When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid. -- Audre Lorde

Start Writing: Make a Scene

The last exercise required a lot of your logical brain. Today you get to go with the flow again. Grab a stack of index cards. Write one sentence/one fragment descriptions of some of the scenes you might include in your story.

A few pointers:

• Don’t worry about chronology with this exercise. Write one sentence descriptions of scenes that you think might show up in your final draft in whatever order they come up for you.
• Don’t worry about coming up with every scene. We don’t need every scene yet, just enough to build a scaffolding for your writing. Many will be added and removed as you write and edit.
• You don't need to be certain that this scene will make it into the final draft. Many will be thrown out in later edits. Write freely at this stage!
• Don’t worry about how many scenes you write in this exercise. The number of scenes will ultimately guide you on how long your story will be, but let the story come out in its natural form without mandating a number of scenes/length. (For future reference: You need at least 5 scenes for a short story and at least 55 for a novel.)

For example, your stack of cards today could look something like this:

• she starts working at the restaurant
• she meets Jim when he comes in after work
• when she finds out she is pregnant
• when she discovers Jim is married
• giving birth to Nathan scene - only mom and sister there
• moving in with mom after birth
• Nathan's autism diagnosis -at the dr office 
• when she drove away and thought she might not come back
• coming back home to Nathan
• Nathan meets Jim 

You have the option of reviewing your work from the previous 2-5 days or just winging it. (Neither method is better than the other -- just go with your gut feeling on what you want to do.) Try to have fun with this! The goal is that this is a very brainstorming, free flowing process - not a rigid and structured one.

Great work! We will play with these a bit more tomorrow.

I write because I am alone and move through the world alone. No one will know what has passed through me... I write because there are stories that people have forgotten to tell, because I am a woman trying to stand up in my life... I write out of hurt and how to make hurt okay; how to make myself strong and come home, and it may be the only real home I'll ever have. -- Natalie Goldberg