Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Guardians - Sara's Submission - Part Three

I just realized that this is a pretty lopsided set of parts, as three is significantly longer than the other two. The whole thing is actually longer than I thought: 13 pages at 14 point type.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I'd love to see some comments when I get back on Monday. And some other stories too.


Maya was not going to make it.

Even running as fast as she possibly could, Maya felt like the subway station remained an impossible distance away. She didn’t dare look back for fear that what she saw might leave her too frightened to even run. But she could hear her pursuers, calling after her, chasing her, gaining on her.

She had kept to the main streets so far. She always took that way; it was the most direct and the best lit at night. But was it the right choice now? If she kept to the main streets, they were going to catch up to her. The backstreets were dark, less conspicuous, more dangerous. But maybe she could lose the gang in their twists and turns, or at least buy a few extra minutes to reach the subway safely.

Maya didn’t have time to weight the decision. She picked a likely looking side street and turned as suddenly as she could, hoping her pursuers would take a minute to notice where she’d gone. The move gained her a few seconds, but soon she could hear them behind her again. She took another turn, just barely glancing to see if the street led anywhere. Another few seconds, and they were on her trail again. Another turn, another delay. It wasn’t much, but it was still time and she was still getting closer to the subway. One more turn and she’d be back on the main street, just a little more than a block from safety. She darted left without hesitation.

Maya came to a dead stop, her legs protesting the sudden cease of motion. In front of her was a high brick wall. She had gone down a dead end street. The wall towered above her mockingly as she scrambled to find a handhold on its rough surface. But she found nothing. She heard a yell from behind and knew she’d run out of time.

Slowly, Maya turned around. She didn’t want to, but there was nothing else she could do now. She had to face what was coming. The gang had gathered at the entry of the dead end alley. Maya could see now that there were seven of them, all dressed in the same hooded sweatshirts. They came towards her at an easy pace now, no longer in a hurry now that she had nowhere left to run. Maya backed herself against the wall, knowing it wouldn’t help her.

“I didn’t see anything,” she said weakly. It wasn’t entirely untrue. Even now, the alley was so dark that she couldn’t see the gang’s faces very well. She would never have been able to recognize them, describe them. The one closest to her sneered.

“Then why’d you run?” His question came at normal volume. Just as they no longer had to chase Maya anymore, they no longer needed to yell at her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, not knowing what else to say. The leader gave a short, humorless laugh. They were closer enough now that Maya could see the glint of metal in their hands. Probably knives. If they’d had guns, they would have shot her when she ran.
Maya wanted to run, to fight, to do anything to at least try and keep the inevitable from happening. But she knew there was no point. Even the nearest windows were dark, shuttered, and barred. No help was coming. She huddled against the wall, fully aware that nothing she could do could stop her from getting killed.

Then she heard it. To her surprise, they all heard it. From somewhere above, an angry roar broke the quiet of the night. Maya’s would be killers looked at each other in confusion, disturbed by the closeness of the cry. They didn’t know what it was. Maya did, though she deeply wished she didn’t.

She was ready for what came next, even though she didn’t want it to happen. A massive shadow dove down from above the alley. The huge form landed right in front of her, between Maya and the gang. Maya watched the translucent bat-like wings fold back and the great reptilian head rise up.

Tyr.

Maya closed her eyes tightly, covered her ears, and turned away. She had to shut this out, get back to the real world. Even as bad as what was really happening might be, she couldn’t let herself fall away into fantasy again. Not after all this time

“Leave . . . her . . . alone,” Tyr growled, loud enough for Maya to hear.

Maya didn’t want to react. She knew she shouldn’t. But something in her still welled up completely unbidden when she heard Tyr speak. Talking had always been difficult for Tyr. Hearing her say something defensive after all these years still touched Maya.

Almost angrily, Maya shook her head and rubbed at her eyes. Was it still that easy for her to think that way, like Tyr was real? She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm herself. When she opened her eyes, Tyr would be gone. She’d still be facing death, but wasn’t that better than trying to escape reality with a delusion?

Maya opened her eyes slowly and was immediately disappointed. Tyr was still there, crouched down protectively as the men approached her. Maya could only count five of them now; the other two must have run off. The leader charged at Tyr, wielding what Maya could now clearly see was a knife. Tyr lunged forward to meet him and flung him back with the side of her gigantic arm. The remaining four thugs jumped at Tyr and the fight was on. Between the darkness and the speed of the fighters, Maya couldn’t tell what was going on anymore. She didn’t even want to know. She had driven out her memories of Tyr for years, but even now, forced to confront them again, she couldn’t recall ever imagining Tyr interacting with other people. Let alone fighting them. If her delusion was this intense, what was really happening had to be too horrible for her to face.

