I dislike the word “marathon”.
Since it involves extensive sustained activity, there is an implication that it will take more than my average daily output of energy for achievement.
Even though there are many things that I love to do, such as eat, drink wine, play with my dogs, I don’t necessary want to do them in a marathon kind of way. So when Lori Twinning told me about a writing marathon in Huntsville and that it was the best writing event of the year for her, I said no. That was last year.
This year, I had made a new years’ resolution both to try something new outside my comfort zone and to write more. The writing marathon would sacrifice a weekend, but would achieve both goals with one swoop. So with trepidation, I agreed to try out my first writing marathon.
I didn’t worry about the weekend until about a week before, when panic started to slowly creep into my thoughts at night. What would I write about? Should I just take my manuscript that I am busy working on and use the time to edit? That felt like cheating with marathon, kind of like texting with an old flame through a movie on a first date.
What if I didn’t like the other writers or if they didn’t like me? I began to envision writing a murder mystery story, taking place at a writing marathon event. Slowly killing off those that found out that I was actually a fraud, pretending to write like the next Booker Prize winner, but coming up like a pathetic third grade story teller.
The annual event in Huntsville, taking place during the second weekend in July, was nothing what I expected. First the location was beautiful. The building was spacious and right next to a lake (complete with a dock to write on), and a trail through woods when you needed a break.
Second, the people were warm and welcoming. Everyone was a bit nervous that first night but also excited. Anticipation for the next 72 hours was on everyone’s face. Creativity and many pages of original writing were going to happen here. Maybe because we are so distracted in our daily lives, we forget how to sit and just concentrate on one thing for a length of time; we don’t know how it feels like anymore. This will be as close to mediation as I will mostly likely ever get and it does feel wonderful.
Third, I wrote and wrote and wrote. Nearing the end of the 72 hours, I hit my 100 page mark and I barely could believe that I managed to write so much in such little time. My most memorable moment was when I hit the “wall” – I was barely into my story and wanted to give up. I thought – this is a boring story. I don’t want to write anymore and who will want to ever read it especially if I can’t write another word. I wasn’t even 24 hours into the marathon! But thanks to a few wonderful writers who all took a break from their own writing to help me, we had a brain storming session and got my book back on track. It kept me going for the next three days.
I hope to return next year and maybe write that mystery story after all. Especially as I now know all the characters…
