stared down at herself in the picture.  It was so long ago yet at that moment it didn't seem so.  She wondered what might be going on with Gail now after so long a time.  She knew she would need to find her old friend and see if they couldn't talk and catch up.  They had been were such good friends.  They had done did everything with each other.

She decided at that moment she would make that call and talk to Gail again.  She knew it had been a long time but as close as they had been she knew they needed to re-connect.  Somehow, something had made her take that box down at this particular time and find that snapshot.

She sat at her worktable and smiled as she stared at the picture. There she was, all of 18 and grinning from ear to ear alongside some boy she didn't even remember that she had met that day. Her only memories now were of the fun and easy times she had spent with her best friend, Gail, who wasn't even in the picture.

Gail had just happened to have brought bring along her camera and had taken take that photo so long ago. 

TT

Rolodex

I had an odd instance as I was writing on Saturday.  I was busily writing along with a character sitting at work looking for a phone number for a photographer that she needed to call out of the many she had worked with before. She was looking for one in particular.  Then I had to stop.  There was a definite stopping of the flow of writing as I came to that point.
Why would that stop me, you ask?  Or maybe you don't ask but go with me on this one.  It's an age thing I guess.  The character needed to find a phone number and I realized what I was going to put down for where she was going to look was outdated.  This detail took me completely out of the moment I had submerged myself into as I was weaving this fantasy and brought me squarely back to reality at my own desk, at my laptop, wondering where this character would possibly look to find a phone number. 
My thought (that I knew was wrong) was a rolodex.  It made sense to me.  The character was at her desk, looking for a phone number out of multiples that had been used before.  It made sense to look there at the small container with ticket-size pages with phone numbers written on them that are arranged in alphabetical order.  But that isn't right and it stopped me from writing and out of the faux world where that character wouldn't know what that was.  My problem was I didn't know what the character would use. 
It was time for quick research.  Google:  what to use instead of rolodex 
It took some searching but it pretty much came up with using a list of contacts on an application like Outlook or your cell phone contacts.  I even found a small comment stream of people asking what the heck a rolodex was.  Ah-ha!  So I was right that the character had no clue what it was even if I did.  And I had been jarred enough out of my writing that I knew it wasn't right, even if I didn't know what the character would use.  Dang this is getting complicated.
I wonder how many other outdated things I might have written that my characters might be looking at me sideways with a look on their face asking, "say what?"
TT

Started Point A to Point B

What dreary, dreary weather.  It's the middle of a Saturday afternoon that I thought might clear up when I started the day but it's only gotten more cloudy and more rain is coming down.  It started off with just a few sprinkles but has turned into an all out muck now.  So much for that.
I have managed to pull myself away from my book.  Yeah - the only thing I am 'on track' with is all my reading lately.  I'm half finished with my 11th book since the beginning of the year.  Yeah.  Great.  The only thing I actually do any more is read.  Talk about vegging.
But - not entirely true.  Today, I did manage to start that short story.  I started writing.  I had already done my brief outline.  I had my notes and quick chapter synopsis ready to go.  Then I let at least a week go by with not a word written.  My mind was bombarded with ideas.  What if I take it this way and what if I have the character do that and what if...
I finally went back to my outline and realized I'm overthinking it again.  The entire idea when I started out to do this was that it would be a very simple short story.  I would have an extremely simple Point A to Point B.  A simple one.  No multiple threads in the story line and nothing long.  Six chapters and maybe 5000 words?  I don't know how many words but not many.  Short, simple, uncomplicated.  Point A to Point B.  Plan, Write, done and then - yeah - leave it a moment and then reread it and edit.  Quickly.  Simply.
This isn't going to be anything more than a simple, quick, short story.
So I started.  And it's tough.  But I'm enjoying it and it's there on paper now.  So while I haven't done much more than read I can now say I've done this.  Almost done with chapter one.  Good beginnings on a mucky afternoon. 
TT

The Odd Roommate

Fiction - Why not a diversion?  Something I cooked up as part of my lessons. 


