Mal, your summary is so spot on. I have struggled with getting it done vs. doing it right. Creating something of high quality is worth the effort, but also worth not short-cutting to just achieve a number or to meet a deadline. I think this is especially so when writing your first book.

When I got home that night, I noticed the smiling jack-o-lantern in my front yard was crushed. It was a grim reminder of the events that had unfolded earlier that evening.

I walked past the remnants, noticing the perfect size 11 boot print directly through its center. The front door’s jamb splintered where that same size…

Diary of a Creative Woman

This is a diary I wrote while frantically also writing two entries for a national women’s crime writing competition.

Wednesday

Am well into writing two short stories for a competition and considering at every turn what an incredibly…

Guilt

We arrived to find a young asian girl crumpled in a heap at the foot of a park bench, weeping silently. I guessed her to be thirteen, fifteen at the most. Her very adult clothes were dishevelled and her expensive blouse was suggestively unbuttoned, partially exposing her barely pubescent chest. I helped her to her…