Snot-faced and bleary-eyed

Hey, look. This is me procrastinating and skipping a class. I've caught another cold, complete with balloon-head and blocked sinuses and everything. So tomorrow will be spent sprawled on the couch, wallowing in self-pity and trying to drown this bug in tea and soup.

I've been reading blog posts by Chuck Wendig, who dispenses kick-in-the-pants wisdom chunks of writerly advice  - and in doing so realized I've been stifling my writer-voice. Actually, it's been more like sticking a ball-gag in its mouth and shoving it down the broken stairs into the dank, dim basement full of lurking shadows and skittery spiders. My recent mental block, the reason I have hit on some really great ideas that just seem to languish in plot-hell without the story developing past that beginning stage, is because I'm trying too hard. It's that simple. I need to write the way my brain thinks, not the way I think is most "safe". That's no fun, anyway. Not to mention boring. So fuck safe. Fuck boring.

On that note, I haven't heard anything back regarding the Bad Austen writing challenge. The website states that the writers whose submissions were chosen will receive notification "on or around March 15th". And there were several stories submitted on the 15th (the submission deadline was the 1st), which pissed me off, because the submissions are moderated, so these were knowingly posted after the submission deadline. My options are to either wait a little longer, or email for clarification. It's not the only contest running behind schedule, since the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge seems to be late, too. The website states that notifications for those advancing to the second heat would be sent and posted on the website March 5th, but it looks like over on their FB page people are asking the same question I am about the dates. Glad to see I'm not the only one confused by a lack of follow-through there.