Thursday, February 2, 2012

Writing Challenge Day 1

Yesterday was day 1 of the 29 day writing challenge. I am enjoying the daily pep talks that are emailed to us because writing family history has a slightly different lingo than the other writing projects I have taken part in. It is also fun to pop into the forum and participate in the discussions there. So far 54 of us are signed up in the forum, but I believe there are 3 times that number who are actually taking the challenge.

I was going to begin my story with the sentence, "July 18, 1989 was a day of endings and beginnings. It marked the end of my mom's life at age 69 in a tragic car accident in the middle of Kansas, and the beginning of my realization of opportunities lost." From there I would delve into how I became interested in genealogy and my path from here to Ireland. Lynn, moderator of the forum and the genius behind the challenge, asked if I had considered beginning with the car accident itself. Truthfully, I hadn't. After all these years that day is still so painful to relive. The day after the accident and through the days up to and including mom's funeral I wrote about what was going on. I have 11 pages hand-written on notebook paper describing what we were going through. I decided to begin my family history with the first paragraph written on July 18, 1989.

Yesterday I wrote 536 words. I would like to continue to write around 500 words per day during this challenge. After 29 days, that would give me a very nice start for my story. Here's to a fruitful day 2.

5 comments:

Life Goes On said...

My thoughts will be with you as you right your story. I lost my mom in 1998. Not from an accident but from getting older and frail. She was still to young to leave us and that first year was so painful. I am new to writting so this challenge is interesting. I will be back to read more about what you have written here later. My family blog is www.myfamilyrootsrundeep.blogspot.com and I will post there some I am sure.

Kim Wolterman said...

Thanks for your kind words. Nothing prepares you for the loss of your mother, no matter how old you are. I have begun following your blog as well. I look forward to taking this journey with you!

Cassmob (Pauleen) said...

Good luck with your writing process Kim. Sounds like it's going to be opening some old wounds but hopefully will also be cathartic. BTW I've just ordered your house history book even though I'm not in the US. It will be interesting to see how you've approached it.

Mrs. Wryly said...

A sad and tragic ending becomes a powerful beginning....

Even if you are not using the sentence to start your story, the part about oppportunities lost is very powerful, too.

Write on.

Kim Wolterman said...

Thanks Pauleen. Did you order the ebook or the print book? Good luck with your writing as well!