It had been pure luck that Kristy happened to meet Jennifer at yoga class.  Kristy had seen her there before and they were sitting at the juice bar afterward the way they had a few  times prior.  They always seemed to find something to laugh about and this time Jennifer mentioned she was considering a roommate to share expenses.  It was perfect timing for Kristy.  She thought about how much money she could save if she didn’t renew her lease on the pricey apartment she had.  “Come on,” urged Jennifer.  “We can go over right now.”
Kristy checked her watch and shook her head, “I’ve got an appointment in an hour. Maybe we can go when I have more time.”
“No, no,” said Jennifer standing up.  “We can go now,” said Jennifer excitedly.  “It’s just a block away.”  Kristy glanced at her watch again but quickly decided to go ahead and they soon were walking over as they giggled about yoga and expenses the entire way.
Jennifer put the key into the lock and opened the door wide.   “Come on in.  I’ll show you around.” Kristy walked in and stood with her mouth gaping open and  her eyes wide in amazement.  It looked like a magazine article.  The expensive cream colored sofa was centered in the room with a coffee table of dark wood in front of it. The matching side chairs had colorful pillows on each and a small table in between.  While Kristy gaped at the living room Jennifer closed the door and walked off to the small kitchen on the right.  She came back and outstretched her arm to hand a bottle of water to Kristy.  “Here,” she said, “You need to hydrate.”
Kristy took the bottle and twisted the cap.  “Thanks, Jennifer.  This place is gorgeous,” she said as she looked around and took a sip of the water.  She slowly walked through the living area glancing from floor to ceiling until she reached an archway and peeked into a beautifully appointed bedroom.  Kristy didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she started to speak.  “Would this be my bedroom?” Kristy asked excitedly as she turned back to Jennifer.
“Oh, no,” said Jennifer sternly as she crossed the distance and pointed Kristy to the other door.   Kristy took a last, longing glance at the white lace that draped the four poster canopy bed and French armoire before following Jennifer into the second bedroom.  As Kristy looked through the doorway of the second room Kristy wasn’t sure she was in the same apartment.  She blinked and took a step back as if needing to brace herself.  The  room was decorated very minimalist with a steel framed bed and glass topped night stand.  Plain blinds were the only window coverings but managed to block out all light and the gray carpet on the floor looked industrial.
“Oh,” said Kristy.   “It’s different from the rest of the rooms.”  She tried to bite back her words but added, “I can bring some of my furniture over to soften the look.”  Jennifer was frowning and shaking her head firmly.  “No.  I’ve set it up this way and I told you it came furnished.  We would need to leave things as they are.”
Jennifer turned in a huff and stiffly walked back into the living area as Kristy took another look at the cold room.  She shivered slightly as she went to sit across from Jennifer on the sofa but before Kristy could sit down Jennifer popped out of her chair with her arms outstretched, “Wait,” she shouted almost angrily.  She rushed over and brought out a towel that she spread on the cream sofa and then motioned Kristy to sit.  Kristy watched as Jennifer went back to her chair and sat down.  A shallow smile slowly crossed Jennifer’s lips as if nothing was bothering her as she asked, “So this is your last semester?”
Kristy slowly lowered herself to land directly onto the towel and scrunched her brows together in a frown. “Yes.”
“How exciting.  Your last semester until you graduate.  What have you been studying?”
Kristy tried to relax and leaned forward a bit.  “I will be a veterinarian.  I have a job lined up with a doctor at the animal clinic to start after graduation.  This apartment is really close to the location.”
Kristy noticed the neatly stacked magazines on one corner of the coffee table and a beautiful glass ornament.  She placed her water bottle down on the coaster on the table and reached over to examine the glass ornament more closely when Jennifer abruptly stood up again.  “Don’t touch that.”
Kristy tensed up and pulled back her hand as she stared up.  Jennifer’s face was taut which she quickly replaced with a smile as she smoothed her hands down her thighs and sat down again.  “It was a gift from my mother,” Jennifer said motioning to the glass object.
“Of course.  You have a great place,” said Kristy, while looking down at her hands.
Jennifer nodded firmly, “I try hard to keep it this way.  If we decided to move in together,  we would need to be careful about any animal hair and such.  I would like to have these things for a time.”
Kristy looked up.  “Animal hair?”
“Well, yes.  You said you would be working with animals.”
“I don’t have a pet.  I wouldn’t be bringing a pet with me.”
“Of course, not.  They aren’t permitted.”
Kristy wasn’t sure if pets were permitted in the building or if Jennifer decided they weren’t permitted.  It didn’t matter.  Kristy was sure this arrangement was not going to work out.   There was something about Jennifer that wasn’t right.  What happened to the bubbly girl from yoga class?  Kristy checked her watch and waited.  She looked around the beautiful  room and wondered about the person sitting across from her that decorated it.  She checked her watch again and while carefully keeping both palms on the towel she slowly eased herself up off the sofa.  “I better get going or I’ll be late for my appointment.”
“Oh, sure,” said Jennifer as she stood and walked over to the front door.  She opened it and held on while Kristy went through.  “Thanks for the water,” said Kristy as the door closed loudly.
Whoa, thought Kristy.  I need to find another yoga class.
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Anonymous Comment: 
I actually know people like this, where they are so over-bearing and controlling. You wrote some non-fiction there. Lol
I was waiting for Jennifer to knock Kristy out and lock her in the ugly room. Liked the story.

