So yesterday disappeared down a dark hole. Well, not a dark hole precisely. More a study hole.
Because of the time difference I’m already a day behind the rest of the fantasy thriller writing workshop. The study along workshops go live on the website half a day after they happened in real life, but by then I’m in bed and I have it all to wake up to. But when I started Monday’s workshop, on Tuesday morning, the first thing I had to do was watch the videos for the thriller writing classic workshop.
This was a course that the study along writers were given as a bonus. The course was once a live course that ran for six weeks and in those days it was worth twice the value. All of those older courses have now been archived, but we can still watch them and have a go at the assignments, we just don’t get to turn the assignments in.
It was great to get a bonus course… but we had to go off and watch it before continuing with this course. That’s six weeks’ worth of videos. I assumed that meant that at least one of us, probably including me, had submitted the first assignment without the first clue of what a real thriller is.
Now, I wouldn’t have chosen a thriller writing workshop or a fantasy writing workshop. But I did buy a lifetime subscription to all of the study along workshops, past and present. I caught the tail end of one that took place in March and I was determined to take part in the next one. I think the next one, in September, will be a better fit for me. Romance Ghosts. Romance, less so. Ghosts, yes.
So Tuesday was spent catching up on that full thriller writing classic workshop and it really did take all day. I returned to the study along, watched the rest of Monday’s videos, and then tackled the assignment, hoping I’d at least picked something up since my first assignment.
It was really, really hard. The target wordcount was 3,000 – 5,000 words and I limped in at just under 3,300 words, submitting it at 1:30am Wednesday morning. The deadline was midnight west coast time. I made both the wordcount and the deadline. I’m just not sure it was a great fantasy, and I doubt very much it was a great thriller.
But if you noticed I was a bit AWOL yesterday, that’s where I was.
I didn’t do any work other than share a Monkey Dust event on Facebook and a Monkey Dust poster. While I listened to the classic workshop, on my phone, I did washing. Several washloads. Some of it went through the tumble dryer, some of it went onto the clothes horses in the conservatory. It’s hardly stopped raining here for about a week so I didn’t risk hanging it on the line. And I emptied and filled the dishwasher.
And that’s all I managed apart from a 3,300-word short story that was waaaaaay out of my comfort zone. But I learnt some stuff, so that’s the main thing.
Today I have an extra assignment to do for the workshop that doesn’t have to be turned in, but I need it for today’s assignment. Then I have yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) lectures to catch up on. And then I have to write today’s assignment, 3,000 – 8,000 words, which also has to be turned in by midnight west coast time.
Forgive me if I dash off. I’ve cleared the week pretty much of work in order to do this workshop. But it also means I shouldn’t be hanging around online.
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The workshop sounds really interesting, although challenging. And you’re meeting the deadlines, so well done. But catching up on six weeks’ worth of videos is . . .a lot. I hope it eases up soon and you can have fun.
I think yesterday was too much. I was burnt out today and ducked out of the final assignment. It will be a much nicer story if I keep it for publication and write it the way I want to write it. But I’m disappointed I didn’t have the stamina to stay up late and write a fast-paced thriller.