I have a goal here to write something without editing, which I already do frequently when I write in a stream of consciousness style, but in this case I also want it to be fiction, which is something that I have not previously put much (if any) effort into writting as I think it. I also noticed that when I sat down to do this writing, I had an immediate desire to find something else to do, and I want to take a moment to document this observation, since that's a thought pattern that clearly seems worth overcoming. Ah yes, I seem to have forgotten that the other goal was to explicitly NOT edit as I go through. Typically I would consider this equivalent to stream of consciousness style writing, but it is likely different. There is a spectrum present while holding the "do not reread" philosophy constant where at one end is stream of consciousness and at the other end is holding in my mind as much of the already penned content as I can, while also thinking about what I'm about to write next without writing anything until it's as close to perfect as I can imagine it being. That latter end of the spectrum seems to clearly defy the intent of writing without constantly rereading and editing, but there may still be a range of behavior at the other end, near stream of consciousness, that allows for some flexibility in behavior without negating the intent of the exercise.

Now, back to actually practicing stream of consciousness writing of a fiction piece. The first notion I had was that the piece needs a topic or goal or character or setting or some form of predetermined content before I start writing. But perhaps simpler, I can first try one day of purely stream of consciousness style writing that is completely free form. I shall do that now. The exercise will be five minutes with no brainstroming, no goal, and no pre-generated target content. I shall clear my mind, and write the first fictional thing that comes to my mind and build on that for the subsequent five minutes.

Two ferrets ran quickly down the hill behind Maddy's house. The ferrets weren't unusually. She'd seen them playing on the lawn many times that Spring, but it looked like one had recently injured it's left hind paw. Favoring the paw, the darker ferret struggled to keep up its friend. Usually it was just the reverse. When they reached the bottom of the incline, the winner looked back over it's shoulder before continuing into the nearby hole.

Maddy ran downstairs to find her mother, Jane. "Mom, Ginny's hurt! Is there anyway we can help her?" Maddy asked.

"I'm not sure," her mom replied, "What's wrong with her?"

"She hurt her paw," Maddy explained. "She's not as fast as Bill anymore. It's so sad. Ginny used to win every time!"

Ok, so that was easier than I thought it would be to simply meet the objective, tomorrow I'll have to step it up a bit. Tomorrow, I will need to have more structure to the content. I think having no goal at all makes it too easy to spout whatever onto the page. Alternatively, a longer session may pose a greater challenge. I think for tomorrow I'll try the former, with the goal of making the lines distinctly sci-fi, which I think will be a legitimately difficult goal to do impromptu, since I'm likely to dislike the nature of the idea making the writing sci-fi in the first place and/or to dislike my ability to execute on the idea. I think I'll also spend more time reflecting on the product and the process tomorrow. Today turned out to be too simple and easy for much valuable reflection. I think I will also have to increase the time span, which I will set at ten minutes for tomorrow's exercise.