Sometimes you make weird decisions after a highly productive weekend when you’re feeling on top of the world. Some of these decisions are more realistic than others.
“I’m going to do this every weekend for the rest of my life!” – Not realistic
“I’m going to build on this momentum to be more productive over all!” – Realistic
Sometimes these decisions are wiser than others.
“I’m going to take a super long break to reward myself but I promise I’ll start up again next weekend!” – Unwise
“I’m going to reward myself with a treat and a short break and then get right back to work!” – Wise
And other times the weird decisions you make after a highly productive weekend are just…well…weird.
Case in point, the weekend I just had was hugely productive in getting my current project revised and ready to be beta read. And what have I decided to do now on the following morning? As you’ve probably already guessed from the title of this post, I’ve decided to take on the challenge of the 3-Day Novel Contest once labor day weekend roles around.
What is the 3-Day Novel Contest? The title is fairly self-explanatory, but the idea is similar to NaNoWriMo. The 3-Day Novel Contest originated in Canada as a creative exercise for writers looking to push themselves. Like NaNoWriMo, the idea is to write a first draft of a novel (more of a novella really given the time restraint) in a short span of time. In this case, Saturday-Monday of Labor Day weekend. Unlike NaNoWriMo, if you pay the entry fee and officially enter the contest there’s the chance of a cash prize or even publication of the winning book. I do not plan on officially entering for the prize, and I’ll explain why further down.
Some of you may be aware that the Canadian network Book Television actually took the concept of the 3-Day Novel Contest and created a televised version of it, wherein 12 writers were locked inside a book store for 72-hours to write their novels, interrupted to take part in time wasting challenges every couple hours, and filmed the entire time. To be clear, I am not going on the show, but I once attended a workshop by one of the contestants and it was really wild to hear about his experience. If you have a minute I recommend checking out an episode or two.
Why the decision to take part in this, admittedly, totally insane literary adventure? In part because I, like most who enter, want to challenge myself. I want to see if I can do it. How much can I really write in three days when focusing on nothing else, and will it be enough to be considered a complete story? In part, because I feel my productivity hasn’t quite been what I’d like it to be the past year and want to kick myself into overdrive and get the juices really flowing. In part because it just sounds like fun and I think it will be an interesting experience. Besides, by the time September rolls around Roc Rider will either be in the midst of beta read or just finishing it up, and this seems the perfect opportunity to refresh the batteries by diving into another creative project before pushing ahead with whatever changes need to happen to Roc Rider as a result of the beta read.
Why am I not officially entering for a chance at the prize? Because to be eligible for the official contest you must start and finish your draft entirely during the three days of labor day weekend. I, however, intend to use the opportunity to revisit an old story that I began several times years ago but never finished. The story has been languishing on my hard drive for far too long, occasionally rearing its head to tease me with its incompleteness and poke at the edges of my psyche with is accusatory fingers.
“I’m still here. Still waiting. But you’ll never finish me, will you?” it taunts on nights when I cannot sleep.
The time has come to silence its pestering voice. Smite the persistent imp whispering in my ear about a past regret. My weapon of choice for said smiting; the 3-Day Novel Contest.
The story I intend to revisit is a little different from my regular work. While it is fantasy, rather than focusing on a quest to save the world it focuses on a love story…and also a quest to save the world, but the love story is the impetus for getting involved in said quest. Will it turn out as amazing and epic as I imagine it to be in my head? Only time well tell. Three days time, to be exact. And whether it proves to be a world-shattering epic or a dismal failure of a story at least I’ll have finished it, and at long last silenced the demon its become.
Wish me luck.
Writer friends, have you ever done NaNoWriMo or the 3-Day Novel Contest? Discuss your experience in the comments!
