The 78th Annual Writer's Digest Competition

Well, it's here again and I'm desparately trying to come up with something to enter. I have two potential categories: genre short stories and poetry. But, I only have until June 1 to do it. Can I? Should I try? I have so many other obligations right now, the same obligations that have been hampering my writing in the first place. Do I dare take the time to really get into something deeply enough to justify entry in the contest? Right now I'm just grabbing a few quick minutes to jot down my thoughts here to soothe my pain. But this would take real dedication - and time. I could recycle something, but it can't have been published before, even on a social network. I guess time will tell. Perhaps inspiration will strike and then nothing will stand in my way. We can only hope.

A Creative Black Hole

Like many of you out there, I'm completely blocked. I haven't written anything creative in many months. I'm afraid I've just let life's demands get in the way. My house needs work before I can sell it - which needs to be soon - and I'm home schooling my son. I've begun I feel guilty if I'm not pursuing one or the other of those two endeavors. Hence, no writing is getting done. I even feel guilty doing this now, but I need an outlet - a way to vent my frustration. You see, I have already written a short book, for NaNoWriMo last November, and it's screaming at me to work on it. It needs revision and fleshing out. It's absolutely languishing! Worse, I realize just how long it has been since I have written anything new, original. I did write a couple of stories last month for a man, but the character was his, I just made up the story within his preconceived world.

I haven't written a poem in so long, I'm not sure I remember how. I shut down my popular poetry challenge group to spend more time on the house and I dearly miss it. At least with that I got to read other peoples' creative work once a week. I'm going to have to start writing again soon or things are going to get ugly.