Ok, so, back to the drawing board for story 3. (actually I'm still waiting on feedback for story 2.)
Things are not turning out the way I'd hoped. Story 1 just flowed out of me. The others, not so much.
I really liked how helpful the brainstorming was for the yet-unwritten story 4 (and just to clarify needs many more hours of thinking before it will be ready to write) so I'm going to do that for story 3. I hope to keep some of the bones but figure out a way to tell it in a new way, with a more short story feeling to it.
Please wish me luck! Hopefully I'll have an update soon.
(and little dvorak update, when I test I am now somewhere around 55-70 wpm but I think I may be faster. I can pretty much keep up with my thoughts... but tons of typos. Backspace is my bestie)