Writing

Have you ever written something that needed to be posted at a given time and it was just horrible?  And you just couldn't fix it?  Most of us have.

I wrote a poem for Dr Seuss Day over a week ago and it was just a mess!  The idea was good but I had too many topics in it.  Cat In The Hat, falling from the ladder, Alice In Wonderland, etc.  Too much on my mind, I suppose...

I sent it to a friend (Ann of Zoolatry) asking for some help.  It came back much improved.  Inspired by the improvements, I kept some and changed some.  I fixed some rhythmic mistakes, so it reads better.  It's better than it was.  You can read it HERE.

In the same way, on another site I visit (not a "writing" site) someone suggested writing a first chapter (no full story or conclusion required).  It required a set up for a story, an object someone could sit on, and a single line from another character.  

I write short stories sometimes, so I figured all I had to do was drop the ending, make sure someone sat on something, and add a comment from someone else.  But I used a short story written before and reworked it.  Nothing said it had to be new.  But it had been included in a group "vanity press" book, so I decided that was improper.  And I couldn't come up with a new plot.  So I'm not submitting it.

I used to play chess a lot.  When I was younger, I could up with complicated attacks using spaces just vacated by a previous move.  Those are harder to detect.  About 10 years ago, I discovered I couldn't organize attacks any more.  Creativity was failing me.  I could defend well, and defense is important.  But at some point you actually have to checkmate the opponent to get a win.  A great defense usually leads to a draw.  I don't play to get a draw.

Getting older sucks...