The Flight
September 19, 1999
10:05 p.m.
  The seats in this TWA plane are a bit tighter than I'm used to. At first I think it's just me, but another guy comments on it before I tell him what I'm thinking, so it can't be just me. Whatever. I spend the first leg of the flight fishing for story ideas--mostly doodling. I spend the second leg mostly reading Asimov's. Didn't make it through the entire thing, but got pretty close. I was going to wade into Connie Willis' novella, then realized my eyes bugged out from general fatigue, and I decided I should wait. Am I the only one who chooses to read short fiction magazines by the size of the stories? I almost always read the shortest pieces first, and the longest pieces last. Anyway. First meetings this year are not much different from last year. Everyone is sorting out who everyone else is. We all apparently wrote pretty long stories this year, since there are no "published finalists" this year. So that means no one will return this coming year--Scott, Amy, and I are apparently a new record for returning finalists, so it appears our record is safe for another session. After everyone arrived and got settled, they put us through the first day of the workshop. Excellent stuff. Personally, I find the quizzical looks the concept of fast writing vs. slow writing recieves to be a constant source of intrigue. Yes, I struggle over a lot of my stories these days, but I have just as many that get "shunked" out in a day or two. I should say that I wasn't expecting to do the full first day's work in the evening. I was tired, and a bit fuzzy of the brain as I sat through it. But, it's probably for the best that they got started fast and furious. By the end of the evening, of course, they had a collection of pretty wrung out writers on their hands. Regardless, I've gotten my first object, and I've plotted out a story. Now I'm debating whether to attempt to write it tonight or wait until tomorrow. Maybe I'll do a little of both. My fingers are itching to hit the keyboard with it, but I'm admittedly a bit brain dead. I'll let you know what I decide tomorrow, okay?   Just a quick plug for the true LA half of the Collins brothers. My kid bro's band has a spot on the MP3 web site. Check 'em out. Listen to their stuff. It's pretty good--and he didn't even have to pay me to say it.
 Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins | ||||
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