I’ve been doing the PAD (Poem-A-Day) challenge this April with a bunch of friends online.  It’s been fun, even though I’ve missed more than a few days.

So I could say to myself, “Carol, how do you think you’re going to tackle a story a day if you can’t keep up with a poem a day?  I try not to listen to that voice.  Really.  It’s negative, dwelling on past facts rather than future possibilities, so to it I say – Hogwash.  I want to try this May challenge, I need to try this, and that’s that.

Oh, my main point here.   Poetry has helped in that it’s gotten me writing more in April than I have all year.  That’s a very positive thing.  The other thing I’ve found is that the more poetry I compose, the better able I am to come up with “just the right word” in my fiction writing.  Words seem come more easily, naturally, when I’ve been penning lines of verse.  Poetry is an exact art, and that art requires we have the perfect word at our fingertips, ready to travel through pen or keyboard to paper or screen.

So I’m going to continue writing my poetry, although much less in May.  It’s time to crank up the fiction volume, get those plotting, setting, and character juices flowing.   In just a few days, it’s time to try writing a story a day.   I know I can do this.  At least I will try.

Over the past few months, I’ve been struggling, OK, agonizing over not writing.  I’m going through some difficult life issues, and writing comes real hard.

But as I keep reading Julie’s e-mails and posts, I feel the push and need to write, and write with all I’ve got.  There is no other choice.  I could wait and wait, then be thoroughly disappointed with myself that I didn’t try hard enough.

So, the answer to my own question?  Yes, I’m ready.  I may not make it the whole month, but I’m going to try.   I want to be a good, no, a great writer of flash, short story, and novel, and this is not going to happen on its own. It needs me, and I need it.

So May, here I come, with pen and paper ready, and fingers poised on keyboard.

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