The Writing Show Contest Update 3

I managed to work on the story some more yesterday; an hour or so at home, a couple hours in the coffee shop at a Barnes and Noble. The page count came to 12 pages now...2400 words so far.

Again I'm worried because it's just getting into the story; everything else has been leading up to it, background and such. I don't know how much material of that nature is acceptable but I'm pretty sure that in a short story, that's a bit much. I'm hoping to trim it down after the fact. I'm really really hoping that maybe my wife would be willing to help with suggestions and editing since she would see it from the perspective of a reader while I'm seeing it from the perspective of, "Damn, this isn't how I pictured it..."

I'd spend the next three weeks trying to make it much better and still not have something I'd be comfortable turning in for the contest. Ugh.

Have I mentioned how crazy it is to work in a coffee shop? For some reason it was really full while we were there. Probably because of the rain. I was still surprised though given the number of studies that are more and more often painting the picture wherein Americans are basically illiterate hicks that can't tell the difference between reality shows and actual reality.

While sitting there I think I was privy to no fewer than three cell phone conversations. I enjoy it though. I make sure that people know I'm enjoying listening to their discussions. It makes me feel more like a participant in the world. I figure if they didn't want more participation from strangers, they'd take the conversation somewhere more private. Some of the looks I got, though, puzzled me, since this seems to make perfect sense to me but their glares say otherwise.

Anyway I hope to get into the meat of the story today. Wish me luck!