Today’s writing challenge warranted a blog post, simply because it was a little more detailed than a Facebook or Twitter post could accommodate. Here’s the challenge: You are somehow transported into the world of your story. Name the biggest challenge you would face having to transition from living in the real world to your story world, and be as detailed as you like.

So far in these challenges, I’ve been using my current WIP, the currently untitled bio-hazard clean up story. For this challenge, it doesn’t make an interesting post. Bio-hazard clean up story takes place in modern-day Orlando, Florida. I currently live in…modern-day Orlando, Florida. Hardest part of transitioning from Orlando to Orlando. Nothing.

Instead, I’ll go with my finished (but still editing) novel, “Shaping Fate” which takes place in London, England in the year 1349 at the height of the Black Death. As I posted in my most popular blog post ever, (why?!) “Fun Facts About the Plague,” the Black Death was responsible for claiming approximately 50 million people in Europe, Asia and Africa. Not exactly modern-day Orlando. Clearly the biggest challenge in transitioning from “The City Beautiful” to “The City Oh God Get Me Out of Here” would be trying not to die from a horrible disease. But, not everybody died. Assuming I am one of the “lucky” survivors, plenty more challenges lay in store. The protagonist in “Shaping Fate” is a chandler in his mid 20’s, which was considered middle-aged for the time, if not older. If I, a 39-year-old woman was transported to that time, I’d better hope that I didn’t get any other diseases let alone plague, because at 39, I’m as good as dead already. Best case scenario, I’m insanely healthy. How am I going to support myself in this crumbling economy? Women were business owners in the early middle ages, although as the century wore on, more and more restrictions were placed on women’s work and the merchant guilds became more of a boy’s club. But would that even matter? With London literally dying, what business was there to be had? Other choices include peasant life or a nunnery. It kind of reminds me of the computer game Oregon Trail, where pretty much no matter what you do, you’re going to get dysentery and die.

No thank you. I’ll take my chances in the land of gators and “Florida Man.”

If you want to join in on the writing challenge, please do and send me your links so I can follow along! Use the hashtag #30DWC.