Playing By Someone Else's Rules

It may be a little late in the game for New Year’s resolutions (though a lot of them have already come and gone anyway) so let’s call this something different.

Browsing around some writing links the other night, I came across the page for NYC Midnight’s 6th Annual Short Story Challenge. Here’s the gist from their official page:

• Anyone may compete from anywhere in the world.
• There are 3 rounds of competition.
• 1st Round (January 20-28): Writers are placed randomly in heats. Each heat receives a genre, subject, and character assignment. For example; Comedy (genre), a family reunion (subject), and a pathological liar (character).
• Writers then have 8 days to write an original short story (2,500 words maximum).
• The judges choose 125 writers from the 1st Round to advance to the 2nd Round.
• 2nd Round (March 8-11): Writers are again randomly placed in heats and assigned a new genre, subject, and character, only this time they have 3 days to write a 1,500 word (maximum) short story.
• The judges choose 25 writers to advance to the 3rd and Final Round.
• 3rd Round (April 13-14): The remaining writers receive a new genre, subject, and character assignment and have just 24 hours to write a 1,000 word (maximum) story.
• A panel of judges reviews the final round stories and overall winners are selected.

So I signed up. For a $49 entry fee, I have a shot at a cash prize of anywhere from $100 to $1,500 (or, most realistically, $0). But for me, the impetus to try it out was the automandate that I need to be less precious with my writing. To not stress so much about where I do it, or when, or under what conditions. I like having the time to carefully consider what I’m doing; right now, I’m trying to finish a story I’ve been revising, off and on, for four years. Sometimes, though, you just need to produce. You need to kick yourself in the ass--or in this case, be okay with someone else doing it. I’m not just talking about having a deadline, though that’s certainly part of it. It's good to stretch. It's good to force things a little, and be accountable to someone. It's good to set boundaries and play against them. And it ain't bad to have a starting point--a who, a what, a where.

In short, I'm in over my head. It's about time.