Liz Busby - Liz Busby | Writer

The Story-a-Day Challenge and How to Set ABC Goals for Writers

In September, I set out to participate in the Story-a-Day challenge. If you haven’t heard of it, Julie Duffy runs a challenge called Story-a-Day in May and September. As the title implies, she emails you a different prompt each day from which you are challenged to complete an entire story, beginning to end, in one day. These stories can be as short as you want; the only goal is to finish them. Ideally, by the end of the month, you’ll have 30 completed story drafts.

green typewriter on brown wooden table — Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com

If you’re familiar with human nature, you won’t be surprised to hear that I did not end the month with 30 finished stories. I wrote 12 stories, 4 of which were complete drafts and the rest of which were outlines or ideas or the first third of a story before I ran out of time or lost the will to finish.

So do I consider my Story-a-Day experience a failure?

What I Read: September 2021

I had hoped that my life would calm down this month to allow me to read more. So of course our three-year-old van up and died at the beginning of the month. As of this writing, it’s still in the shop, though it appears that the part that broke is still under warranty. *sigh*

Anyway, several fun reads this month. Though it might appear that there’s very little SF, I have taken up reading Daily Science Fiction‘s flash fiction story every morning. (Most recent favorite: “Dinners Like We Used to Have” by Kelly Sandoval. It’s exactly the kind of human, intimate SF that I love.) Book reviews below the cut!

4 Writing Lessons from an Astronaut

Here’s what the life of astronaut Chris Hadfield can teach writers.

This week I had a chance to re-listen to a favorite of mine, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield. One of my book clubs chose to read this one at my suggestion, and I’m so glad they did. Chris Hadfield is the astronaut you might recognize from his viral music video from the ISS or any of his great educational YouTube videos on the everyday life of astronauts. I find Chris’s writing delightful, his life fascinating, and his insights to life spot on.

sky earth space working — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

This time through, I read the book with an eye towards how his advice could apply to a writing career. As you probably know, I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for over a decade. Now that my youngest child is in kindergarten, I’ve started to think more often about what I want to be when I grow up. I know I want to do something with words, but nailing that dream down can be hard.

This is where Hadfield’s advice comes in. Here’s what the life of an astronaut can teach writers:

What I Read: August 2021

Ah, the kids are back in school and so life is back to calm, right? Except that it’s 2021 and things are . . . interesting in Utah schools, pandemic-wise. My reading suffered this month from the amount of time I devoted to political activism, doom-scrolling, and existential dread. On top of that, all of the SF books I read this month were just ok. I guess you can’t find a favorite every month, but I’m feeling a bit like I struck out. However, one of my nonfiction reads has become not only a favorite, but a book I’m trying to pawn off on all the people I know. So I guess it’s not all bad. I’m hoping my reading pace picks up in the fall.

What I Read: July 2021

Some things come in waves, and this month was a tsunami. So much has been going on that overwhelmed my reading life this month, not the least of which was the rise of the delta variant and preparing to send the kids back to school in it. I also had a few duds on my reading list this month that I didn’t end up finishing. With that caveat, this is what I got through.

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