It’s March Break. Y’all are getting just a quick note this week.

Editing my mother’s diaries was a labour of love. I felt her words were worthy to be published. But… given a choice, I choose the labour of crafting a story from a vague collection of ideas. That’s what I’m working on now.

I am entering 5,000 words of fiction into a contest sponsored by ProWriting Aid. There will be thousands upon thousands of entries. I do not expect to win or place, it’s the process of crafting a story and meeting the March 31 deadline that counts for me.

The 5,000 words are supposed to be the first 5,000 words of your book. I had been working on an idea for a literary fiction novel but hadn’t yet written the first sentence. My skills aren’t quite there yet. Instead, for this contest, I’m expanding a short story I wrote previously into the first two chapters of a book. The story is what I’m calling a dramedy-thriller, which, if I’m honest with myself, is well-suited to my personality. This level of writing is well within my grasp.

Most commercial fiction is about 80,000 words long. After March 31, I’ll only have another 75,000 to go. There’s no reason not to continue with this and I’ll tackle the more serious literary work afterwards. That’s not procrastination, it’s practice.

It feels good to be creating again. My sleep has suffered a bit; I can’t drop off because I’m constructing sentences. There will be no blog at all next week–like a private school, I need two weeks for March Break.

A gentle reminder to save the date: Two events to launch “I Had a Swell Time” are in the calendar; April 23, 2:30 p.m. at Masonville Library in London, and April 28, 7:00 p.m. at Leonor in Stratford. More information and how to register will follow in subsequent posts.

Keep your joy.

Posted every Sunday, unless it’s a holiday or summertime.

Contentment is for Cows: Short and sweet reflections on life’s complications.