Maya tried every focusing exercise she’d been taught to stop imagining Tyr. The gang was too busy taking on Tyr to notice her, so she was able to concentrate. But still, it didn’t work. She still saw her imaginary friend taking on a real threat. She even saw a clear space where she could rush by, escape the alley, get to safety.

“Don’t indulge the delusion,” Maya could hear her psychologist – the one who had finally made Tyr leave – saying. “Even if it seems like a better choice than the real ones you have to make, it’s not real. Every time you choose imagination over reality, you give it more power over you.”

Maya knew it was wrong. She should just stay right here until the hallucination passed and take whatever consequences reality brought. But Maya’s psychologist had never anticipated a choice between running to safety, even an imaginary safety, and dying in an alley. Did it even matter now? At worst, she was just delaying the inevitable.

Maya made her decision. She took one last glance at the brawl, still centered on a thing that did not exist, checked to make sure it was safe, and ran. She kept going, fast at first, but then a little slower. She even allowed herself to look back once, though she kept walking. No one was following her, not even Tyr.

Turning a corner, Maya saw the light of the subway station, just one street down from the dead end alleyway. Maya kept walking, but her steps were more hesitant now. It was one thing to get out of a bad situation in her imagination. But how long could this go on? Would she take the imaginary subway home to her imaginary apartment, wake up and call her imaginary mother in the morning? How long before reality intruded?

Unless, of course . . .

Maya was at the entry to the stairway that led down into the subway station. Her hand rested on the metal railing, which was cool to the touch. All the old questions slowly started coming back. If she were imagining this, would she have imagined the railing to feel cool? Could she change it to warm if she wanted, or even to water, or a snake? And how, as a five-year-old child, had she ever imagined something as complex as Tyr, a huge humanoid dragon with poor hearing and speech problems? How was it that Tyr’s appearance had never changed, not even now? And why had she imagined a giant monster as her protector and friend instead of something more pleasant looking? The only real answer she had ever come up with was one the psychologists disliked and she didn’t really want to entertain either. The idea that it might actually be real just raised too many more questions that no one could answer, or wanted to answer. So Maya had just learned to stop asking. But now it seemed unavoidable. Was there any possibility that this could all be real?

Maya shook her head. Of course it wasn’t. Either something else has distracted the gang and allowed her to escape and she’d just inserted her old imaginary friend in its place, or she would stop hallucinating any minute now and find herself dealing with whatever had really happened to her. For now, she would deal with what was in front of her, take the subway, go home. At worst, she might have to cope with controlling her delusion again, but it was certainly better than dying.

She was about to take the first step down into the subway when she heard Tyr scream. Maya nearly fell down the next two steps, only managing to steady herself by grasping the railing. The cry ripped at her, as if something inside of her was directly affected by it. Maya gripped the railing tightly, as the cold metal was her only link to reality.

“It isn’t real,” she told herself, “It can’t be real. It can’t. Don’t give in to it.”

But the feeling was still there, a throbbing pain inside of her that she knew meant Tyr was hurt. Her logical side was reminding her that, even in her hallucinations, Tyr had never been hurt so she couldn’t possibly know that this supposed sensation meant that. But she couldn’t deny it. She knew, just as Tyr had always known when Maya needed her. And Tyr had always been there for her. Just like she had this time.
Maya stood, not even using the railing for balance. She knew what she was doing was insane, but she didn’t care anymore. Determined, she began to run back to the alley. On the way, something caught her eye. In an open garbage can rested a thin wooden board, broken on one end. Maya didn’t even stop. She just reached out and grabbed the board. It came easily to her hand, as if it belonged to her. Gripping her newfound weapon firmly, she ran back to the alley.

It only took her a second to take in the scene. Three of the remaining thugs were strewn about the alley and showing no signs of getting up again anytime soon. The remaining two had somehow overpowered Tyr and were standing over her. One of them had his knife raised. Maya thought it might be the leader, but it really didn’t matter. She never stopped moving, never hesitated. As if she’d been doing it all her life, she swung the broken board and the back of the leader’s head.

