Fully Recovered

[Alissa]

So it's been almost 2 weeks since the 3 day novel contest. I know we're all sick of hearing about it now...but I thought I stick my two pence in anyway. :) Overall, I still feel that the contest is for crazy people. It was intense, sitting a writing for 3 days straight drove me mad. By Monday afternoon, I became delirious with the story and angry when it had decided to finish not even halfway through to 100 pages. I stalked around my laptop reasoning with it, trying to understand why it had to end so quickly. After a couple of glasses of wine and a talking to with a real live person - a friend that was holed up in his apartment trying to desperately finish his story. I ended up going back and adding to my word count to make my novella 54 pages. He ended up writing 75 pages which is impressive since he's been making up excuses for the past 4 years on reasons why he can't sit down and write.

We both actually sent in our registration checks the Friday afternoon on the eve of the contest but the thing is I never actually got around to mailing in my manuscript. Surprisingly, I don't really mind. I thought I wanted the sticker, and certificate to make it all official but now that a couple of weeks have past I don't think I need it. I got what I had wanted from the contest. I fleshed out a story that's been on my mind for a few months now and sitting down to work on my editor's note for the novel I've been working on for the last year doesn't seem as daunting. It was like clearing out the cobwebs or stretching my writing endurance muscles. I was able to sit and edit for 8 hours and not burn out.

In the end, this writing contest wasn't about mailing in my manuscript, I don't think that I could let anyone read it in its current state, it was more about challenging myself to push through something I didn't think I could do. The bonus was that I had the chance to share the experience with a friend. We helped each other along the way, encouraging our storylines as best we could and laughing at the insanity we had agreed to partake in. It was like a microcosm of our friendship.

[K Sawyer Paul]

I haven't even opened my document yet. I know I should finish the story and maybe polish it or at least extract the few pages of worth, but I'm a little afraid to go near it.

[Alissa]

I feel the same way. I'm giving myself a few months before I even look at it again.