The Joy of Writing & Old Friends

What do you do when you have a writing assignment and you have ABSOLUTELY no idea what to do?  Well, may a little bit of an idea.  You have been given a direction, but what you do and how you do it is totally up to you.  It shouldn't be a problem -- I've been assigned stories many times as a journalist and even had to come up with most of my own ideas when writing fiction or non-fiction. But this week provides an entirely different concept.

My chore, my torture--and yet it is also my joy for this week--is to come up with at least a chapter of a fiction novel. (Read the story until now at  novelconcepts1blogspot.com

I need to find nearly one thousand words and they better be good.
The other writers have been telling a wonderful reunion story filled with twists and turns determined by readers. That's a great challenge because we have no clue what we are going to write until that moment when the final vote is cast on which way the story should go.

The story is a reunion story about college friends and it should be so easy for me to write -- considering this weekend I will again have a reunion with three close college friends. We met in my third year of college and we have now been together off and on for 45+ years.  Yes, 45 years. We have been through so much fun, pain and enjoyment. And while our jobs and now our retirements keep us in separate towns and often different states, we still manage to get together at least once or twice a year to drink champagne, eat great dinners, argue, discuss politics and remember those who are no longer with us.
We've toured wineries, visited museums, taken train trips together, or just gone to movies and played crazy word games.  We even had to have our own champagne tasting party.

We've had 40+ years of friendship. Celebrated at weddings, endured funerals. Forty plus years of joy and pain. Yes, some relationships can last that long. I'd post pictures, but some are camera shy and the relationship might finally come to and end. We still always seem to find something new to try. This weekend we are all taking in our first major league baseball game together.  

One final thing -- I often even get story ideas from them.  In fact, I think I will throw open my story dilemma from this week out to them. After all, we can always use help with another reunion story.

In the meantime, please join me next Monday at Novel Concepts to see what new turn the story of Lana and her friends take.