The writing machine has run out of gas.  No words are pouring through the fingers to the keyboard, no stories are progressing.  So what do you do when you’re out of gas?  Get out and push.  And I’ve got a shove that will either gdet me going or get me run over by my own vehicle.

Several other writers have mentioned the flash fiction contest over at Brain Harvest.  I decided (yesterday) that I am going to write a new story and get into that contest by the deadline of…tomorrow.  How hard can it be to write a 750-word story in a day?  Ha!

It’s not so much about winning the contest, it’s about clearing the fuel lines so I can start producing again.  So far I am part wa through my first attempt, placing me at about 1500-words.  Yikes!  I had planned to write the story then go back through for heavy cutting, but I may have gone too far here.  It’s tough to put a unique twist on story’s from Strange Horizons’ dreaded cliche list in so few words.

So maybe I’ll wander back to the list and think a little more.  I will get this done.  I must.  Then I’ll repair a few other stories and get my submission list back up to snuff.  I don’t even have my WotF submission ready to go.  Not long ago I had a line of manuscripts ready for that envelope.  Time to be a writer again.  Otherwise, why am I here?