A busy summer saw this particular project come to a close on its first draft after several years. I wasn’t particularly satisfied with it, so put it away for a bit. Might look at it over the Christmas holidays and see about starting the second draft.

Over the Labour Day weekend, I finally participated in Anvil Press’ 3-Day Novel Writing Contest. Back in pre-COVID times, I knew people who would get together for one giant coffee and snack fuelled word binge. Banging out 18,000 or so words in basement wasn’t quite the same, but still – conceptualizing and executing something that reads like a short novella was pretty exciting and quite the confidence boost. Not sure what the next steps for that story will be, but I believe Anvil will be announcing the winners in March.

I expected the 3 Day Novel contest to be a challenge. I was lucky in the sense that I had an idea that sort of came with its own story arc, so I didn’t have to struggle with plotting in the way that some of my pantser friends did. Nevertheless, I was not prepared for how draining the actual experience was and it took weeks before I felt like writing again.

For more information about the 3 Day Novel Contest, click here.