write a short story.

Not 10 minutes after despairing over a lack of a plot, it came to me. I saw my character in my head, and he looked tired. I asked him what he needed, and he told me. He needs the world to hear his story.

I can’t wait to tell it for him.

OK. I have this character in my head, but can’t figure out how to build a story around him. I’ve fleshed him out. He’s ready to go to work.

Maybe the plot will come later tonight.

From Creating Short Fiction, I did the following:

• Observe a living being (plant, sleeping dog, person, etc, etc) and watch them until you learn something about them. Write a paragraph describing that.
• People watch. Find someone / a couple on the subway and note things about them. Describe them well in your notebook.

The purpose of both of the exercises is to help you learn to see.

Tomorrow I will begin working on some of the beginner exercises from Creating Short Fiction. No excuses.

I had coffee with my friend Sumana a couple of weeks ago, and we agreed to try our hand at each writing a short story by October first.

I’m nervous, as I haven’t written any short fiction in a number of years.