Midnight madness explodes comfort zone

Way back in 1997, when I was mid-career toiling in the trenches of corporate writing, I was desperate for some professional development. I wanted a shot in my career arm by learning from someone with deeper skills and broader experience in the writing field than I then possessed.

It was a tall order, because I didn’t want a full-length program; I didn’t want a PR, marketing or advertising focus. I wanted the teaching to be laser focused on the craft of writing. Where to find that in a market of certificate- and diploma-length programs, all of which danced around the edges of capital-W writing? What is the perfect course for a writer?

When I eventually landed on two options, offered through a local university’s continuing education division, I was afraid my no-nonsense boss would turn down my funding request. Would she see the transferable value — for both me and the organization — in a creative writing class and a creative non-fiction class? As it turns out, she did, signed off on both, and expected nothing more from me than continued good work. Lesson: Always ask for what you want, because sometimes you get exactly that — and often from the most unexpected of people.

Apart from having loads of fun with the weekly writing assignments and enjoying the lively conversations with instructor and classmates, I learned two things that I remember to this day:

• In the creative writing class, I wrote a narrative poem about giving our cat a pill. I’m definitely not a poet, but playing with form and shaping ideas into different-than-usual patterns sharpens the writer’s skill with word choice, rhythm and order. Lesson: Working outside my comfort zone can teach me a lot.
• In the creative non-fiction class, when it was time to share our latest piece by reading it aloud to our classmates, I raced through it from beginning to end, barely drawing breath; back then, I was shy about sharing my work. The instructor’s comment was that good writing can be read at great speed because it has been well constructed; bad writing, she said, causes the out-loud reader to stumble and trip over the problems. Lesson: Always read my work aloud before sharing it — and, when sharing, read slowly. (Note: “Bad” writing is often good-writing-in-waiting that simply needs more revision and editing.)

This past weekend saw me practice both lessons: I wrote a 250-word ghost story, using three prompts provided to me, and submitted it to the #NYCMidnightMadness micro fiction challenge. I had only 24 hours from receipt of the prompts to submission deadline — and I made it with time to spare. Ghost stories as a genre are definitely outside my comfort zone, but after recording myself reading the (very) short piece and then listening to it, I decided it was as good as I could produce and I hit SEND.

It was fun being one of 5,400 writers around the world participating in this challenge, waiting for the email with the prompts to arrive at 11pm on Friday and knowing the deadline for completion was a mere 24 hours away. Nothing like pressure as motivation! Now I wait to see if my story is good enough to gain me entrance to the second round in January, but whether or not it is, I will receive feedback on my ghost story from one of the challenge judges and that, for me, is worth the entrance fee of only $22/US — cheaper than either of those courses back in 1997, but delivering as much value to me as writer.

Over the past few years of so much loss due to Covid lock-downs and social distancing, I have gained immeasurably by embracing online opportunities. While originally hesitant to risk disappointment with a workshop or webinar offered online by an unknown-to-me teacher, I now sign up for several opportunities a month, with the cost often being only my email address (everyone wants to build an enormous contact list to market to). Sharing it used to be outside my comfort zone, but no longer. Sharing it is usually worth the risk, because I always learn at least one thing that makes the online experience worth my while, including, maybe, quite extraordinarily, whether or not I can write a ghost story. 

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash