Writerly Desperation
A Story Every Day in 2024 Dec 5th ?/366
I realise I'm out of practice but I think, "What the hell?" But as I sit, the conviction sinks in that it's not something I can do easily at all. The words just won't come.
I feel the rising panic. Its tendrils tickle as it ekes its way through me, electric impulse led. I want my brain to kickstart but it's dead of ideas. Tumbleweed rolls past on the barren plains of my imagination, a dust devil swirling, pirouetting its vacuous grains off into the distance. Dystopian! Scorched Earth! I could write something bleak as my mind's images suggest but who wants to read that shit right now? I don't.
I think about my day. I fed the birds. I could write a children's story about little Tom Tit and Reggie Robin but nah. I'm not in the mood for that. Too twee. Maybe it could be an Aardman style thriller à la Watership Down but with birds, where gangs of jackdaws and magpies try to control the food supply with squirrels for generals but the little birds fight back and win the day with an air display of such magnitude that the Dam Busters would be proud! Or maybe not.
I went to the dentist. Killer dentist, intent on using the teeth of his victims to make new false teeth for other patients in a story entitled Enamel Animal. Maybe but with 366 words, could I build sympathy for the psychotic toothpuller? I think not.
At least I know I'm not suffering from writer's (writers'?) block. I do have a severe case of writer's desperation (singular - just for me). So maybe I should write about that and make it as bizarre and individual as possible and leave it to the reader to decide whether it's the wild ramblings of a writer becoming unhinged who can no longer write to form with any sort of consistency.
Or whether this is the conceit of a writer very much aware of their ability to write puerile nonsense to a word count and just needing to produce something a little different for a day before the end of a microfiction challenge finally arrives.
Reader, you decide.
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364 words
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Comments (20)
Amazing and genuinely felt perspective. Congratulations on the Leaderboard placement and this great view of things as they wind down for you.
Wooohooooo congratulations on placing in the Leaderboard! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
I love the relatability of this Rachel!! Happy I finally got around to it and congrats on making honourable mention this week!!
So close. An amazing feat. Congratulations on the leaderboard placement as well
You’re nearly there, Rachel! What an impressive feat it will be (and already is)!
Come join us on the sports desk. These problems evaporate with every deadline. And resorting to cliché is entirely acceptable, except for where it's actively encouraged. Only trouble is, you end up writing the same story over and over, because ultimately every game produces the same outcome - someone wins, someone loses. Rinse. Repeat.
You did it! Another microfiction closer to the close of the year ✅… as well as survived the dentist 😵💫.
Enamel Animal, if you write that, I'll read the heck out of it! Also, I love how you fictionised this and slapped it into your a story a day challenge! Brilliant! Hehehehehe
Do not despair, intrepid scribbler! Even exhausted, you can weave a sympathetic and witty world of words, as the foregoing attests. We are in the final phase of publish or perish! You will see 2025 dawn with pride and joy!
Enamel Animal! Ha! I think this is a goer for sure! Honestly, I have NO idea how you write such breathtakingly good stuff EVERY day. The end is in sight. I think the three of you have been awesome writing something every day for a year. Wow.
A feeling we all get, yet you manage to pull through Keep on writing
A giant bird - you can put all sorts of good or bad in that - poop and seed and flying 🤣🤣
Rd - Oh, this is for the Birds. You know these just pop out of you on auto-drive. Take a break - get a less-worn house coat/slippers at the thrift shop and scoot along back to us. I'll be glad to do a 'celebratory' sketch of you in your attire; at a discounted rate. Just - Jb -
This is a really eloquent window into your creative process and headspace; I really, really appreciate pieces like this. Thank you for sharing, Rachel!
I've decided that this is the product of a very talented writer who has, over hundreds of days of practice, gained the ability to spin straw into gold. Manically clever!
I don't know how you do this at all! The writing fairies only ever visit me in fits and starts. The consistency from you and LC is heroic in its constancy.
I loved this little rant, Rachel.
I know this feeling. Michelle might be right a little break or maybe a different location to write. It's hard to move away from. 🩵r
Wild ramblings for breakfast! Breakfast of champions™.
I think it's a case of the writer needing a short break!