It’s now just over a week into the Story a Day (SAD) challenge, and my results are mixed. I am about half way through my fourth story, which by the 9th means I’m running a little behind schedule, especially considering I’ll be leaving for BayCon on the 26th and unlikely to have a lot of writing time.

However, I did manage to get my novella submitted well within the deadline, the costume, as I mentioned last week, is both done and used on stage for the first two performances. This should mean I’m able to focus more time on creating my short stories, though I have one other anthology deadline I’d like to meet if possible, but the timing is very tight.

As to the stories, they are coming in relatively short by my normal SAD standards, but I like what I’ve gotten so far.

They are:

1) Anarchist Cook – a 3800 word science fiction piece about evolution and necessity.

2) An untitled SF of 2400 words about where the line is drawn between the greater good and the sacrifices necessary to get there.

3) Magic of the Earth – a 1500 words fantasy short about prejudice and acceptance.

4) An untitled modern-day steampunk in process that is built on the same foundation as my novella.

Bottom line? I’m having fun and getting some workable raw drafts out of this. Short stories tend to exercise a different part of my brain than my novels. Novels tend toward the epic, even if it is epic on a personal scale. My short stories are more likely to touch on the edges, the places people don’t want to dwell on but which should be visited and prodded every once in a while.

How about you? Are you finding something that short stories tap into? Are you enjoying yourself?