15 good experiences and 1 expanded

15 Good Experience Stories

1. Learning the music and singing in Carnegie Hall
2. Completed a Novella based in British Isles during the Dark Ages
3. Painting a 25th Anniversary gift for my parents
4. Gave a surprise backyard birthday tea party for my best friend and she had no idea!
5. Turned scrap fabric salvaged from a chair and a $4 satin sheet into a formal gown
6. Writing the plays for the Renaissance Feast and Theatre
7. Scoring the winning point after a stalemate in a volleyball game
8. Finished chopping and stacking a huge pile of wood on a hot day as a kid
9. Lead worship on the fly when none of the other vocalists showed up
10. Stage managed for the first time for "Everyman"
11. Organized poems into a chronological poetry book
12. Filmed and edited a short film featuring special effects including green screen work
13. Acted as coordinator's assistant for Oregon Women's ministries conference
14. Choreographer and performer in "Grease" and "Alice in Wonderland"
15. Performed as Mary Magdalene, most heart-wrenching dramatic role I have ever played

Writing My Novella

In the fall of 2010, I heard my creative writing professor assign our class a short story. Sitting next to my friends Wayne and Alycia, who were passionate about writing, as I was. We all grew in excitable movement as professor Adams shared details on the assignment.

She told us to take out one piece of paper. For the next few minutes we wrote whatever entered our minds. Some vented frustrations that would become the message of their story. Some wrote little, already intending to throw it away in dissatisfaction. In my mind, the forest surrounding our campus grew, and became more wild. I imagined characters in wool tartan running through those trees. My hand could not write fast enough and when the professor told me to stop, it was gut-wrenching. 

Over the next few weeks a story poured out of me. I spent hours researching what the British Isles were like during the Dark Ages. I turned in a draft early, begging for my professor to read it and give me any tips or correct any mistakes. I took into account editing suggestions from my friends as well. When it came time for the story to be turned in, what most students handed in was anywhere between five to seven pages. What I handed in was much longer. My friends and I all got so engrossed in the story that the three of us turned in stories that were at least twice as long. 

After my professor read it and gave me full credit for my work, she asked, along with others that have read it since, "what happens next?" My original plan was to leave the audience with a slight sense of closure without forcing a conclusion upon them. I left it up to their judgement. However, with so many asking for even more of my story, I gave in and commenced on weaving part two of my tapestry. What was a fifteen page paper when I turned it in (single spaced, of course) slowly, over the next few months, became a story over FIFTY pages long, full of far more scope than anything I had planned during that first free write where my main character first emerged. 

Once I had spent so much time on the rough draft, I could not leave it rough. I then dove in to editing, and completed my first edit this summer. Once I go through the pages for content and characterization, my aim is to hand-bind the book in leather myself, have it published or at least 
copyrighted, and hold the rights to make a movie out of 
it eventually.

Until next time, as the Irish say,

“May those who love us, love us; 
and those who don't love us, 
may God turn their hearts; 
and if He doesn't turn their hearts, 
may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping.”