Previous article: I participed in NYC Midnight’s 250-word Microfition Challenge, 2023/2024 #2
Don’t forget, this article was published well after it was written.
And there it is, it is Sunday December 10, 2023 and I have completed my challenge to write a 250 word micro-fiction in 48 hours!
Today, I had no luck and fortunately I really made progress on my story yesterday because I had a migraine all day! It was so horrible that I had to take a nap to try to get her to go away for a bit! So I didn’t have much time to work, only 5 actual hours, with this damn headache, instead of the 10 I thought I would have. But the important thing is that I succeeded. Here is the summary of my progress:
That’s when I woke up this morning, just to scare and tell myself that I had less than 12 hours left to finish my story and send it!
That was the time I had left to find a title, for a final proofreading, and above all! Above all ! Don’t forget to submit the text! Just after rereading for the umpteenth time, after downing an entire cup of coffee, too bad for the headache!
I really struggled here because I only had 248 words! So I could add 2 to accentuate the story even more. This is what I did with one and for the second, I corrected a tense error, which gave me my 250th word!!!
It was after the obligatory migraine nap, the pills with ^^.
I finished my text after 4 or 5 additional proofreadings and corrections! The title has been found! There remains the final proofreading and always and above all, don’t forget to submit the text!
This was after my last reread. All that remained was to send!!!!!
This was while I was filling out the submission form. I had just copied and pasted my microfiction, reread it 4 times to be sure not to see any errors in spelling, conjugation, syntax, typing, layout, etc.
250/250 words!!!!!
And that ! And that !
That’s it ! It was successfully sent!
And there remained:
Yes, I could have sent it later, but the more you read, the more you edit and the more likely you are to remove things that should be in the story, so it was time!
And finally, the delivery email which tells me that my story has been well received and that I will have within 72 hours a first return from the jury to clarify whether I am off-topic or not, if my text is well accepted, so if I am still in the competition but especially if my news really reached their hands without problem.
For the rest, we’ll see February 7, 2024 the results!
So how do I feel?
Migraine, yes still after more than 24 hours, I can no longer even enjoy having participated in the competition.
But otherwise, really very happy to have done that, to have tried, to have succeeded! I don’t expect to make it to the second round at all. As a reminder, there are 4,481 participants, divided into 105 groups, and approximately 43 in each group, so approximately 1 chance in 4 of winning given that they select the 10 best texts in each. But ultimately, I don’t care! My goal was to try, to discover a new way of writing, to discover microfiction, to rack my brains and have fun. And I did all that so I succeeded. So I already won!
I am delighted to have worked on a text in this way. Having had to measure all my words, rework each of them, one by one. To calculate everything. I wonder if this sentence is correct, if this one is not too much or if it serves the story. When I had 248 words and could still add 2, see what was really important. That’s what I loved! Because once again, to write a story from A to Z, each written word has its importance and its usefulness. It was great!
Having written such a short story and having given a setting, a universe, characters with character, it was a challenge that I think I succeeded brilliantly! If I’m wrong, I’ll know when the judges come back, but it was great to get there!
And the hardest thing for me, because we also have to talk about what I liked the least, was working in English was difficult. Once the story was written in French, I translated it and worked only on English. And since I’m not bilingual, finding the exact words was really difficult. Despite everything, I decided to only remember the positive. I learned a lot of things, it’s crazy! When I can share my text, I will put the one in English first, because it is the real one, the one I worked on. The French text has become a very bad draft compared to this one. Perhaps I will share it with you in French, but then I will have to translate the last draft so that it is true in turn.
That’s the number of times I’ve reworked my text today, only changing one or two words each time, it’s true!
Finally, I participated in NYC Midnight: write a microfiction in 250 words in 48 hours and I’m really super super super happy! I will of course keep you informed as soon as I have news. And for sure, I will participate in this challenge again and I even want to try the 100-word challenge!
And to finish, like last time, the funny mantra of the day, with the obligatory cup of coffee ^^:
Next article: It’s coming
Péléane Léana - Vision Livre 