Taking the Challenge

I mentioned in another post that I received a rejection on a short story recently. I have decided to take this as a challenge.


A friend who read the story while I was waiting on the reply told me that I should have expanded it into a book. The funny thing is, she's someone who just posted on her blog not too long ago about using cut scenes from books-in-progress to make short stories. But she's absolutely right about this situation.


I feel completely freed by this decision. I was initially going to shave the story down, and try to intensify the action. Compress it so it builds pressure quickly. But it pained me. I love the character in this story. She seems to have so much background, and I didn't want to cheat her of the spiritual growth she'd gained by chopping out the deep parts and ratcheting up the mortal danger parts. It's just not that kind of story.


So, now I add another plate to the juggling act that is my life.