Validation (of a sort)

It was last summer (I think it was, but I have a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old, and so my flow of time has been seriously disrupted) when I decided I wanted to write a novel, just to see if I could, with no expectations.  Right now that novel has passed the 45,000 word mark en route to a projected 70,000 word finish.

I guess the idea stemmed from events from a past Age of the World when I was in school and received assignments to write.  Infrequently I felt inspiration, and wrote something I found amusing, and occasionally others did as well.  Most commonly however I had other things on my mind and felt the task to be pure drudgery, to be written out at lunch before English class for a passing, but not particularly sparkling grade.  I dread the day when I could be called upon to deliver a lecture to one of my boys on the importance of putting effort into high school, not knowing how I could do it without blatant hypocrisy given my own study habits in those days, which generally consisted of completing my homework in the class before it was due.  You see, I had more important things to do at home than actual homework, like playing computer games, programming computers, playing trumpet, reading science fiction, and watching TV (particularly Late Night with David Letterman - no I didn’t sleep much in high school, especially when I had to be at school at 7 am for marching band practice).

But I digress.  In the fall I had ideas, real ideas that popped into my head and refused to be dismissed, particularly when I was watching my eldest at a park or holding him as he wound down his day.  So within a few weeks I cranked out a couple short stories - the first 1900 words long, and the second 3400.  The question was what should I do with them.  The idea of submitting them for publication or even showing them to friends was a bit frightening.  My training and general mindset comes from the sciences, and the very real fact that I was incapable of judging the quality of my own writing was a bit disconcerting.  The more I’ve read from far better and far more experienced writers confirms this to be a fact.  They generally urge you to find out how good you are by submitting and seeing what happens.  That was fine, but there was a part of me that needed to know if they sucked or not before going any further.

I read about the quarterly L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest, which is the biggest science fiction writing contest out there for amateurs, and is even free (Hubbard bequeathed enough funds to start the contest as a way to give back to the science fiction community).  This seemed like a great idea.  Entering the contest meant experienced professionals in the field would actually read and evaluate my work.  I entered the two stories in the Q1 contest (deadline December 31st) and Q2 contest (deadline March 31st), and sat back to wait.  The contest is far too big for individualized feedback except for the top finishers, but they award certificates for several levels of accomplishment.  This weekend I found out I scored honorable mention, which is typically achieved by anywhere from 5-15% of entrants in any quarter.  So there it is.  I don’t know how good it was.  I don’t know what my upside is.  But I know that one story didn’t suck, and that feels really sweet.