My writing practice catalogue consists of stories that I wrote first page to last, chapter after chapter, with no long term vision of what I was going to say or what was going to happen.  I've been practicing for a number of years now and it isn't too difficult to ascertain what I've learned and what I have yet to master as a writer with no formal training (I was a frakking biology major).  Keeping this practice catalogue keeps me humble, keeps me from repeating my mistakes and my dried up themes, and keeps me hopeful about a published future.  A body of at least competent work reminds me that mediocre ideas multiply and that there is no point getting too attached to any one of them when I can easily come up with another.  Point being, these aren't my grade A ideas, but I'm writing them with an eye toward developing a style that will support my grade A ideas, so while I love all of these stories, I don't take the stories themselves as seriously as I do the writing.  Also, since I will be writing my first real novel this summer, I like having an established habit of writing for recreation in between serious efforts, and those of you who consider yourselves fans of my work can look forward to getting a few clunkers for free in between purchases of my serious work.  Long live writing practice, please review, thank you for your patronage, and yes, that is half of my face.