Objective was:  Your character meets his/her new roommate in a shared apartment.  She thinks the roommate wants to control every little detail of the apartment and also wants to control our character's life.  Don't tell us any of this.  Show it.

I'm wondering if I shouldn't change the ending and take the commenters advise.  Maybe Jennifer should knock Kristy out and make the whole thing more sinister.  Or maybe I should just move on to the next subject.  ; )
TT

Catch up

I'm running behind on my writing lessons.  I should have finished lesson five because I've already received lesson six and after that there is only one more lesson.  They come weekly by email and I haven't started five yet and I should be on six.  I did read lesson five and I know what I need to do and what it covers but I haven't done anything yet.  I haven't put anything down on paper.  So I guess that counts as being behind and I need to catch up since I already have another lesson waiting and then another will arrive next Tuesday.
Well, I'm not really worried about it except that I want to be working on it and haven't.  It isn't like anyone is waiting on it so there isn't any pressure there but the idea and discipline to have a short lesson each week can be lost if I keep missing the week I should be working on it and they all get backed up.  But then no, I won't count my excuses. 
So then my choice is to work on it.  And then work on the next and then the final.  They all have been good exercises and I think they have reinforced things I needed to be reinforced.  You get as much as you put in to it and some of the lesson I've completed I feel pretty good about.  It's an easy thing to say when no one else if looking at them but hey...kick that thought away.  They are pretty good period.  I'll leave it at that.  They are writing exercises that I have been enjoying and learning from.  That is all I wanted from them so it's exactly fine.  Except that I am running behind.
TT

Download stats

I'm not sure you can view this status sheet above very well.  It is the inside, backdoor, dashboard, behind the scenes, information that I can access from the finestories.com website where I have published a few of the shortest works I have written.  These pieces are not even necessarily the best pieces I've written but I got carried away and put a couple out there...well, because I got carried away.
The thing that caught my eye was that I have 500 downloads total for all pieces.  That would be since 7/25/12 when I posted the first chapter of Rules of Writing.  (Then the carried away part kicked in and I posted Room for Cream? and Never Long Enough which I should have realized Never was the key word.  It wasn't a good idea to post that...although it got a few more downloads even if it was a first draft and not re-worked properly and I see where I can fix...typical.  There I go.  Again.  Edit, edit.  I can always make it better...
Then during the middle of last week there was conversation at work about how people were amazed that on the night of Halloween certain stores were making room to put up Christmas trees.  On Halloween night!  It reminded me of the poem I wrote about that...back in 2007!  And I got carried away again and posted it even though I knew I shouldn't.
You see, this writing site seems to be visited mostly by men.  This could be just a prejudice but I looked around at all the authors and well, there aren't many female names out there.  The stories that are downloaded the most and scored the highest are mainly military or fantasy or sci-fi themes.  Not all, but a good majority.  So beware the story that goes up that is 1)short, 2)written by female, 3)not a preferred theme.  So I didn't expect much activity on my stories (flash, shorts...whatever you call them).
And I wasn't expecting much of anything when I posted a Poem!  With a humorous Christmas theme!  But I've gotten 32 downloads since last Thursday...which is 5 days.  And I got feedback from one of those male readers that gave me a big thumbs up on it.  (Who actually takes the time to comment? - But he did)!
I know that number isn't anything for this site where pieces are downloaded by the 1000's and votes come in by the 100's.  But considering another female author has been posting her poems and not had the downloads...but that is beside the point.  It was only about me putting something out there again and not thinking too hard about it.  Besides, that will give me about 30 days before my poem leaves the New Stories category since I don't want to get carried away again and post something else too soon.
One other stat that caught my eye was that 5 days ago there were 430 on my homepage access count and now there is 456.  So somehow that number went up.  And I don't even remember what's on my homepage.  But I don't really want to check since that will add another number to my count.  And what does it matter anyway?  Not sure...will have to think on that one...but later.  It's a nice to know.  And any way you look at it...500 is such a good round number.