[flickr id=”5980079990″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]I like words.

Lots and lots of words.

My first novel came out to about 200,000 words when all was said and done. I had to chop it in half to even query it. Granted, looking back now I cry big tears at the quality of the work, but quality isn’t the point here.

I really like words.

I like layers in my stories.  Complications and layers that make writing anything less than 90k seem an impossible dream.

Want to paralyze me with fear?

Tell me I have to write a short story. No more than 5,000 words. I swear my hands are shaking at just the thought.  Trying to narrow a story down to just that space. To tell what I need to tell in that tiny space?

Flash fiction?  Sure, I can handle that. I just wrote 500 words of a totally creepy piece that I’m totally nuts about. It’s a scene, I can handle a scene.

A story in 5k? A full, well rounded story in 5k?

This fear has held me back for a long time.

So I am going to dive in. Not get my feet wet, but dive in.  I have a few ideas of how to start, and the scariest part is that I think for once in my life I have to pre-plan the whole thing out.  Free writing won’t cut it this time around. Free writing is my crutch, because no one is telling me I have to stop. So I don’t. EVER.

Wish me luck.  I’m going in.

I’m going to learn to embrace, and even love, the short.

Even if it kills me.

What about you? What’s your biggest ‘eek’ zone in writing? Is it a genre? Or a story length?