An Almost All Day Write-A-Thon

We have an official Discord server for the MFA program I’m attending where we talk about all the things writing, college, and life. But for the month of June, many of us committed to writing every day. And some of us–namely me–completely failed at this!

I had the best of intentions. I really did.

But the first two weeks of the month, we were prepping to send the kiddos to visit their dad for the summer in Maine. Which took up all of my time as we hit doctors, dentists, eye doctors, and did endless amounts of new clothing and suitcase shopping.

And then we sent them off, and I had my usual week of moping around the house sleeping all day and missing them like crazy.

Which leaves me with this week (at least since Thursday) as my only productive writing week. And while it was certainly productive in many ways for my writing, I didn’t actually do much writing. I helped friends with their websites and book blurbs, beta read for several of them, finished my edits from Thesis I, and reworked my plot outline.

Oh, and I made a lovely new friend (waves enthusiastically), and we spent the afternoon talking about all the things and going through our plot outlines and working some things out, which was really helpful for rewriting my plot outline.

I know what you’re thinking…seriously, Brittany? Again with the plot outline?!? Isn’t this like the fourth or fifth time?

But hear me out…it really, really needed it!

I’d like to say it’s my last time working through it, but we all know that’d be a lie and a half. For now, it’s exactly where I want it to be with all of the necessary changes made and plenty of room left for the endless amount of wiggling around I tend to do. It’s reorganized, reprinted, and recolor-coded. I’ve also transferred all of my hand written notes and endless number of scribbled sticky notes over onto the lovely, freshly printed papers.

So when I was reminded about the all day write-a-thon we had scheduled for today (June 25th), I was all kinds of excited that I spent so much time prepping this week to get back into my story.

I would like to be able to say that I’m a fast writer, but I’d be lying about that too. I am painfully slow, always second guessing things, and can’t move to the next chapter without at least one editing pass through the chapter before. And even after that, I spend time in my outline adding smaller details–ones that build up subplots or world-building, and even some that will factor into the rest of the coming books.

The number of sticky notes I go through is absolutely embarrassing, but they keep me organized with each of the smaller–but important–details. The notes are color-coded too. Rhazien has blue stickies, and Erissa has purple ones. The red writing is things that need to be added for the main plot, orange is subplots, green is world-building, and blue is the timeline (and apparently purple pen is now a thing for where I’m putting new scene breaks because that came up tonight.)

If I spent as much time writing as I do on this outline…

But I’m not touching that thought with a ten-foot pole! I shall remain blissfully ignorant of my utterly ridiculous writing process and join in on the write-a-thon, updating as I make progress. Because why not? I can give ya’ll a peak into the utter cluster-fuck that is my writing process.

Starting time: 11 am- Okay, I totally have this! Let’s go!

Update: 4 pm- 2k words worth of revisions down. Man, it took a while to get in the write headspace (…get it? I’m a little embarrassed with that one, lol). Now, onto my thesis submission!

Update: 4:30 pm- I’ve been working on a way to solve a plot hole that exists from the introduction of Rhazien’s character, and I figured out how to incorporate the fix in a way that really enriches the world-building and creates a sense of culture surrounding where he’s from. But shhhhh, spoilers! (If you know, you know, and we should be friends!)

Let’s not talk about where my new words are for my thesis…

Update: 5:30 pm- We have progressed by 2k more words of revision for the plot hole fix (counting the taking away and the adding), and now I can let my neurotic self work on new words for my thesis submission.

Oh, no. Wait. I’m hung on using the word “tendrils.”

Update: 6:30 pm- An hour into adding new words, and I’m hung up again, this time on describing a smokey mist.

But with the help of the same lovely friend from above (waves again with even more enthusiasm!), I was given the great advice of focusing on furthering the descriptions in my writing by focusing on the five (or beyond) senses of look, touch, smell, feel, and taste (with very inappropriate examples for the fun of it, because laughing is way better than crying in frustration over the lack of words coming to your brain). And now we are back on track with all the ideas for how to write the tension-filled things.

Update: 7 pm- Squirrel!!!

Update: 8:00 pm- Some of us were wondering away, lol, so we turned on our cameras for our video call for some accountability. But that shower sure felt great and refreshing!

Update: 8:30 pm- And… don’t laugh. Or sigh dramatically. Because I might have totally changed my outline again.

Don’t yell at me!!!

I kept it all the same, just added something that really boosts the stakes and the tension, which is a big step up from chucking it and writing a new one like I have literally every other time I’ve touched it.

Update: 9 pm- Those changes really got things moving! Only 7k away from where I need to be for my thesis submission! Which is great. It’s due by the end of this upcoming week.

Let’s keep going and see if we can knock that down before I call it for the night. I’m aiming for the 50k total word mark, and I’m so close I can taste the satisfaction!

I actually had all the plans to stop writing for word count goals. I even talked about it in a discussion about my writing plan for my thesis course. But I’m so competitive, even with myself. I just can’t ignore the satisfaction of watching that number rise.

And the final update at 11:59 pm- I killed it with the all day writing and made it to just over 50k words!!! What a fantastically productive day!

Reaching 50k words makes me feel so proud of myself and accomplished, especially after falling off at the beginning of this month. If I hadn’t split my novel into two separate books for the series, I would be around the 70k mark right now and nearly finished. It was a little discouraging to watch that word count drop after halving things. It made writing a little more daunting and a lot less appealing. It felt like I had moved backward. To reach this milestone again with the same story feels amazing!

I loved today! These group write-a-thons help me be so much more productive with my time, especially because I deal with a learning disorder called dyscalculia (kind of like having dyslexia with numbers, only it goes a little deeper to impact things like telling and keeping track of time or knowing your left from your right). Something about knowing everyone else is expecting me to be working as hard as they are just changes my mindset, especially when we have our cameras turned on.

And I have built up this truly great writing support system with some amazing classmates who have turned into great friends! I am so happy to help support them and cheer them on with their goals. The early parts of the MFA program really stress the importance of literary citizenship and building writing communities. It was boring and repetitive at first, but the further I get along in this journey, the more I understand the need to have this drilled into us. Having that friendship, support, and accountability changes things. It changes you on a personal and professional level, and it changes your writing. I am forever grateful for this amazing group of people, and I’m even more grateful that several of us have become such close friends that will continue to stay in contact with each other long after we’ve all graduated.

So if you don’t have a writing community, start looking for one! Discord and other social media platforms have an insane number of groups you can join. Libraries, locally owned bookstores, and even Barnes and Noble can also provide excellent networking and social opportunities. Or reach out to me, and I’ll treasure being a part of your bookish support system! Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary craft. No matter your writing skills or choice of genre, there are people waiting for someone like you to come along. You just have to put yourself out there.