Courtney brought up a good point in her response to my Project Runway post. [And, no, Jenny, I wasn't talking about you.] She talked about how some of the contestants freak out when asked to step out of their comfort zone. Same thing happens on Top Chef. Courtney's argument was that chefs, designers and writers need to be able to step outside their boxes once in a while.

Folks, that's why you see prompts and challenges on this and other blogs from the Pirates. That's why UGWP does round stories. That's why we have played a card game where you pick the cards that you will build the story on. Not because we think that one day Jenny will figure out how to market a Top Chef kind of show involving wrters (although that would be groovy), but because we all get those stray ideas that don't fit into our usual genres. Or maybe we realize that one of our story ideas would work better as a screen or stage play than a novel. Or we really, really want to enter that short story contest with the big prize payout. If those muscles are already warmed up, it's easier to engage them when the time comes.

There's another aspect to what Courtney said. That the contestants are freaked out by the twists the shows throw at them. On more than one occasion, I've said, "Don't they watch this show?" Because they always have twists, often the same ones from season to season.

Which comes back to research. I know I've talked about it before, but it bears repeating. DO the research. Want to submit to the Super Groovy Magazine Contest? First, read the guidelines. Second, look at a recent issue. If they only publish hyper-literary stories between 3,000-5,000 words, don't submit a 7,000 word fantasy piece. Same goes with agents.

Two reality shows about seemingly unrelated jobs that are both, apparently, unrelated to writing. But I've been able to adapt lessons from both into my writing. Are there other shows that have given you insight into your craft? Movies? Music? Something else?

Marathons

We interrupt our review of the new television season by Jenny-decree. Although, I don't remember hearing said decree, but I may have been busy with pizza.

The writing marathon was a very good time. I wrote an okay start to the Vesta novel during three of the five writing periods, which was sort of against the rules. Of course, so was walking around in a clump of 8. Excuse me, two groups of 4 together. But it was what I think I needed to get a jumpstart on writing again. Lots of good ideas percolating. Gotta love that.

And you have love the way the group just feeds off itself. I realize that sounds like a bad thing, but we do tend to inspire and challenge and build on what the others are doing. So it's a good thing. Sometimes it's direct like Jenny and Ali swapping notebooks at the Gold Dust. Usually, it's more taking inspiration from a comment or situation and building on it.

I guess I've procrastinated long enough. Here's what I wrote at the library based on the Huck Finn reading. No edits--

The bloated body floated face up in the stagnant pond. Benjamin thought that dead bodies would do the dead man's float. The belly of the man--Benjamin assumed the thing in front of him had been male because of the shortness of the hair--was as white as an old tree toad.

Ben picked up a stick and prodded the arm, but got little satisfaction from that. He leaned a little farther across the algae-covered water at the edge of the mossy bank. He poked at the belly and the corpse jiggled a bit. He thrust forward a little harder. The corpse heaved over, surprising the boy. His arms pinwheeled, but he fell forward face first into the fetid water and came up still flailing and sputtering. The body bumped into him and he shoved. But instead of propelling the object away, his hand sank into the soft flesh.

Did I mention that I went to my dark place? Or that two of us came up with little boys named Benjamin as characters? Just happens sometimes.