Genesis – The start of something good

Nothing motivates a journalist like a deadline.

The deadline for entering the American Christian Fiction Writers’ annual event for new writers – the Genesis Contest – was March 1. I was prepared to enter To Seek and Save, the suspense novel I’ve written with Gary Mathes that we are in the process of marketing to a publisher.

For several reasons, though, it just didn’t work out. I’d been looking forward to the contest and was disappointed not to be part of it.

Then I looked at the calendar. Feb. 15. Two whole weeks ’til deadline. Only the first 15 pages of the manuscript need to be in the contest. That’s just a page a day.

So off I went on a brand new book that had been bubbling in my brain for a couple of months. I took Chip MacGregor’s advice and got up early before work to write. Much to my surprise, this did not kill me and actually made the work day more enjoyable.

With gracious help from a couple of readers who sorted through half-edited copies (which is probably similar to eating a half-cooked Thanksgiving dinner. While you can appreciate the potential, you’d really prefer it to be finished.), all 15 pages were polished and submitted on Friday night, a whole 27 hours before deadline.

Chances of winning in this very competitive contest are not great, but I’m so glad I entered. It was a lot of fun to challenge myself with the writing deadline. This was a different genre, chick lit, and it felt like going to a brand new playground to ride the slides to experiment with some different writing techniques.

Will I finish the rest of the book? I plan on it. But it may take another deadline to get it done.