The emotion Maya felt as her makeshift weapon connected with the back of another person’s head was strange. She felt some morbid satisfaction, and some relief that this insane plan had worked. But there was also fear, horror, and even a bit of regret. Maya knew in that moment that she might be killing someone, and that there was no turning back. She didn’t have time to process it then, but later she realized that in that moment, she fully accepted that everything that was happening to her was real. At the subway stairs, she had decided that she didn’t care if it wasn’t. But when she struck the man in the back of the head with all the strength she had, she knew it was real. Because even if she could imagine the cold feeling of a metal railing, an escape from a darkened alleyway full of men who wanted to kill her, and a protector dragon, she knew she could never imagine a set of emotions as complex as the ones she was feeling at that moment.

The gang leader slumped forward and fell to the pavement. The one remaining member of the gang still standing gaped at Maya, shocked. Maya glared at him, brandishing her wooden board. Though her attention was on the final thug, she was relieved to hear a low grunt as Tyr rose and stood behind her.

“Get out,” Maya snarled, and Tyr growled to encourage the thug to obey. He quickly did, rushing back out of the alley, never to return.

The danger past, Maya sank back against the alley wall and let out a sigh. She glanced down at the other gang members, lying still at her feet. It was too dark to determine their conditions. They could well be dead. Or thy might be merely unconscious. They could wake up at any time. But it didn’t matter. They could handle any of them.

“They”. She and Tyr.

Tyr was standing by Maya’s side now. She was hunched over, almost on all fours. Maya dimly remembered that Tyr usually stood like that. She only rose to her fully height when she found something threatening. Her feather-like crest had lowered to a relaxed position. Even in the dark, Maya could make out a slash across Tyr’s nose and several stab wounds in her right arm.

“Oh Tyr,” Maya said in a whispered. She reached out slowly and touched the huge muscled arm beneath the injury.

“Doesn’t . . . hurt,” the dragon grunted, and Maya knew she was being mostly honest. Tyr’s thick hide appeared to have saved her from serious injury.

“How did you find me?” Maya asked. It was just the first of many questions that came to her mind now that they were both safe. Where had Tyr gone after Maya sent her away? Why had she come back now? More importantly, what would she do now that she was here?

“I . . . felt . . . you,” Tyr said simply. “I . . . came.”

Suddenly, Maya’s other questions didn’t seem so pressing. How long had it been? At least ten years. Probably more. More than ten years since she had told Tyr that she wasn’t needed or wanted, that she wasn’t even real. More than ten years of Maya willing herself to forget, of telling herself that none of it actually happened. And still, after all that, Tyr had come. Maya had needed her and Tyr had come.

In spite of everything that had happened that night, Maya felt a greater calm than she had in years. Though the adrenaline rush she had felt when she had decided to go back for Tyr was subsiding, she felt no less sense of purpose, no less clear about what she had to do. They would go back and find the gang’s original victim, back where this had all started. He or she would need help. Maya wasn’t sure yet who could and couldn’t see Tyr, so she’d have to be careful about that, wait for other people to say something rather than assuming that they could see Tyr. Once the person Maya had seen being attacked was taken care of, she would alert the authorities about the gang. If the police asked, she would tell them she used the wooden board in self-defense. She’d tell them the truth, minus Tyr. I might be difficult to explain some things if Tyr had been particularly vicious in her attacks. But Maya felt strangely certain that it would be all right. And then, they would go home. She and Tyr. If Tyr wanted to come.

“We need to go help someone else,” began Maya, before realizing that she didn’t need to say anything. She would have to get used to that again.

“Do you want to come with me?” Maya added. That, she felt, needed to be said aloud.

“Yes.”

Tyr apparently agreed that both question and answer were important enough to be spoken. Maya could feel the flood of relief, mixed in with joy and surprise, from Tyr at being asked to stay. It was almost overwhelming, but they still had a lot to do.

Maya rested her hand gently on Tyr’s side as they walked out of the alleyway together.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Guardians - Sara's Submission - Part Two

Getting into the actual point of this exercise, which is also where I started to enjoy the writing. Comments still welcome.

Tyr stood almost motionless on the building’s roof, watching the people down below. Even with her sharp eyes, it was hard to see every individual from such a height. Tyr only gave them a cursory glance as they bustled around on the faraway street. The one thing she could tell from up here was that none of them were Maya.

