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Well, my attempt to write for CFL for 24 hours yesterday was both successful and not. It was successful in the most important ways. It fell shy of my intentions in terms of bragging rights.
I didn't end up writing for 24 hours, not because I became too tired or tapped out. To the contrary, when I stopped writing, I was wide awake and with plenty of energy left, thanks to a cup o' Barry's, my favorite Irish tea. But ... I ran out of story.
First, I severely underestimated my speed as a writer. Before CFL, my personal record was 10,000 words written in a day, accomplished during NaNoWriMo one year. Before that, it was 9,000 words in a day. Based on that, I figured 15,000 was a good ballpark for CFL, since I figured I would drop off in speed around 10,000 and would probably spend the rest of the event eking out the remaining 5,000 words. I figured I might inch over 15,000, but I could just as easily fall a bit shy.
I was wrong. I hit 15,000 with several hours left in the event. That wouldn't have been a problem, if I didn't also hit the point where I had nothing left to write. I had reached the end of what I planned to write, hours before quitting time, and had no story planned beyond that point. I didn't think I'd come close to reaching that point in one day. Part of the reason I did, I know, is that in moments of reduced inspiration and energy, I wrote mostly plot, and I still have a lot of backstory and theme to work in, but that is not something I'm capable of doing justice to in a marathon.
So it's absolutely not a bad thing to have reached my goal as far as the donations it has earned for cancer research, but I really wanted to say that I wrote for 24 hours straight.
The good thing is that I did end up with a bit of sleep. Not enough--I'm pretty tired now--but I not dragging like I expected, which is good, since I have schoolwork I need to do. I always find that these "extreme writing" events, like NaNoWriMo or when I write 20+ stories in a month for gifts, teach me a lot about myself as a writer. I'm going to try to put some of those musings into words on the Heretic Loremaster later this week.
I didn't end up writing for 24 hours, not because I became too tired or tapped out. To the contrary, when I stopped writing, I was wide awake and with plenty of energy left, thanks to a cup o' Barry's, my favorite Irish tea. But ... I ran out of story.
First, I severely underestimated my speed as a writer. Before CFL, my personal record was 10,000 words written in a day, accomplished during NaNoWriMo one year. Before that, it was 9,000 words in a day. Based on that, I figured 15,000 was a good ballpark for CFL, since I figured I would drop off in speed around 10,000 and would probably spend the rest of the event eking out the remaining 5,000 words. I figured I might inch over 15,000, but I could just as easily fall a bit shy.
I was wrong. I hit 15,000 with several hours left in the event. That wouldn't have been a problem, if I didn't also hit the point where I had nothing left to write. I had reached the end of what I planned to write, hours before quitting time, and had no story planned beyond that point. I didn't think I'd come close to reaching that point in one day. Part of the reason I did, I know, is that in moments of reduced inspiration and energy, I wrote mostly plot, and I still have a lot of backstory and theme to work in, but that is not something I'm capable of doing justice to in a marathon.
So it's absolutely not a bad thing to have reached my goal as far as the donations it has earned for cancer research, but I really wanted to say that I wrote for 24 hours straight.
The good thing is that I did end up with a bit of sleep. Not enough--I'm pretty tired now--but I not dragging like I expected, which is good, since I have schoolwork I need to do. I always find that these "extreme writing" events, like NaNoWriMo or when I write 20+ stories in a month for gifts, teach me a lot about myself as a writer. I'm going to try to put some of those musings into words on the Heretic Loremaster later this week.
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