Regular readers know: A) I love you all dearly; B) I competed in the annual 3-Day Novel Contest over the long weekend. Because I’m barely seeing straight with fatigue and far too many recent miles on my laptop, I thought I’d share ten fun facts about my writing experiences this weekend.
We’ll pretend I chose today’s list form for the sake of variety, and not because I can’t get it together enough to form paragraphs right now, okay?
1. I only left my house once in 72 hours. Sherman and I took a 11 block (each way) trip to the Mac’s store for a Coke slush on Monday; he needed some exercise and my muscles desperately needed stretching.
2. On Saturday night, I ordered steamed buns, double wong pork, lemon chicken, mu shu pork, and rice from the Happy Garden Restaurant one neighbourhood over. I picked at my takeout for most of the contest and avoided wasting time cooking. We also had a very hot weekend, so the dollhouse stayed a reasonable temperature without me using the stove.
3. The Electrician walked Sherman for me on Saturday and Sunday, because he’s a great guy who has a soft spot for the speckled pup.
4. My novel is called The Rarest Kind, Indeed. Due to contest regulations, I can’t share the plot or any excerpts with you until after the winners are announced in early 2012. All I can tell you is that I sat down to write a historical fiction, and my plot spun into a gothic novel.
5. I bought a big evening at the movies size box of Nerds candy as part of my contest supplies. I still have two-thirds of it left, and hopefully no new cavities.
6. I developed my story in chronological order, which I’ve never done before. Usually, I write scenes in whatever order they arrive in my brain, then connect them all up later. It generally seemed like my plot had better flow than the entries I wrote in previous years, and I think I’ll keep this tactic in my chartruese (faux) crocodile bag of literary tricks.
7. My final word count is 29,432. After tidying up the layout, the manuscript runs 107 typed pages.
8. Although I spent three whole days and most of the nights writing, I never did change my spell check language to Canadian English so it would stop leaving red underlines under words like neighbour and labour. How lazy of me.
9. Late Sunday night, when I was laying out the spookiest scene of the entire story, the bar that holds my shower curtain up over the tub fell down with a tremendous crash. Leroy was so startled that he leapt straight up from his spot sleeping along my thigh, gouging a big chunk from my flank in the process. Do people actually have flanks? If not, then I’m missing a bit of where my flank would be.
10. Over the course of the weekend, I had four showers and three baths. The showers were mostly to perk me up when my energy started flagging, and the baths were to help relax my aching back. I got through the contest on only two Advils, thankfully. I’m happy to report that my armpits also stayed pleasantly fresh.
I think I’ll have an early bedtime tonight!
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Blue Speckled Pup 
Hooray! I am really impressed! You should get some kind of special award for being injured during the process!
Well thank you! My cat claw gouge didn’t get infected, so I’ll consider that my award and be grateful for it!
Wow Kay, that is impressive!! A novel in a weekend???. I am thrilled if I get a blog written a few times a week. (along with my schoolwork of course). Can’t wait to read your novel, whether or not it wins. 🙂 Proud of you lady!!!
Thanks Carol. Don’t forget I have no kids to feed and clothe, so I can check out of the world for a weekend and do insane things like this contest. Results don’t come out until January at least, so it’s fixing to be a long wait. : )
That sounds like such a fun contest! I am gonna check it out next year.
Really, really do try it at least once. It’s very good for proving to a writer what’s possible with enough determination and take-out Chinese food.
Very impressive! It takes me days to do a one page writing.
Best ‘Fun Facts’ list I’ve seen in a while. Ack – waiting 4 months would drive me nuts. Can’t wait to read your story once it’s available.
Thanks Liz! I will probably be pacing by January. It would make more sense to me it they announced “cuts” as novels were dropped at each round of judging, like trying out for a volleyball team: not that I’ve ever tried out for a sports team, but still.
I won’t be publishing the novella to my blog, since I like it to much to turn it loose in the world unless it’s on paper. If it’s not published through the contest, I’ll be reworking it and seeking another publisher. Once the contest is finished, though, I can share more of what it’s about.
Very much looking forward to reading it in 2012.
Now abou that historical novel, can you write one of those too? Howza bout I give you 90 days instead of 3? Me loves English historical novels involving queens or kings 🙂
Cinderella, your comments are always so uplifting: thanks for being so darn positive!
I am writing a historical fiction novel on a “regular” timeline that’s set in 1930’s small town Alberta. I don’t do much writing about the upper class, but I’ll keep you posted if I ever crank out anything about royal folks. Stranger things have happened!
Over 29k, wow! You haven’t revealed much, and yet, I want to read it. Right now I’m feeling envious of the contest readers/judges. Maybe some day I can become a volunteer … though I’d miss the thrill of the writing.
Thanks Tamara. I feel really good about this year’s entry. You’re right about the fun of reading all those entries, but I have a feeling it’s a daunting task. It must be a very tough thing to narrow down hundreds of entries to one winner. I wonder how they structure the time to make it all work. Hanging on until January for the announcement seems like a very long wait right now.