Thank you so much for your encouragement and support and inspiration, Alison.
I signed up for the 3-day novel contest at the last minute, the day before. I had realistic expectations (thanks to your articles) and was in it just for fun as well as to find out if I could keep a story going for that long.
I loved my characters so much! Today, I feel a little sad that I'm not writing new adventures for them. Isn't that funny?
I submitted the finished manuscript yesterday but they wrote back to let me know there are actually a couple of days allowed for editing. Do I want to edit? I'm not sure. I feel like I was with some wonderful people in an interesting place (my story was mostly set on a property in Powell River) and now I'm on the (psychological) plane home. Maybe after a couple of hours of thinking about other things, though, I will return to it. It's very kind of them anyway.
I didn't push myself too hard except to keep at it when otherwise I might have gone off to read a book or have a bath or do something with my family. I didn't stay up all night, did take time to do things with my kids in the evening and also I started each day with a short walk. I didn't spend any time cooking, my family did that for me, so I was able to just think about my characters and what was going on in their lives. That was such a treat! To be able to immerse myself in their lives and the questions that they were flinging at the universe, not to mention the action on the ground!!! It was a dream.
I could have written a few thousand words more but my story didn't need it. I wrapped it up at about 27,000 words. Not enough to say it's a novel but I'm calling it a novel anyway. Has a beginning, a middle and an end, plus a cat. I enjoyed working on it. In fact, I loved working on it. So in that way I think I got more out of the competition than I could have expected.
The main issue I ran into as a writer was that sometimes my brain just filled with sludge. The story was in there but I was a little too written out to get the words on the page. I had that problem at the end of each day and I wrapped up early the third day because of it. I'm sure the sludge shows in the story! But that's okay because I took it as a sign that I was putting in my best effort. If you go for a long hike, your legs might feel that way too. It's normal!
Thank you for the suggestion, Alison! It was your substack that enabled me to have this opportunity.
Packing up to go here, but couldn't resist checking in! So glad I did. Thank you, Maureen, for sharing the process, your time, the cat... Love that your family made food for you and supported the work. Sludge... but more fun. Lots of joy here!
This makes sense, too. Having just returned from a 7-day hike--my longest ever--I feel that sense of "break" and starting anew. And realizing it is September, a month for "new."
Thank you so much for your encouragement and support and inspiration, Alison.
I signed up for the 3-day novel contest at the last minute, the day before. I had realistic expectations (thanks to your articles) and was in it just for fun as well as to find out if I could keep a story going for that long.
I loved my characters so much! Today, I feel a little sad that I'm not writing new adventures for them. Isn't that funny?
I submitted the finished manuscript yesterday but they wrote back to let me know there are actually a couple of days allowed for editing. Do I want to edit? I'm not sure. I feel like I was with some wonderful people in an interesting place (my story was mostly set on a property in Powell River) and now I'm on the (psychological) plane home. Maybe after a couple of hours of thinking about other things, though, I will return to it. It's very kind of them anyway.
I didn't push myself too hard except to keep at it when otherwise I might have gone off to read a book or have a bath or do something with my family. I didn't stay up all night, did take time to do things with my kids in the evening and also I started each day with a short walk. I didn't spend any time cooking, my family did that for me, so I was able to just think about my characters and what was going on in their lives. That was such a treat! To be able to immerse myself in their lives and the questions that they were flinging at the universe, not to mention the action on the ground!!! It was a dream.
I could have written a few thousand words more but my story didn't need it. I wrapped it up at about 27,000 words. Not enough to say it's a novel but I'm calling it a novel anyway. Has a beginning, a middle and an end, plus a cat. I enjoyed working on it. In fact, I loved working on it. So in that way I think I got more out of the competition than I could have expected.
The main issue I ran into as a writer was that sometimes my brain just filled with sludge. The story was in there but I was a little too written out to get the words on the page. I had that problem at the end of each day and I wrapped up early the third day because of it. I'm sure the sludge shows in the story! But that's okay because I took it as a sign that I was putting in my best effort. If you go for a long hike, your legs might feel that way too. It's normal!
Thank you for the suggestion, Alison! It was your substack that enabled me to have this opportunity.
Packing up to go here, but couldn't resist checking in! So glad I did. Thank you, Maureen, for sharing the process, your time, the cat... Love that your family made food for you and supported the work. Sludge... but more fun. Lots of joy here!
Well said. After past 3-Day efforts, I usually got completely away from the story and did something outside.
This makes sense, too. Having just returned from a 7-day hike--my longest ever--I feel that sense of "break" and starting anew. And realizing it is September, a month for "new."