Writing Worry #28: Missing the mark

Story ideas are a dime a dozen. They come at random, anywhere, anytime. Sometimes it's an interesting personality that sparks an idea, other times it's a fascinating dilema or situation. Over the last year, I've let submission calls be my source of inspiration for story ideas. It's been a fun exercise that has resulted in a half dozen publications. However, not every story found a home.

One story I trunked after the first rejection letter because I knew it was fatally flawed.

Two stories have seen several rounds of re-writing and submissions only to still not find a home. One that made it passed the initial cut but failed to make the final cut is probably good to go on to another submission. Then there is my problem child submission.

The problems comes from trying to make a story out of one sentence that I absolutely fell in love with. I've tried a few times to capture the story behind that one sentence and still feel like I'm missing the mark. A couple of beta readers have made some valid points about the writing itself. Too much exposition. Too little in the moment. These were worries I had at the last submission attempt. The question becomes to re-write or trunk.

With the little one due any day now - seriously, she's over a week overdue right now - I likely won't have much mental focus or energy to write. I wonder if that one sentence is a darling that needs to be put out of its misery so that I can find the story I want to tell.