I’m sure some of you noted that missed a week of posting a story. I’d like to take just a minute to explain what was going on during that time as I feel it was a significant “non-post” week. At first it just felt frustrating and painful, but out of that frustration came several good lessons for me to learn early on.
Lesson 1: Writing is a process and that process differs from writer to writer. I learned I need an outline. I need to have a structure in mind when I set out because that frees me up to write particular scenes. Having a general direction eliminates a lot of the head-scratching that can mess with the flow of my writing. I learned a few years back that I need outlines to write successfully (and stay sane while doing it); this was a lesson I needed to re-learn.
Lesson 2: Writing is easy—stories are hard. I had set out with a few things I wanted to accomplish with the butterfly theme that was my daughters’ request (how can you turn down two sweet little girls that want a butterfly story?). I just had a hard time coming up with a story that accomplished those goals. Maybe I shouldn’t have such goals and morals to impart and just let them develop with the story. Yes, that sounds good right? I’ll let you know how that goes in story four. (I’ll explain why not in story three at the end of this post)
Lesson 3: It’s hard to write a bad story. I said early on that I was just going to pump these stories out even if I thought they were terrible…that it would be good for my development as a writer. Well, I still think that’s true—I just didn’t realize how hard that would be to do. To finish a story that you just aren’t that excited about is really hard. I am glad that I did eventually finish “Danielle Butterfly” because in the end I didn’t think it was terrible, but I did about halfway through. I just didn’t know where to take the characters and I was trying to accomplish everything in a short format. When I gave each scene the space it needed, the writing got much better. I still think it’s pretty long for the simplistic, elegant fable I wanted to create…I think the prologue that I enjoyed writing so much will have to go. I bet I end up using it elsewhere someday though. 
For week four I’m going to work on the final draft of a story I started a long time ago and promised to write even longer ago for my wife. If you’d like to read this story (and I think you’ll really like this one…I like it a good deal better than Danielle Butterfly), shoot me an email, post a comment, or facebook me your EMAIL ADDRESS. I’ll use them to create a group so that I can email you my future stories. I’m a little uncomfortable posting stories that I may publish on a public blog, this is especially true of the next story as I’m going to start seeking an agent to take it on very soon. Thanks for all the comments and encouragements I’ve been receiving along this difficult and rewarding project.
It’s hard to write a bad story when you’re as AWESOME as my husband!
(I know you didn’t mean that sentence that way, but it was pretty funny when I read it at first before seeing the rest of the paragraph…)