My CWW Experience

Have you ever done something so last minute you had no idea what was going happen but you were really excited for it? 

That's what happened with me and Crazy Writing Week. 

It was a normal Monday night and I opened up my email expecting to trash all of the junk I had received. 

Well lo and behold, there was a very unexpected email from one of my friends. She was inviting me to join this writing competition. 

I had no idea what it was, but being an eager little beaver, I signed up to join it. 

Now.

This is very rare for me to do. 

I NEVER just walk into something without having knowledge of it. If there's a big event that's coming up, I usually get all the information I can have, stress out about what decision to make, try to look at my priorities and life, stress some more, and then finally make a decision.

I surprised myself. The fact that I joined this competition with 0% information was shocking. But I wasn't worried. I was actually really, really, excited about it. 

So I peeked around on the website and got the gist of what was going on. Basically, I was put onto a team and for an entire week we would try to write as many words as possible to beat the other team AND win some pretty epic prizes. I was cool with that. Especially since I didn't have to share my work with anyone.

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early. I was ready, I was prepared...I literally got nothing done that day. *coughs* Life took over and I just couldn't write. I know it's a pretty lame excuse but I did introduce myself on the website and met a bunch of amazing peeps. 

The rest of the week was fantastic. I wrote and wrote and wrote. It was quite enjoyable and I loved how I had to force myself to write when I told myself I would because of the way the competition was set up. Knowing that I was writing with a team of people of who loved to write and were all trying to get to the same goal was really fun. And everyone was SOOOOOOOO nice. No matter how much you wrote they were always encouraging and cheering you on. It was really refreshing.

There's so much more I want to say about it but if I did y'all would be sitting here for about a million years reading this post. I honestly can't describe everything and sometimes looking back, that week is just a blur because it was so busy. But busy in a good way. 

My main point about this whole thing is this:

I found my writing life through Crazy Writing Week again. 

For a long time, I'd come up with a story idea and start it but then life would tap me on the shoulder and I would leave that story in a pile of dust and let other, more important priories take over. This would happen over and over again. 

Yet I love to write. 

Yes, for a long time, it's been a hobby for me. I've never taken it super seriously practically because I thought it's honestly been really bad and I'm to scared to share it with people. 

But Crazy Writing Week helped me realize that I'll never get anywhere with my writing if I don't take steps to make it better and grow and take it seriously. And yeah, some of those steps might be nerve-wracking for me (like sharing it with people) but I want to do that. So I'm trying to make writing a bigger priority in my life now. Note trying because it's going to take time and change. But I'm okay with that. 

Another thing that I realized was that my writing is good. It's not the best and it absolutely always needs to grow, but it's good. 

And your writing is good. 

Your writing is good. 

I know, I know, it's a really cliche thing to say but your writing is seriously good. 

Just say that to yourself.

My. Writing. Is. Good. 

It's not Stephen King good, it's not J.K. Rowling good. (I'm just basing that on the world's opinion. I've never read any of their works. XD)

It's your good. You have your very own, unique God-given writing style and voice. 

So keep writing. Grow and learn and love it. 

And don't feel forced to make writing your "thing". 

If you really want to pursue becoming a published author than that's fantastic. 

But if you just want it to be a hobby that's totally fine too. 

Either way, if you honestly love to write then write. Just write. 

AND (this is very important) if you love to write and have been writing for awhile, it's OKAY to step back and take a break. Life happens and unexpected changes occur that we can't control. So don't feel pressured to write if you're in a crazy stage of life right now. Take a break and breathe. Sometimes that break might last a really long time but if you need it, use it. And you might have to make changes to not let burn out happen. If you've been writing a lot for a long time and you feel like you've lost that creativity then step back. Maybe for this stage in life you need to stop writing. It's okay. You can always come back to it. 

And remember, God has a plan for you in e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.

Even in writing. 

So trust His plan for your writing. Don't stress out about it. 

He's got this. <3

I've only became really invested in fiction writing recently and I still have so much to learn. I now realize I was comparing my story to other fiction books I love that are super good. And the reason why they're so good is because the authors are published and are more experienced than me. I know I kinda had unrealistic ideas, and I forced myself to realize that this is where my writing is right now. And that is perfectly okay.