Tyr sighed and finally pulled herself from the edge of the building. She leaned heavily against one of the large vents and slid down to a seated position. She knew that trying to find Maya was pointless. She did it because she didn’t know what else to do. Even if she ever could find Maya again, Maya didn’t want her.

It had been a long time since Maya had told Tyr to go away, that Tyr wasn’t real, and that the only way Maya could move on with her life was if Tyr left her alone. It felt like a long time anyway; Tyr never had much sense of time beyond day and night and seasons, and she had lost count of the seasons since she agreed to Maya’s wishes and left.

Her first thought had been that what Maya had said was true. So much of Tyr’s experience of the world was through Maya that it hardly occurred to her to think that something Maya said might not be true. Even now, she still considered the possibility sometimes, that she might be nothing more than the product of Maya’s imagination. But if that were the case, then wouldn’t Tyr have ceased to be the moment Maya decided she was no longer needed and denounced her as little more than a hallucination? How could an imagining continue on when no one believed in it, not even its creator?

Once Tyr had realized that she did still exist without Maya, she had tried to understand what she was meant to do now. She had hoped that some long forgotten knowledge of her origins might come back to her, for Tyr could not remember a time before Maya. Her earliest memory was of standing outside of Maya’s house and knowing that Maya needed her. Tyr thought that perhaps if she searched hard enough, she might find another child who needed her like Maya had. She had tried, wandering first around the neighborhood where Maya lived, then broadening her search to nearby towns and finally the city. But the search had been fruitless. She wandered among the humans just as unseen as she had been when she was Maya’s protector. There were some of them who would stop suddenly and turn in her direction. But they seemed only able to see Tyr in brief, indirect glimpses. When they turned to face her directly, they clearly saw nothing. Tyr paid particular attention to children and did discover some who may have needed her and whom she would have very much liked to watch over. But none of them were calling out for someone in the way that Maya had been, and Tyr was just as invisible to them as to everyone else.

So it was sheer desperation that drove Tyr to search for Maya. She wasn’t entirely sure what she hoped to gain from Maya. Certainly not a return to their previous relationship. Maya had made it clear that she no longer needed Tyr. But because nothing else had worked, Tyr had concluded that she needed something from Maya in order to move on.

She had managed to find her way back to Maya’s house, a hard task with the bond between them all but gone. But Maya was not there anymore. Maya’s mother still lived there and, unsure of what else to do, Tyr followed her for a while, hoping for some clue to where Maya had gone. But it soon became evident that this was a dead end. There were no visual signs of Maya’s new location and anything else Tyr couldn’t understand. Tyr had never been able to hear well and without Maya and their connection to explain what people were saying, all human speech sounded like incoherent whispers to Tyr.

Without any real leads to follow, Tyr could only rely on the remnant of her bond with Maya to try and find her. She had given all her energy over to seeking out the tiny impressions of Maya that came to her less and less frequently. They were like small flickers of light in the distance, though more felt than seen. Tyr has tracked them relentlessly until each one faded into nothingness and Tyr was left to wait for the next. She was now fairly certain that she had found the right city, but that was as close as she seemed able to get. The sense of Maya became fewer and fainter, and now Tyr was not even sure how long it had been since she last felt Maya’s presence. It wasn’t entirely due to Tyr’s poor sense of time. She had also found herself “sleeping” more and more often. Tyr called it “sleep” for lack of a better word, but it was more like long periods of nothingness, no dreams, no sensation of anything at all. She only knew that it had happened when she awoke and she never knew how long the state had lasted. It had crossed Tyr’s mind more than once that maybe ceasing to be did not happen all at once, but gradually. Maybe it was only through Tyr’s own stubbornness that she still fought her fate.

That idea somehow seemed appealing to Tyr tonight. Maybe it had just been too long, too long searching and waiting and wondering what it was all leading to. Maybe it was time to rest. Tyr could feel it slowly beginning; the heavy sensation in her limbs that signaled a rest that was more than rest. She allowed herself to give in it and laid down on he rooftop. It was pleasantly cool, though she was gradually losing the feeling of the coolness. Her senses began to dull, starting at her extremities, then working their way up. Tyr let it come.

The sleep had all but taken Tyr when she felt it. She almost didn’t recognize it at first, and it was so small she might have not noticed it at all. But as the moments passed, she realized what it was. The feeling that was not within her, the sensation that had a place. It was Maya, after all this time. A tiny little speck, no bigger than the reflection off the point of a needle. Tyr welcomed it, but still let the sleep proceed. She could only tell from this miniscule sensation that Maya was there, and her assumption was that it was Maya giving her blessing for Tyr to leave, Maya saying goodbye. Tyr waited for it to fade so the sleep could take her.

