writing – Page 4 – Tara Tries To Write

Buzzer Beater

July 11, 2015 No Comments

Sometimes four seconds feel like forever.

Take, for example, the last four seconds of this championship game between Kensington and Irving high schools, basketball rivals for as long as anyone could remember. Irving’s had the upper hand for two straight years now, but Kensington is determined to steal their thunder and keep their hands away from a three-peat.

“All right, listen . . .” Coach McNeely says, doing away with the board completely as everyone goes for a final huddle. Irving High is up by two points, but Kensington has possession. If they play it smart, they could still win this game and the championship. “Jacobs, you’re in. Make sure that ball stays with us at the inbound. I trust anyone–anyone— to take the shot, but I need someone to either sink a three”–the coach throws a knowing look at team captain Daniel Hunter–“or get an easy two with a foul. Irving’s in the penalty, make good use of it. I’m looking at you, Klein.”

“Got it, coach.”

Prompt of the Day, Writing

He Wins, He Loses

July 4, 2015 No Comments

It is a well-known fact that Greyson Jacobs, now co-captain of Kensington High’s basketball team, is an awfully competitive son of a bitch.

Case in point: this doughnut-eating contest he’s hell-bent on winning.

It started as a joke between friends. Greyson didn’t have any business joining contests like this, not when he should be busier thinking about the upcoming game against long-time rival Irving High. “But it’s for a good cause, Greyson!” Samantha Larsen, 1/4 of their motley crew, insisted, leaning over their makeshift booth to hand her friend a pen. “Sign up!”

Greyson’s eyes remained fixed on the flyer Sam shoved into his hand a few minutes ago. Sign up for a Doughnut-Eating Contest! For the benefit of Kensington High’s Volleybelles. “Let me get this straight,” he said, raising an eyebrow. “I pay you five dollars so I could humiliate myself in front of the entire student body?”

The smile on Sam’s face turned into a thin, stern line. Leaning over again, she snatched the flyer from Greyson’s hand, effectively giving him a paper cut. He howled and threw Sam a glare, which she graciously returned.

“Beat it if you’re not going to be of any help.”

“What are you raising funds for, anyway?”

She rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I don’t understand how we’re friends, Greyson. How many times have I told y–”

“Oh, a doughnut-eating contest! Awesome!”

Greyson felt an arm drape over his shoulder a second later. He didn’t need to turn his head to know who just arrived. “Greyson, you signing up?” It’s Ashton, his best friend and team mate, also part of their small clique. “Hi Sam,” he continued, nodding at the blonde whose mood seemed to have soured.

“Hey, Ash.”

While Greyson distracted himself with something else at another booth, Ashton reached for the pen in Sam’s hand and, without another word, signed on the participant form. He dug his pockets for a couple of bucks after that, handed them over to Sam, and went after his best friend, dragging him away to the food stalls.

“Ash! Ashton!” Sam called out. He’d given her ten dollars by mistake.

But Ashton only looked over his shoulder and winked at her. Sam shook her head and decided to give the extra cash back after dismissal, but when she glanced at the sign-up form, she realized he didn’t make a mistake at all.

Prompt of the Day, Writing

Day One Hundred

July 2, 2015 No Comments

On-File: “*We Got Married” Interview Reel
Im Jinah
Week Twelve

“It’s almost your 100th day together,” the PD says off-camera. “Are you planning something special for your husband?”

The smile on Nana’s face is wide. She is ready to answer this question. “Yes.”

“Tell us about it.”

Prompt of the Day, Writing

Maybe Some Other Day

July 1, 2015 No Comments

“Today,” she tells her reflection in the mirror as she puts an earring on. “It has to be today.”

She has lost count of the times she’d resolved to break up with Daniel–her boyfriend of almost three months–only for said resolve to weaken and disappear completely the moment he smiles at her. Who could blame her, really? Aside from the fact that her boyfriend’s good looks could so easily land him on magazine covers, he is the sweetest, most attentive man she’s known. (It could be argued, however, that the most dominant male figure in her life leaves much to be desired, but that’s not the point.)

Daniel is not the problem in this equation, no. It’s her. She needs to break up with him because she knows there is no way she could be completely honest with him. And that’s not fair.

Personal, Writing

끝. Wakas. The End.

June 5, 2015 No Comments

I am a writer who dislikes writing endings.

Which is kind of weird, right? As a writer, I should feel happy about getting to the end of my story. It’s an achievement, something to be celebrated, even in the simplest of ways. And yet, during the past few years I’ve realized a trend when I’m about to close a work of fiction: I stall.

Two or three chapters away from my ending, I stop looking at my manuscript altogether. I read or reread books, think of new stories to write, watch dramas or films . . . I do anything to keep myself from writing those last few chapters, and all because I’ve gotten attached to my characters and don’t want to let them go yet.

It’s probably not a good thing, what I do, but hey . . . I’m pretty sure we all have our own quirks. I almost did the same routine with my #SparkNA novella, but I had a deadline to beat this time, and maybe that’s one of the reasons why I joined this class in the first place: to learn to discipline myself as a writer.