Dean Wesley Smith Workshop & My Story in a Day Challege

On Friday, I spent most of the day creating a 5000 word short story from scratch.  I had no advance preparation.  No planning.  No nothing, but a hard deadline that I had to write the words "The End" by the end of the day.

Part of the reason for this challenge is that I'll be attending Dean Wesley Smith's Character Voice and Setting workshop in April of next year.  This is an invitation only workshop, and I had to answer a lot of questions before I got my invitation.  I've heard lots of fabulous things about the workshop, and also that we will be doing a lot of writing while we're there.  From talking to people who have attended in the past, I'm anticipating that we will have at least two assignments to write a 4-7k words short story in a day during the week of the workshop.

I am a person who responds well to deadlines, and I know that I'm capable of writing that many words in a day, but I was less certain of my ability to write a complete story in that time.  Words on the page with no ending are great, but not the goal here.  I needed to prove to myself that I was capable of performing.

Now I know I can.  I am really pleased with the story I wrote, and nowhere near as nervous about the workshop in April.

Don't get me wrong, I still have some trepidation, but it's tinged more with excitement than dread.  I can do this.  Hooray!