Two days in the life of an NYCM contestant

1. Wake up at 5am and check prompt. Screenshot prompt because I'll probably forget. If I'm working, I get up and start my day. If I'm not working, I doze for another hour or so while I day dream

2. Wake up, usually with an idea of some kind. Bounce ideas off my Alphas. Characters are the thing I come up with first, so I usually have the star players figured out. If i'm lucky, I write a draft over my morning coffee. If I'm not lucky, I pretend to write but really just drink the coffee

3. If I have a draft, it goes to the Alphas. Then I walk the dog and go about my day.

4. Afternoon day one I may or may not have a fairly solid draft, if I do I start passing it to betas and I do beta reading in turn. If I don't I procrastinate because the terror of last minute deadlines will give me life

5. Day 2 is either procrastination or beta reading. Usually I end up with something a few hours before deadline, which I submit

I've had a few that have been last minute rushes when I've been working, and one or two where the ideas just wouldn't flow, but mostly it seems to go okay!!

I’m at a huge advantage with my time zone in Alaska. The prompts drop at 8PM Friday night. 

1. Several hours before the prompts drop, I remind my husband and daughters that I will need them around at 8PM that night to brainstorm with me. It absolutely helps me to talk through ideas.

2. Prepare a nice late dinner for the family if time allows. The better the food, and the more food there is, the longer they are trapped at the table with me for said brainstorming session.

3. My husband tells me “Here’s what you should write.” He lays out some elaborate plot.

4. I tell him all the reasons his plot won’t work. Then I tell him “What about . . .?”

5. He tells me all the reasons my plot won’t work.

6. Kids jump in and tell me their plot ideas. We all go back and forth for a while.

7. Repeat steps 3-6 several times.

8. Somewhere in all the “that won’t work!” talk, the real idea is carved out.

9. Husband gets all annoyed that I skewed his idea when really that idea would have been the next Hollywood blockbuster or NYT bestseller. 

10. If steps 1-9 don’t work on Friday, repeat on Saturday.

11. Ignore family for the rest of the weekend while I write. 

12. Beta as much as time allows.

13. Revise like crazy.

14. Write title, synopsis, and submit.

15. Change one word in paragraph 3. Resubmit.

16. Change word back to original word. Resubmit.

17. Repeat steps 15 and 16 several times.

18. Submit final copy at 7:58 pm Sunday (one minute before deadline.)

19. Reintroduce myself to my family. Memorize day that results come out and take on other writing projects to try not to obsess too much until then.

Good luck, everyone, especially those writing this weekend!

-Alex 

I need to start lining up my editors. The 2nd round is approaching and what if I make the cut?

I have no ‘process’. I just try and write a story.

If I had 3 minutes or 3 decades the ‘process’ would be the same. 

I set up a date between a pencil and a piece of paper. I provide the wine and chocolates. After that I try not to dictate how they behave together. The less control I have the better, in fact.

History suggests, of course, that this vague formula is not the way to progress far in ‘writing’ competitions. And I accept that reality, however nice it may be to make the next round.

Unfortunately, without some kind of gun to my head, I struggle to write even a decent shopping list. I doubt that I am alone among this group.