Although this is kind of ‘Week 1’ of the Write-a-thon for me, I did work on the novel during that first week before I’d signed up; those days just weren’t officially part of the six-week quest. I’ve also clicked on the ‘I wrote today’ button too late in the evening several times, so my counter of ‘days written’ is already off (but I suppose it’s the spirit of it that counts!).
The official accomplishment this week is completing one chapter. It feels fairly significant—and is something of a relief—since it was a chapter I’ve been stuck on for ages (due to wrestling with how to incorporate some of the old material I want to use with the new stuff I’m drafting, and figuring out the best way to make the pieces fit together).
The second excerpt I’ve added to my Write-a-thon page is from this new chapter. Being first draft material, it’s probably a bit rough, but it’s a passage I was rather tickled with—and it seemed an appropriate place to share it, since it’s about the craft of writing. 🙂
It’s been a couple of years since I did a Write-a-thon, although there was a time or two when I signed up but didn’t end up doing much and didn’t post about it. Although I’ve missed the first week, I’m giving it a go again this year, in part for some added encouragement to finish drafting the novel I’m working on.
The late start happened because, in the past, the one I’ve participated in was sponsored by Clarion West, and for some reason they’re only doing a two-week Write-a-thon this summer. By the time I discovered that the other Clarion workshop (the original one, which seems to have a less prominent presence online), was sponsoring one for the usual duration of six weeks, it had already started.
(The first Clarion Workshop was founded in 1968 in Pennsylvania—the name came from Clarion State College—and Clarion West, based in Seattle, began in 1971. Since the original Clarion Workshop was moved a couple of times and eventually ended up at UCSD in San Diego, thereby putting them both on the west coast, it’s potentially a bit confusing!)
One of the reasons I became less enthusiastic about Clarion West’s Write-a-thon several years ago was that they’d made some off-putting changes to their website, including the process for signing up and creating an author page. In short, they changed a straight-forward site that worked perfectly well into something cluttered and user unfriendly. (I believe my writing buddy who’d also been regularly participating in the Write-a-thons gave up on it as a result.) They also did something very inappropriate with regards to how the participating authors were listed (which, thankfully, they’ve since stopped doing) that made it difficult not to lose some respect for the organization. It seems we really need to revive the old maxim “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” since so many ‘updates’ only create problems.
All that aside, it’s arguably appropriate for me to join the other Clarion Workshop’s fundraiser anyway; not only are they closer geographically, I have personal ties to San Diego since it’s a city I visit regularly because my sister has lived there for many years.
~Watching harbor seals on the beach at La Jolla is one of my favorite San Diego activities.~
