Well, I totally blew up after May 15th. I was trying to do too much too soon (and I write stories that are far too long). But it was still completely worth it to me. For one thing, it proved to me that I can write a story in a day. And that I can do it several days in a row. For another, it provided me with several stories that, after rewrites, I should be able to sell. So this has been a positive experience, even though I did melt down halfway through the month.
So, for the last few days of the month, I’ll post excerpts from the stories I did after the meltdown. Here’s the one for May 29th.
This one’s fantasy. Excerpt:
I should have known that following the map I found in the old book would be a mistake. Well, perhaps not a mistake, but that it would lead to more excitement than I was prepared for.
It started when I was perusing the used books in Pukash-Genneti’s stall, like I do every morning. I usually can’t afford them, but he doesn’t keep me from looking, because I buy when I have the coin. He’s not one of the people who think women shouldn’t be scholars.
This morning, Pukash-Genneti had a box full of dusty old books he’d just acquired from some dead aristocrat’s estate. He said there had been a donkey-load of them, but that Bemmum the Rareties Dealer had bought most of them. I definitely couldn’t afford to buy anything from Bemmum–no humble scribe could. He catered to the nobles.
I took books out of the box one at a time. Most of them were hastily copied versions of classics–I winced at some of the mistakes I saw just on the few pages I checked. But one was older, not a cheap copy. Bemmum must have missed this one–it looked like a genuine Meluga. In my head, I counted over what coins I had, and where they had to be spent. I’d paid the lodging for the month already, and if I only ate two meals a day until I was paid next. . . .
Excellent!
So glad to hear about the discoveries you made. I’d call that a resounding success!