How to Write a Novel in Three Days
When I first heard of the International Three Day Novel Writing competition I thought it was a joke. I wasn’t really eager to be in a competition but the idea of writing a novel in three days fascinated me. I wanted to know how it would feel, what I could accomplish, what I would learn and how it would affect my writing in general. .
For months I tried to set aside three days and three nights to do nothing but write a spontaneous novel. But each time something came up that was more important for my writing career or my son needed me or an essential social affairs conflicted with my three day writing time.
So I signed up, got a sponsor and arranged to spend Labor Day between 12:01 a.m. of August 31st and 11:59 p.m. of September 2, 1985 writing a novel.
This was before I had a computer so I spent day and night at my old faithful typewriter.
I began writing as fast as I could, doing my best at all times because there was no chance of rewriting. The creative subconscious was in control, with the conscious mind in the dark much of the time. I could not allow her inner critic to have a say.
The same powerful curiosity that keeps readers turning pages kept her writing them.
I finished the novel, The Man Who Loved Funerals by the deadline with short breaks for five minute walks and short naps. I received a Certificate of Merit for finishing the novel in three days. The book has been published and my agent thinks it is my best work. In 1986 I began writing How to Write a Novel in Three Days and I am still working on it.
