It had been five years since I last participated in the AtoZ Challenge. I wondered if I had forgotten everything I had learned that long ago. In simple words: Yes, I did!
The rules of participation were the same and straight forward. The only question was: do I have the creativity to write two submissions, keeping both unique?
No, I couldn’t. I thought I could write two submissions, but the second URL would not cooperate with me. Two URLs from the same blog would not work. I had to drop it, taking a huge loss before I even started. The second submission meant a lot more to me than another daily of creative writing about Rabbit’s mysterious “sister” Nostalgia.
That’s right … daily. A little bit every day. Churning out a month’s worth of words in a few hours, a month in advance is not a challenge for me. Daily is/ was.
I found waiting until the rush of the day was done and things got quiet, made it easier to think; and with my wife as proofreader, editor and critic, her input was priceless — until characters started getting shot at!
For example, when a beloved character was shot and stuffed into the trunk/boot of his car [in DEMOTED – April 5th]:
WIFE: He isn’t dead, is he?
ME: “I don’t know yet. I haven’t written the next part.
But, the real thunderhead came much later, when three other characters were shot and one was hospitalized [in POSTUMOUSLY – April 19th]
WIFE: “No, NO. NO! She can’t die! I like her – Kill somebody else!
So, I stayed up late and tweaked POSTUMOUSLY. A different “She” died in the first one’s place. (Long story short, the second “She” was a bigger favourite.).
Once I reached April 21st, RETRIBUTION, the characters literally took over! I had to figure out what to include and what to keep for later.
Wrapping up, I hope the story was interesting and kept you coming back for more.
Next year, I hope to re-submit my other piece.