Time for Five Minute Friday thoughts. I can’t wait to join my fellow writers at the Community link-up at fiveminutefriday.com as we share our pearls of wisdom or our pig’s ears and just mix and mingle like we do at our #fmfriday Twitter party on Thursday night awaiting the prompt.

I’ve been sharing snippets taken from Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat compiled by Susan Shipe. They are a testament to the value of the exercise. This week, I’ll share some perspective from Kristin. I hope she inspires you to check us out … and maybe join in?

“I’ve been inconsistent writing for the Five Minute Friday link up throughout the years, but my words are always welcomed. That’s what I love about this flash mob writing community. These writers know our words and stories matter. Sometimes instead of writing stories, we’re living them, hence the lack of post for any given week, but our words are welcomed. Five Minute Friday is a community of people who come to their computer screens from all kinds of lives. There are stay-at-home moms and women who’ve never had kids. There are empty nesters and newlyweds. There are single ladies and a couple of brave men. People have jobs and insecurities and dreams. All of that comes to the virtual table of the gatherings that begin on Twitter each Thursday night and carry over to everyone’s blogs on Friday and throughout the coming week. There are so many ways to be a writer and this community embraces them all.”

With that, the prompt has been revealed — PROGRESS — and the timer is set. So, it’s time to GO…

As writers we often refer to WIP– work in progress. It could be at any stage, the beginning, middle scenes or ending. We refer to them as in progress because they are not finished.

As authors we’re threading the story, developing the characters, bringing them to life, and ultimately to a resolution. For me, I’m more of a Hallmark writer, recognizing the plot twists but ending up under the proverbial mistletoe.

In a way, our lives are that way too. Of course, we’re replaced by the Author who has outlined a flow for our story. It may take unpredictable twists and turns and we — being humans with free will — sometimes follow down a wrong path (our plot twist). We’re the characters being developed. We’re having the adventures, the happiness, the sadness. And we are being weaved into a dramatic climax by our Author.

Unlike our … STOP

… writing, however, is how much we — the characters — influence the ending. We know what the Author intends, but unlike the personalities we develop, we have a say in how the story ends.

We are a WIP, a work in progress. We can twist the plot and end up chasing a rabbit hole to death, destruction, and hell or we can follow the Author’s outline for a happy ever after.

What progress are you making on your story?

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Enjoy the day, for today’s moments will be tomorrow’s memories.