A Creative Write

This post is a bit late, but I wanted to follow up on my participation in last weekend's NYC Midnight Creative Writing Challenge.

I submitted the story, which I posted here, with nine minutes to spare. That could be a bit misleading. I had plenty of time to submit it, but I am a firm believer in letting something sit a while and then making another visit. I am also a firm believer the fact that anything can be edited until eternity and it still won't be complete. So it was with caution I approached the last draft.

Thankfully, my fears of wanting to rewrite certain parts were unfounded. Deadlines are good. I have written a novel before, thanks to National Novel Writing Month. But I've not really attempted a short story. And aside from a playwriting class a few years ago, I've not taken any writing classes. So I wasn't sure how this process would pan out.I'm in Australia, so I had to wait till 2 p.m. Saturday to get the parameters of the assignment. I already knew it could be no more than 1,000 words. So when I found out I'd have to write it in the genre of romance with a roller coaster setting and include a straw in it, I thought I was in trouble. I tend not to like happy endings.

Luckily, within about ten minutes, I had the gist of the story. It'd be two girls. Why not write what I know? And a school carnival would be involved. With that in mind, I grabbed a pen and a small notebook and headed to a park that had a patch of sun and a bench. Over a long black with a dash of milk, I started thinking about my characters. By the time I finished my fourth clove -- I'd say about an hour later -- I had it. I went back and started writing that night.

I didn't write like crazy. I kept my eyes on the word count as it increased. I would write a sentence then stop and think about stuff. Should I have another cup of coffee? Smoke another clove? Important stuff occupied my mind.

I hadn't reached 1,000 words before I went to bed that first night. I didn't even go back to it really until the following night. I did, however, realize that I didn't much like the main character. So I brainstormed about how to fix that. I stayed up all Sunday night and planned to get up a few hours before the deadline, which was 2 p.m. Monday.

The feedback from other participants has been positive and that is so important to me. I questioned whether to post it, but then I thought about fear and all of that. Reading others' comments is encouraging, and it reminds me how important interaction between writers is. I have lived in a bubble. I'm thinking here of sitting in my pea-green armchair in Brooklyn.

So after we move to Sydney, I will be taking writing classes. I can't wait. Until then, I will be working on stories and awaiting the beginning of Round 2 in the Creative Writing Championship, which is in three weeks.