I want to say thanks to Jenna for having this contest. It's been an exhilarating and exhausting 15 weeks (if I'm counting correctly). I've gained so much from this contest that, regardless of the outcome, I know it will stick with me as one of the most important writing lessons I've ever had.
So I thought I'd share what I've learned:
-First and foremost, I've learned from reading what other people have written. Be it turns of phrase, viewpoints, characterizations or whatever, it's been very cool to get to know a group of fellow writers in a pressure-cooker situation. I've grown to know their voices and also my own.
-I can write fiction. Not as well as I write non-fiction, but it's no longer a scary beast to me.
-I have a very dark place in my soul
I already knew that, but some of what I wrote shocked me, and the body count is beyond anything I would've imagined.
-Writing a cleaner first draft. I've always been a 'sculpter' kind of writer, throwing out enough words to create a huge chunk of stone and then trying to find the ones that tell the story. Out of necessity, I've learned to write more tightly from the beginning.
-I can trust myself. Many of you were extremely generous in the first weeks, when I was freaking out with "I have nothing! I'm frozen!" Some time in the past three weeks, I've realized that the ideas and the words will come.
-I have to make decisions - a corollary to the above. Once I relaxed, I started getting way too many ideas, and I couldn't commit to just one, so - as poetinahat surmised in the "48 hours to go" thread - I would write a dozen different stories and then panic because I couldn't decide which to use (meaning I had less time to edit and refine).
-Sometimes the best writers get cut. (And sometimes I benefit from that...)
-How to thicken my skin. I'm still way too sensitive and insecure, but I've learned that the only way to get thicker skin is by facing critics, not all of whom are friends and crit partners.
I know there's more, but I'm just overwhelmed by the amount this contest has taught me. I'm also a bit overwhelmed by the fact that it's all over but the voting. How weird not to have a next assignment!
So I thought I'd share what I've learned:
-First and foremost, I've learned from reading what other people have written. Be it turns of phrase, viewpoints, characterizations or whatever, it's been very cool to get to know a group of fellow writers in a pressure-cooker situation. I've grown to know their voices and also my own.
-I can write fiction. Not as well as I write non-fiction, but it's no longer a scary beast to me.
-I have a very dark place in my soul
I already knew that, but some of what I wrote shocked me, and the body count is beyond anything I would've imagined.-Writing a cleaner first draft. I've always been a 'sculpter' kind of writer, throwing out enough words to create a huge chunk of stone and then trying to find the ones that tell the story. Out of necessity, I've learned to write more tightly from the beginning.
-I can trust myself. Many of you were extremely generous in the first weeks, when I was freaking out with "I have nothing! I'm frozen!" Some time in the past three weeks, I've realized that the ideas and the words will come.
-I have to make decisions - a corollary to the above. Once I relaxed, I started getting way too many ideas, and I couldn't commit to just one, so - as poetinahat surmised in the "48 hours to go" thread - I would write a dozen different stories and then panic because I couldn't decide which to use (meaning I had less time to edit and refine).
-Sometimes the best writers get cut. (And sometimes I benefit from that...)
-How to thicken my skin. I'm still way too sensitive and insecure, but I've learned that the only way to get thicker skin is by facing critics, not all of whom are friends and crit partners.
I know there's more, but I'm just overwhelmed by the amount this contest has taught me. I'm also a bit overwhelmed by the fact that it's all over but the voting. How weird not to have a next assignment!