(Write it!)

Here I am. Trying to do what it is that I like to do.

But I'm stuck. STUCK like glue with nothing to bounce off of!

Typically when I start a short story I have some clue as to WHERE I am going. I even wrote the last scene first for a story last Fall. Now I am six pages (about 1,760 words) into one and it is starting to get away from me.

Normally I've hit my stride and everything is flowing like wine (maybe I need a bottle).

I'm rounding second and thinking about third--not with this story. And I actually started this story in May. It may be more complex than anything I've written--with imagined sections and dialogue between mother and child.

For Reference:

flash fiction = 1000 words or less

short-short story = 1001 to 2500 words

traditional short story = 2501 to 7500 words

novelette = 7501 to 17,500 words

a novella = 17,501 to 40,000 words

a novel = 40,001 words +

My work typically runs on average anywhere from 3,200-4,500 words. I have a couple 1,000 and below pieces as well. I guess it is a bit scary and exciting to be branching out.

But being stuck? Not a good feeling.

If I start typing the same line over and over and over and over and over and over and....hide all the axes before hiding in the bathroom.

"...It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster."

(Elizabeth Bishop)

~~J