Deadline – Met!

Right.  Well, today’s 30 June, the last day of the quarter for Writers of the Future.  Submissions have to be in by midnight tonight.

A week ago, I was starting to sweat the deadline, because I’d barely started a story for this quarter.  Last weekend, I was sweating it because I only had 3 or 4 thousand words down, and there was a lot of story to go.  Tuesday, I was sweating worse, and last night I realized I was in danger of not making it.  So I cranked, but by about 11:30, I was beat and couldn’t continue.  But I wasn’t finished yet!  So I set my alarm for 4:30 (normally it’s set for 5:30 or 6:00…and of course the kids always wake us up shortly after 6:00 regardless).  It was painful when that alarm went off, and I didn’t really get going to about 5:00. 

But, around 6:15 or so, I typed the last word on Delphinus, a harrowing tale of seven people who survive the destruction of their star cruiser (ruining the main character’s honeymoon), crash land on an alien world, and then have to figure out how to survive until the rescue comes.  If it ever does. 

Final count: 9,300 words.  I thought it would be about 7,000.  Goes to show what I know, right?

This evening I’ll get feedback from the better half and proofread it, then send it on in!  We’ll see what happens with this one.  Hopefully an honorable mention at least, but wouldn’t it be cool to win?