As many of you are aware, I participated in No Novel November. I did so without explanation or warning after an extended hiatus from writing anything. But I did it, 30 days of writing microfiction to writing prompts provided by Ellie Di Julio, a friend and fellow writer whom I greatly admire. I don’t know if I used “whom” correctly there, but I’m sure she would. (Check her out, buy her books: http://elliedijulio.com/)
I’ve always been of the mindset that I would never not be writing, so to take such a long break from it was a little bit out of character. I’m not going to say it’s unprecedented because I wasn’t writing for a long time, but once I settled on “I’m a writer” I pretty much lived it for years. But I took a break and dove back in after the invitation from Ellie.
And it felt good!
It felt really good.
I was thoroughly enjoying being behind the keyboard again, clacking away and crafting characters in their own little worlds with their own little stories. It was invigorating. As soon as I read the day’s prompt, I would almost immediately have an idea for a story and would start tearing away at it. I was voracious and unstoppable.
My personal favorite is probably “Mightier” and I feel like I will be expanding upon that in the future.
But as the month wore on, as predicted, I lost steam. I’m willing to bet that you could pretty easily pick out the stories where I just wasn’t inspired. I’m not going to do it for you, but I know there are some that I wasn’t completely happy with.
OK, I’ll level one of them. I was least pleased with “Punishment.” Done late at night, not given the attention that it needed, and just poorly executed, in my opinion.
But I did it. All 30 prompts without fail. And I’m glad I did. It was hard, but it was good to get back into writing. I do plan on writing more often again now that it’s done. I’ve started other pursuits, so it won’t be my main focus, but now that I’ve got the bug again, I will be trying to do it regularly.
For me, this month was a boot camp to get my butt back in shape quickly. I had let my writing muscles go without exercise for a long time and they now feel limber and strong again.
So, I guess at the end of all this, I just want to thank Ellie for being my drill sergeant and whipping me into shape. I also want to thank everyone who read my work and follows my stuff, it means a lot to me.
I didn’t do it for the fancy badge, but I’m proud to have it and am honored to be a part of the group that participated in this event.
Keep on writing those stories, my comrades-in-arms. I will, too.
Also, check this thread for my fellow writers:
Aaron Nieson 
Aaron, it’s great that you are writing! Keep up your stories! Tia Chole
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