But the sense didn’t fade. Tyr thought at first that it was only her imagination, one last hope she had to let go of to find her peace. But no. It was staying, longer than any past sense of Maya had. Staying, and more, though Tyr scarcely let her self believe it at first. It was growing.

The sleep was still progressing, though a little more hesitantly now. The appearance of the impression of Maya seemed to slow it down and it now had to fight to hold Tyr’s attention. But Tyr was fighting back. The sensation was continuing to grow, from an insignificant spark to a bright little flame. As it grew, the hope Tyr felt slowly creeping back to her was joined by another feeling: worry. The sensation had now persisted long enough that Tyr could begin to guess the emotion causing it. Though she hated to admit it to herself, it was the same emotion she always sensed from Maya, the only one she could seem to sense now: fear.

Tyr moved to get up, but her limbs would not respond. The sleep was angered, unwilling to let go of its prize. Even Tyr willing it away failed to stop it now. Tyr strained against it, focusing all of her concentration on the still growing flame that was Maya. It was taking all of her energy just to push herself a few inches off of the ground. The sleep was furious, grabbing and pulling at her viciously. But Tyr pressed on, forcing her protesting body to kneel. The sleep was enraged now, throwing itself over her back like a heavy weight. Tyr strained on. It was physically painful to move now, but still she pulled on and at last, staggered to her feet.

Still the sleep did not yield. It clawed at every part of Tyr’s body and she could almost hear it screaming at her to return to it. Tyr took a stumbling step forward and nearly fell back down. The sleep seemed pleased, confident that Tyr had given the last of her strength. Even Tyr wasn’t sure that she had anything left. She could never reach Maya if she couldn’t even walk. And even if she could, there was still the fact that Maya didn’t want her. But the sensation did not lie and now it crackled like a blazing fire. If she could just move, Tyr knew she could find Maya this time. This sense would not fade. It wasn’t the minor fears she felt from Maya in the past. It was a true, strong need, like the one that had called Tyr to Maya the first time. It was Tyr’s reason for being, and she could not fail to answer it.

Tyr roared, the first time she had roared in longer than she could remember. The sleep shuddered. It fell away, it shriveled, it died. Tyr shook off any lingering trace of it and charged towards the building’s edge. The fear from Maya was like an enormous beacon now and any joy Tyr felt at having such a strong connection to Maya again was overwhelmed by worry about what could cause her to be so afraid. Unhesitating, Tyr leapt from the edge of the building and spread her wings. She sped towards her destination. She would make it in time. She had to make it.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Guardians - Sara's Submission - Part One

Believe it or not, submissions for the first topic "Guardians" are due in a week. And believe it or not, I've finished mine! I've been writing it over the past few days and it generally came pretty fast once I got started. I'm posting it now because I'm gonna be just getting back from BotCon the day it's due and may well forget. I'm posting it in free parts because it splits that way naturally and it's more fun that way.

Obviously I've been thinking about this one for a while, though I still only managed to kind of answer maybe one of the questions I put forth. (I hope I didn't give you the impression that you had to answer them all, Jen.) I actually know a good deal more about these characters, but that's another story for another time.

Anyway, I welcome any comments, constructive criticism or questions.


Maya leaned against the concealing wall of the building’s entryway and watched the others from work leave. They had left in a large group, like always, chatting and laughing amongst themselves. Even the few who weren’t joining in on whatever tonight’s activity was were sent off with lots of waving and disappointed “awws” from the crowd they were leaving behind. Maya kept a careful eye on them and pulled back into the shadows if any of them showed the slightest sign of turning around, noticing her, and possibly asking with more than a little awkwardness if she would like to join them. Once they were safely out of sight. Maya started down he stairs and around the corner, on her way home.

She’d been working late. They all had. The big shareholder presentation was next week and there were charts to printed, numbers to be finalized, caterers to deal with, and any number of other last minute things yet to be done. So it was dark by the time Maya actually started her walk to the subway station. It didn’t matter though. Even if the street hadn’t been lit, she would have known the way. She had walked this route so many times that it was automatic for her. She though over what she needed to do once she got home. The laundry was starting to pile up and tonight was as good a time as any to take care of it. There were a couple of bills she hadn’t paid yet because work had been so busy. Friday night, so nothing on television she’d want to watch. If she caught the train in time, she could rent a movie before the video place closed. But she had no plans for the weekend, so maybe it would be better to save that for tomorrow.

