Even James Bond knows not to do this, for crying out loud.

The first time I said I’d never do something was during my freshman year in college. As a design major, I was required to take the basic art history survey class, you know, the kind that covers cave paintings to modern post-impressionism all in the span of 16 weeks.  After surviving that class, I swore I would NEVER take another art history class for the rest of my life.  Let’s jump ahead a few years:  I am now an art history major, and I have to take another 9 or 10 art history classes. (Much too long of a story to get into here; I may post about it in the future.)  Bottom line:  I LOVED all those classes!

I thought I would never want to write a short story.  I don’t think in brief terms so the idea of writing a limited number of words frightens me. It’s hard work to encapsulate your ideas into a shorter form. One of my favorite quotes to describe my feelings is: “I’m sorry this letter is so long, I didn’t have time to make it shorter.” (attributed to George Bernard Shaw)

I belong to a writers group that is putting together an anthology of short stories.  Too much was happening in my life between work and family, and I didn’t think I’d have the time to devote to this project. But my subconscious decided to work on it anyway and, before I knew it, I had an entire short story mapped out in my head. So, even though I said I’d never be able to contribute to the anthology, I’m writing like a maniac to finish it by the deadline at the end of this week (yes, this week).

Whether my story will make the final cut in the anthology, I can’t say at this point – that part isn’t up to me. But I am doing it and thoroughly enjoying the sense of accomplishment from doing something I didn’t think I could (or didn’t think I even wanted to) do.