Rilla and one of her friends are doing the annual Labor Day weekend 3-day novel(la)-writing contest this weekend and have some interesting commentary on the process over at TextFIGHT.
Here's my two cents' worth of complaining/lamenting on these weekend-long and month-long creative writing contests (yes, that's you, too, NaNoWriMo):
Can't anyone arrange one for those of us involved in the educational-type systems? Yes, that's right: Why Labor Day weekend, right after my first week of doctoral classes? Or why November, right when all my final papers are coming due and, when I'm teaching, the students are handing things in? Why not something in May or June or July, when I could actually shift a few things around to commit some time to these important creative things?
I'd love to do one of these things sometime--well, at least NaNoWriMo, since I thoroughly believe those who created the 3 day contest were somewhat possessed--and I would love the support of others engaged in the same pursuit on the same timeline.
Alas, (poor Yorick,) my chances of doing NaNoWriMo, at least within the next few years, are slim to none. (Speaking of which, the most I can commit to this blog at the busiest times of the semester is a posting or two per week--I'll try to do at least that, even during the busiest times.)
It makes me sad.
NOTE: Please excuse the two sequential days of lamenting--the downturn toward fall and winter often brings on such moods. On the up side, I'm back from my trip, which had the desired results--I think my editing skill is back and ready, just in time for the semester. Plus, after a truly delightful time away, I might even be sane again, which is always a strong plus for the beginning of paper-production season.
3 comments:
Does that mean no NaNoWriMo for you this year? Crap. I was hoping we could commiserate together. That being said, I could never devote much time to creative writing when I was in school. I guess this thing about balance is pretty crucial when you have a crapload of work to do.
I also feel your pain.
Thank you for the kind words, and I hope you'll take part in some of the little games I have planned in October. They'll mostly call for pieces of writing in the 300-500 word range.
Thx guys. I'll be with you in spirit this weekend, as I have to pound out a 700-1000-word creative non-fiction essay and get a chunk of editing done on my novel. Not the same level of effort, but I'll feel good if I can get it done...
Ril: Give me a month of school, and I'll tell you better whether I can come along on NaNoWriMo this year in a modified form. I may be able to commit a smaller number of words--say, 10,000 in the month-- towards this mystery I want to work on. I just need to get a sense of my academic workload. Next year, it's worth thinking whether I could schedule things around it since I'd be done with my coursework...
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