Maya was about halfway down the second block from work when she heard the noise. She had walked home late before, so she had learned to ignore the sounds of car doors slamming, trashcans falling over, and people arguing just a little too loudly to avoid being heard from the street. But this was something different, something she’d never heard before. It was weak and faint, but still recognizable as a cry of pain. Maya realized with growing unease that it was also unmistakably human.

“Don’t look,” she thought to herself. She knew she shouldn’t. Though she’d never run into it herself before, she knew there had been muggings in the area. One of her coworkers had just been telling his friends about how one of his neighbors got mugged a few weeks back. She knew should just keep walking. But curiosity, combined with the faint hope that it was just someone’s TV turned up too loud, won over. Maya looked.

If she had been standing just a few steps back or ahead, Maya wouldn’t have been able to see down the narrow alleyway between the two buildings. It was too dark to make out much detail. The shadow from one building was keeping out most of the light from the street. But Maya could still make out the figures in the alley. A group of people, their identities completely inscrutable in the darkness, were standing over what Maya could just see was a prostrate form, almost certainly the source of the cry Maya had heard. One of the standing figures snarled something at the downed victim and kicked viciously at the person’s side. The person moaned and curled up defensively just as another of the gang lashed out with a second kick.

“Go,” Maya’s sensible inner voice commanded. “You’ve seen way more than you should have. Get to the subway, tell someone there what you saw. They’ll call the police and everything will be fine.”

But Maya didn’t go. She stood transfixed, just staring at this bizarre scene. It seemed almost unreal and she couldn’t quite believe that it was actually happening. She had read and heard about muggings and people being attacked. She had more experience of her own with the randomness and the aftermath of such attacks than she had ever wanted to. But actually seeing it firsthand was still different. Even though the plan she had laid out for herself was sound, got her to safety, and brought help to the person being attacked, she just couldn’t bring herself to put it into action. There was something in her, something that she couldn’t seem to ignore, that was convinced she needed to stay here and do something. What exactly she should do was unclear, but this part of her felt certain that if she left, the person being attacked would die.

Maya gasped in sudden realization. One of the thugs in the alley was staring directly at her. She had been watching the whole time, but she’d never seen him turn his head. One minute he had been completely focused on the gang’s injured victim, the next he was looking right at Maya. She still couldn’t see him well, but the streetlight gave a flicker of reflection to his glaring eyes. He shouted something at Maya which she completely didn’t catch. She took a hesitant step backwards, and then slowly began to walk away.

It was just seconds later that Maya heard them come after her. They were still yelling and their rushed footsteps were almost as loud. They didn’t seem to care if she or anyone else heard them. Maya started by walking just a little faster, hoping that she was wrong and they weren’t following her. But before she really even made the decision to, she was running, counting every step left before she reached the subway and wishing she had followed her own advice to leave while there was still time.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

First Topic: Guardians

OK, let's get this show on the road. The first topic for the Front Lobby Bench writing blog will be...

Guardians.

A Guardian is a being that is created in response to a deep, unfulfilled need of a child. They take various forms and serve various purposes, depending on what the child in question needs. They are invisibe to most and generally dismissed as imaginary friends. But their existence is key to many a child's growth and well being.

Where do Guardians come from? Do they even exist before children need them? And what happens to them when the children they help no longer need them?

Friday, June 1, 2007

The Rules

The rules can change as we progress, but here's a few guidelines to get us started.

1. All members will write a piece of a length of their choosing on the current topic.

2. The topic is chosen by a different member each month. Current order is Sara, Jen.

3. The month begins on the day the new topic is posted.

4. Topics can be as simple or as detailed as the writer wishes, but must allow some room for creative freedom.

5. Writers' submissions can be in any form they wish. Minimum length is one paragraph. Writers may produce partial or full story summaries, story fragments, short stories, long stories, or multiple stories. Poetry or other written explorations of the topic are also welcome.

6. Writers are encouraged, though not required, to edit stories or finish unfinished ones they have written for the blog. It is up to the writer whether they wish to repost the full story or edited sections or to simply edit the original post. If the author chooses to edit in the original post and it is more than one motnh old, she should create a new post pointing out the edit and allow blg readers to see the new edits.