Five Years a Writer

August 2010:  Long lazy afternoons of tea and reading at the cottage, with my parents. No deadlines here! DEADLINES : Love them or hate them, I have learned that, for me, they can make the difference between getting something done and getting nothing done. These days, I am learning the joy of meandering through a day without a deadline in sight, simply enjoying the time and endless possibilities of how to use it. Nice. But last Saturday was not one of them. Here’s how that day went. Friday/10:59pm — I was already asleep when this deadline came and went. Earlier in the week, I had learned that the ghost story I had written in November for the NYC Midnight Madness micro fiction challenge had earned me enough points from the judges to get through to round two. This late-evening deadline was for me to receive my prompts for that second-round writing assignment. I was too tired to wait up, but logged on in the middle of the night during one of my usual waking moments. I didn’t engage, sim