We weren’t able to post anything last week, and this week we both took significantly more than the allotted time to complete this exercise. Rationally, we know that nobody’s hurt by this and everything is okay, but it still feels like failure. It feels like one of the try-fail cycles that the exercise talks about. But I’m trying to think of them, not so much as try-fail cycles, as try-learn cycles.
For example, I’ve learned the differences between a mammoth and a mastodon. I’ve also learned that research takes time away from writing.
In fact, the prompts were not that difficult:
- Character: Skier
- Object: Bowl
- Genre/Tone: Historical.
Moreover, I’m actually kinda satisfied with the story that resulted; it needs a lot of work, but it’s basically coherent and even has a couple exciting moments. I might use it as an exercise in editing sometime. I really liked Megan’s dark survival story, too, and I liked that we both took “bowl” in poetic rather than literal directions. So in the end, I’m happy to have plenty to learn from in this week’s writing.
I hope you’re learning things from this, too, and even more from your own writing. If you’re joining us in these (or any other exercises), feel free to share or link in the comments!
Continue reading “Friday Freewriting – July 16, 2021 – Robert”