Year 16... 

Last year I worked on reading and loose translation of a Finnish novel. This year, I'm still working on that on that back burner, but am going to go back to the beginning and set some fiction/ short story writing goals. Inspired by some '07 classmates who've either been chugging along as short story engines or gotten back into the game more recently with some amazing stories.

I have this story start I've toyed with but never really fleshed out. Hard, mundane science fiction. Rockets, sports betting, social media, and a turf battle between generations. I did a lot of the sciencey research a while ago, and kept collecting more ideas to expand the original scenario. The original inspiration has become dated, but the core idea still has potential, so...

I'm going to set a goal to work on this at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Shooting for a first and second draft. I'll keep working on my other projects- the Finnish one, translation of an old Colombian science fiction novel, and minor movie reviews. Also voluminous reading and writing for work, language classes, and meetups. But I will use the Write-a-thon to push this little story forward as hard as I can. 

So far, while trying to figure out how to set up this page, I've met the goal for Week One. I should get two more days in, as well. 

Write on, and donate, of course, if you can.... As with writing, every little bit adds up.

-Carrie

Week 2: Met the daily goal.s for the week. Made some good changes in the opening and worked on developing conflict in the middle. Went down the rabbithole of genealogical research Friday night and Saturday morning, reading old French-language newspapers of 19th c. New Orleans, combing through newspaper archives from Barranquilla, Colombia, and finding photos someone had captured before their loss of the abandoned houses and stolen historical markers that used to be in an unincorporated town that used to be a landing point for freed people fleeing north. Read a book about improving story endings, and tried out some of the exercises on this story.. Started reading a history of unruly women in an area of North Carolina in the 1800s.. Continued reading The Seven Brothers in Finnish with a class. Hopefully ready for the next draft of this story, and wondering how those wanderings will show up in it... 

Week 3- Chugging along. I've been enjoying the brief season of good cherries, which in MN generally means only two varieties but always reminds me of the amazing variety of cherries on display at the farmers markets in Seattle during the workshop. I've done some research on technical aspects of different kinds of speedy vehicles, which led to watching videos of rally car driving in the 60s and 70s (which is funny, because Finnish Duolingo has a recurrent set of sentences focused on rally driving as a hobby. I was not surprised to find out how many of the drivers were Finns.). It was useful for both the structure of racing stories and the history of a form of sports entertainment that was less regulated than many, and participants took it to places the "hosts" did not intend (though maybe they should have anticipated it ). I digressed to catch up on writing some longer movie reviews early in the week and rereading some books and articles about indie filmmaking in the 70s-90s. Yesterday, I worked on some new story ideas, noodling around with research and mixing influences. After discussion with a fellow movie-buff coworker, I watched a documentary about director William Friedkin that brought back find memories of visiting "the Exorcist steps" in Georgetown (in 'the other Washington', DC) and had some interesting insights into the entertainment aspect of storytelling and how to use close attention to details to hold and pique a viewer/reader's interest. Useful for writing, but this is also a theme/conflict for the characters in the short story I am working on for the write-a-thon. For this draft, I tried pulling the story I'm working on apart and putting pieces onto note cards. It's been helpful for trying to figure out how to punch up each scene and add layers of detail. This next week, I'm going to get back to the story's skeleton, and figure out how to make each scene is working hard, and try and make it all come together again. I promise- less digressions, more bones...

Week 4 has been bit challenging, now that CW week 4 email mentions it… It has been a week of asking the kind of hard questions a critique group would ask, and realizing I don’t have the best answers. Yet. Putting the time in, trying to work out motivations and answer some of the questions about why the characters are in this situation, and making that work with the constraints the tech puts on that. I went back to the original videos that inspired this story, and my old notebooks. Also ran into the cache of old test pilot footage available now on Ytube, like some historic flight tests by Chuck Yeager. They were also good for a taste of the original inspiration. I'll try to bring that energy into week 5.

Week 5: stuck to my goals. Making progress. 'Wasted' more time doing genealogy research, prepping for some family reunions. Watched more car and plane racing videos. Wrote some movie reviews.. Got some good ideas for what is more of a primary project than the write-a-thon story. Figured out a few things about the protagonist and antagonist of the story. Got a better idea of how to slice out the chunk that will be left in the story. Need to take that plunge, but, as every August, this is a rollercoaster week. It's going to take some work to fit the daily half hour in.

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. 

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