What I wanted to do
There were three main goals I had in mind when I entered that lottery over a month ago:
- Build a writing community that I can talk to and ask all the questions
- Learn all the things! Or at least some things. Which is more than I knew before, and
- Have some written material on the internet for the world to see that I can be proud of. Or at least ok with.
But to be perfectly honest, I was fairly confident my name would be drawn, and I would be obligated to join this event. Did you know you can enter every day after the lottery opens? I think most people must have just done the default 1-3 entries, but past-Dani entered every day so that approximately 10% of the entries were my name while constantly saying this is super scary, but it will be good for future-Dani. And then future-Dani cursed past-Dani when her name was first on the list of lottery winners. Now I must engage! I must perform, good or bad, sink or swim. Because the people are watching and they know what they are doing and what they are talking about.
In summary, I was super stressed going into it. What if I'm not really a writer? Have I been lying this whole time? Maybe I just really like reading books, and if I actually jump out of the comfort nest I've been hiding in, I'll plummet to my death a.k.a. write something super crappy and embarrassing and be booed off of the internet. Because that's how the internet works. It's like survivor and we just vote people off this island periodically.
What actually happened
I learned so much more than I even expected. I found a group of super helpful people that allowed me to pester them with question as I grew from my little seedling state to a slightly larger seedling with some nice book suggestions and writing advice, and now I have a tiny story to share that is there. Right there on the internet. Where all of the internet people can see it. And I'm still constantly thinking about changing it, even though this event is over, get past it, Dani, your story is lovely. Fine even. In fact, there are even people that said they liked it. I enjoyed writing it.
Surprising things I learned about myself as I worked through this whole process! (That's not a sentence, but it needed to happen) I enjoy action, fantasy, and apparently names are really important to me. If you were following along, you might have heard that I was looking at The Prompt and decided that she looks like a Margot. I couldn't come up with a male name, after many, many, many failed attempts at pirate-y male names that aren't actual humans' names and ended up using Guy as a placeholder. In round two of edits, I had so much fun using these names to fill in their backstory. Margot is a French name, Guy is English, but in French, Guy is pronounced Ghee. A romance/rivalry backstory was suddenly formed. And that's when I learned my joy of writing two stories at once. The one you read and the one that was always there.
What I'm left with and where to go from here
I had hoped to start a blog during this... event? Contest? (I still never learned what this internet thing that I participated in was called) But I was working full time and just moved into a new place and these are excuses, but it turns out starting a blog takes time and work, and I just didn't get around to it. If you follow me on twitter, I'll keep you posted when that happens, because I'm cutting back my hours in the new year and will have time to make something special just for you. Yes you, individual person reading this post. I care for you and shall show it in blog form.
I'm hoping to use the blog to show my progress from zero to hero, as the kids say. There will probably be some museum stuff on there too because that is the other thing I do - museum stuff. I see a crossover in my future and it is beautiful. I hope you are there to see it as well, new friend.
P.s. If you are thinking about doing the next Writer in Motion, just do it. If you're like me and are too nervous to fully commit so maybe you'll sit on the sideline and watch and see what people do, enter the lottery every day so that you have to publicly perform. You should be here. Be brave. The writing community here is super supportive and ready to help you grow and push you in the right direction.
Topic: So long, and thanks for all the fish (Read 2633 times)