MyWriMo Write-in - Saturday, 8 November 2008
Venue
Starbucks AmCorp Mall
Time
10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Attendees
Erna
Calvin
Will
Chet
Catalina
Patricia
Andreas
Andreas’ friend*
Kathleen
(did I leave anyone out?)
*sorry, don’t know how to spell his name (or pronounce it)
I’d missed the kick-off party the previous Saturday because of a vicious migraine brought on by sitting in the car in the hot sun the day before. So I made sure to keep myself well so I could attend the first write-in on Saturday.
Last year, I attended one write-in. I came away from that with the conclusion that I don’t do well in write-ins because I tend to want to chat, not write, if there are other familiar faces nearby. Also, I think it was because I attended the write-in already ahead with my word count so I didn’t really need to write while there.
Well, same thing yesterday regarding the word count. But Erna, our ML, was determined to keep everyone focused on the write-in and to help those behind in their word count to try and write their daily 1,667 words. Hey, she even shot down some of our suggestions to bring Monopoly, Scrabble and Taboo along, and also not very subtly suggested that “Once you finish your wordcount, the ones who are finished can go have a nice writerly game of Boggle in the corner or something. ;)”
First of all, everyone was so happy to see everyone else (me especially since I missed the kick-up party … oh, I’m repeating myself) so we were chatting away. Finally, Erna put a stop to it and insisted on 30 minutes of quiet writing time. Oo .. that really helped! And I’m not being sarcastic here.
When Calvin got up to stretch his legs about 30 minutes later (actually he went over to see what Patricia was up to), it signalled the quiet time was over and everyone started chatting again. Some even started sharing videos online. It looked like the write-in was over until someone suggested a second round of 30-minute quiet writing time. This time, Patricia set the timer on her handphone. And the place fell quiet again (except for Calvin who quietly asked if anyone remembered the last line he wrote which he’d read to everyone cuz his laptop crashed before he could save the file, and a few replied to help him reconstruct that last sentence).
I’d just finished what I was writing when Patricia announced that the timer had gone off.
All in, I wrote 1,700-odd words during the two rounds of 30-minute quiet writing time (even though I didn’t need to). So it’s not true I don’t do well in write-ins. All it takes is a little discipline, not just individual, but group discipline.
The next write-in is same time same place next Saturday, 15 November 2008.
