Conclusion

I have come to a conclusion. Or rather, I am forcing myself to make this decision and stick with it: I am not entering the 3-Day Novel Contest this year. I am too old for it, mentally and physically. Even though I finished last year with six hours to spare and managed to make the shortlist, I don't feel like going through the Week After. That week is filled with lengthy hours typing (because I need to handwrite everything) and panicking. And that Week After is always the week that school starts. So the weekend begins with brain freeze, leads into writing, and progresses into Dub Tee Eff moments (where am I going with this? can I write a whole novel in a weekend? should I give up now? is this making any sense?) accompanied by extreme agitation, anxiety, and emotional wreckage. And then there is the need to Just Get Away From It All. Which is hard to do when you've committed to writing a novel in three days. But in a moment of exhaustion, everything is finished. You've burnt yourself out after writing three days straight, and you just want to rest... but you have to type up the piece you wrote and mail it it. More exhaustion. Pleas for help. You finally finish typing, mail it in, and start school on the same day.

Starting school on the exhausted note is not a good way to begin the year.

Yes indeed, I am too old for such things.

Even though I may be working and not schooling this year.

But I already have come up with an alternative: back to NaNoWriMo! That's right. I am pretty sure I entered once before but barely wrote. This time, if I enter, I will finish. It's that simple. I trade one mediocre-writing contest for another, and I am okay with that. If it gets me writing more, that's excellent. It is time to write. That's the whole reason I'm thinking about doing an MFA: I'm ready to write. I may start off slowly, I may start off poorly, but right now I need to START.