I pledge to write 50 short stories in the next six weeks - defining a story as at least 1000 words and contaniing a beginning, middle and end.
This is the write-a-thon goal that launched my professional career. You can read about that on my blog.
If you donate, please feel free to leave a comment requesting a character name, plot element, what have you! I will reward you with inclusion in my fiction. After all, I have fifty stories to come up with!
41/50
Day one:Two very crappy rough drafts created! One is a locked room mystery in space, the other a story about the swan brothers adjusting to human life.
Day two:Banged out a 2.7k story on an old topic - building a velodrome on Mars. Went easy. Not as serious a story. Also found a half-complete draft of something and completed it. Feels good.
Day three: Finished a story started day one and picked at on day two. Longest so far at 4,700 words.
Day four: Finished a story started yesterday, on an old idea. Space food. Not sure I quite hit the point? Starting another story that I hope is more cozy, near-future, personal stakes.
Day five: struggled to finish that story. It's either heartbreaking or a mess. Maybe both?
Day six: struggled on three different stories, finished a micro-flash, can't count it. It's only 400 words, but doesn't feel like it can be longer. So a wash.
Day seven: finished one of the stories from yesterday. 3.6k - it kept needing more plot. And a 2k very literary thing. and a flash
Day eight: finished a fantasy piece started, um, two days ago? About stepmothers being nice.
Day nine: four started stories, nothing going over the finish line, then I had an idea while brushing my teeth and finished one. About my childhood.
Day ten: started 6 drafts, failed to hit the finish line on any.
Day eleven: finished one of the drafts from yesterday. A ghost story that needed more theme. Then I wrote a silly piece based on a prompt.
Day twelve: Started a thing... no idea how to finish it.
Day thirteen: Drove to a convention - did not write
Day fourteen: Finished the thing from day twelve!
Day fifteen: Wrote some longhand in a panel, started shaping it into a story. Drove home. Was exhausted.
Day sixteen: Typed in the longhand story and gave it an ending. Also finished off a story I started in my journal at the convention.
Day seventeen: Day job haaaaard.
Day eighteen: should I be updating this every day? Ugh. Um... tried to write.
Day nineteen: Dashed off a literary thing.
Day twenty: finished a thing I started a while ago, about trying to grow an oak tree in space. Then I dashed off a flash that is ... eh, it is. I'm at 21 for 20 days - need to be at 25-ish though because tomorrow is the halfway point!
Day twenty-one: wrote a micro flash abecedarian. I decided a whle ago that I would count three micro-flash as one, so since this is my third, I'm giving myself one point.
Day 22-24: slowly eeked out a longish story that's pretty bad about cultural anthropology in space.
Day 25: whipped up a rather quick draft of an old idea. Robot Van Winkle. I think I'm three stories behind now?
Day 26: Wrote something a bit literary, but I like it. woo half-way!
Day 27-28: Started three things - but like just a paragraph each. At a convention.
Day 29: Yay! Finished one of those things. A story about sisterhood at a space gas station.
Day 30: Finished another one of those things started at the convention, a sort of "The Borg are the good guys" thing and also started and finished something about patriarchy being bad for men. I estimate I am about 6 stories behind goal right now.
Day 31: Finished the third of the one-paragraph starts from Confluence! It's on the old "Take me to your leader" trope also wrote a reimagining of an old horror story I wrote in college about a romance novelist.
Day 32: Worried my day count is off. Ten days to go? Sounds about right, actually. Anyway, found an old outline for a story titled "Vacation on the shore" and wrote that.
Day 33-36: I got siiiick. Didn't write for several days. Completely lost track.
Day 37: Three story day! Woot! I'm back in the saddle!
Day 38: Two solid days in a row, I'm up to 37 stories!
Day 39: Finished one to take me to 38. Not sure it works. I say that a lot, don't I? Prompt was "Sexy Gargoyle Librarian". Then I dashed off a quick thing on a formula I like, three scenes. 39! Can I make it to 42 for a story a day?
Clarion West 2023 Write-a-thon
Amal El-Mohtar during the 2019 Summer Reading Series
The Write-a-thon supports Clarion West programs year-round. All donations support Clarion West classes, workshops, panels, and other programs for emerging writers, including our Six-Week Workshop. We also hold events, offer scholarships, raise awareness, and promote diverse speculative fiction in Seattle and all over the world.
Clarion West
Our mission is to support emerging and underrepresented voices by providing writers with world-class instruction to empower their creation of wild and amazing worlds. Through conversation and public engagement, we bring those voices to an ever-expanding community.
| Supporters | |||
| Name | Date | Amount | Comments |
| Sylvia Hart | 07/17/2023 | $36.39 | I am so proud of you and all you do, Marie. In my next life, I really want to be just like you! BIG HUGS & LOTS OF LOVE. | Ann Walker | 07/14/2023 | $25.00 | Karin Strippel | 06/29/2023 | $20.00 | If you put me in a story just don’t use my real name it’s terrible lollll | Elizabeth Kopras | 06/29/2023 | $10.00 | Manuel Royal | 06/22/2023 | $10.00 | The gift of making stuff up may be what saves humanity. Making this donation from the proceeds of a ghost story. | Nyla Bright | 06/21/2023 | $10.62 | Can't wait to read the stories that come out of this write-a-thon! | Cassandra Robertson | 06/21/2023 | $50.00 | Michael Substelny | 06/21/2023 | $50.00 | Your goal is incredibly ambitious! |
| Total | $212.01 | ||