| Friday May 10th 2002 Amazing how two writing experiences can be so different from each other. I agonized over the first story I wrote for my writing class for two weeks. I wrote the second one in one day. I had the first one's plot all worked out. I wrote the first sentence of the second one and said 'okay, what the heck is going on here?'. I had the first one's title all worked out. MS Word grabbed the first line of the second one, I shortened it a bit, and decided it was actually pretty appropriate. I'm a bit concerned I'm going to acquire a reputation as a writer of tragedies, given I have two for two so far. I didn't do that intentionally, but I think I'll intentionally steer clear of them if I write a third, just to show how 'wonderfully versatile' - and not consistently depressing - I can be. As a reader, I actually don't like tragedies that much, so go figure. Maybe they're just the easiest way to write a jarring ending in a short story format. I'm used to having a lot more room to build up plot complexity, characters, etc. Big, dramatic happy endings in that format are easier to work surprises into. In other news, I bought a pair of rollerblades yesterday, size 10. I only tried them on the once to see if they fit, but I can already get a sense of how much fun these things are gonna be. Meant to buy the knee pads and elbow pads, but I forgot (me, forget to do something? naw!!). All the jokes I've been making about ambulances, hospitals, etc. are starting to sound a little more ominous. Pretty much no progress on the ads front, lately. I've come up with one that gets me some replies, but then I don't know where to go from there and conversation kind of ... fades away. How many messages back and forth before you share you name? arrange a time to meet? etc. Still trying to get a handle on those things. Found another lead in 'real life', though - and I haven't a clue how to handle it or what to do with it. Ads become a bit addictive; you start liking all the information you're getting up front, and anyone you meet outside of that doesn't seem worth the risk or the trouble. There's other unique things in this particular case too, but ... yeah, I call this my online diary, but you don't really think I'm sharing my deepest thoughts for just anybody to read, do yah? Use your imagination (and if you get any good short story ideas in the process, kindly forward them). |