It was a struggle finding time to write a FridayFlash yesterday. I've been pretty well swamped lately with demands on time and energy. I hardly have time to write this blog post on what (in another universe) would be a quiet Saturday morning. Since I'm so double- and triple-booked, mentally and physically, why did I write a FridayFlash? After all, as John Wiswell noted, there will be more Fridays. Why not take a week off?
Well...
I haven't missed a week since I posted "Nearer Comes The Moon", way back in September of 2009. I've posted ~180 stories, with no gaps in the run. The stories have changed, gotten happy & sad, oblique and obvious. Some have been experimental tone-poems, some have been goofy-assed shaggy dog stories. Some have been stunning in their power and beauty, others were clumsy crap. Some have gotten thirty, forty, even fifty comments, others have gotten one or two. They've been depressing and angsty of late... maybe the funny & happy ones will come back soon, maybe not.
The point is, everybody always stresses that you have to MAKE the time to write, that it has to be a commitment, that it has to come first. I keep this weekly appointment so that, even when the world is crashing down around me and I am fighting off ravening hordes, arms aching from swinging the bloody scimitar... I still have time to stop and light a fresh candle that will hold back the final darkness.
Keeping the flame alive is easy when times are good. It's when life wants to snuff it out that you have to be willing to fight for what you believe in. That new novel is coming to life at hardly a hundred words a week, but the FridayFlash is the unmoving pole star.
So, the answer is "no". I'm not missing you, FridayFlash. Not this week, not next week, nor the week after that.
||| Comments are welcome |||
Help keep the words flowing.
Well...
I haven't missed a week since I posted "Nearer Comes The Moon", way back in September of 2009. I've posted ~180 stories, with no gaps in the run. The stories have changed, gotten happy & sad, oblique and obvious. Some have been experimental tone-poems, some have been goofy-assed shaggy dog stories. Some have been stunning in their power and beauty, others were clumsy crap. Some have gotten thirty, forty, even fifty comments, others have gotten one or two. They've been depressing and angsty of late... maybe the funny & happy ones will come back soon, maybe not.
The point is, everybody always stresses that you have to MAKE the time to write, that it has to be a commitment, that it has to come first. I keep this weekly appointment so that, even when the world is crashing down around me and I am fighting off ravening hordes, arms aching from swinging the bloody scimitar... I still have time to stop and light a fresh candle that will hold back the final darkness.
Keeping the flame alive is easy when times are good. It's when life wants to snuff it out that you have to be willing to fight for what you believe in. That new novel is coming to life at hardly a hundred words a week, but the FridayFlash is the unmoving pole star.
So, the answer is "no". I'm not missing you, FridayFlash. Not this week, not next week, nor the week after that.
||| Comments are welcome |||
Help keep the words flowing.
I really like this post, Tony. I need something like this for myself, something that I can't and won't miss. Maybe it's time for me to dive into the Friday Flash universe.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the excellent work, man.
You inspire me, Tony. I need to drive that first stake again and make the commitment. If you can do it, I can do it. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFriday Flash is, by far, the best (and, ironically, the loosest-knit) collection of writers I have ever come across on the net or in person. I'm glad you're working on your novel. But yeah, there will be another Friday next week.
ReplyDeleteI respect your drive, Tony, and hope you didn't take my words as dismissal or discouragement. I've been going daily for years, though I often consider giving up the ghost for all the taxations of my daily life. I'm glad you were able to hit out a Friday Flash you were proud of in time.
ReplyDelete"...in the noisy confusion of life..." it is good to be able to keep such a regular heartbeat of stories, Tony.
ReplyDeleteMy hat's off to you.
I think it's good that you find time to keep writing friday flash. I must admit though to taking the odd week off myself, or if I'm bogged down in writing something else like my Tuesday Serial I will write microfiction for a friday flash.
ReplyDeleteWhatever keeps us writing is good.