NaNoWriMo Day 6

Words Today: 2,603

Total Words: 12,840

Took on some more “creative” fiction writing today, which was essentially mining my own Swiss-cheesy memory for events and description. A small kernel of an idea is forming, taking these little moments, these washes of time, and wrapping them up in a “what if” bow. It wouldn’t be a story of my life any more than the starting blocks are where a swim meet takes place.

There’s no story yet, just a big question.

What if.

I wrote about half of my words in these descriptions. They are scorching. The past is often painful, tinged with regret. That 20/20 hindsight can be cruel in its stark light. Adding to that pain is not knowing where these particular words will go, what I should do with them, how I can both soften and sharpen them into a story that is not me but is mine and ours.

However, a prompt took me on a not-unpleasant journey down the rabbit hole that is Ancestry.com. (Even my own age was listed incorrectly, and I’m pretty sure I know my own birthday.)

My other writing is for another bloggy piece. I don’t know why I thought I would be able to produce a quality blog post every day here. I’m not. But I’m writing things that I can work on and craft and post.

I think starting in December I will aim for one good post a week here, with of course the option to write more as needed. I kind of like using this space as a record of writing and also as a record of living, and the lenses through which I filter both.

I’m a little shaken, still, from the mining of my past, but excited to reframe and use it for something wholly satisfying.