I signed up for something this week that scared me a little.

A short fiction challenge. Small stakes on paper, but it feels bigger than that. It's the first real step toward a novel I've been meaning to write for years.

The challenge is a deadline. A word count. A reason to start.

I don't know if my stories will be any good, but that's not the point. This is about getting the thing out of my head and onto a page, even a rough one, even a short one.

Maybe this is how my novel begins.