If anyone asks you why you’re a writer just play them the song, over and over. They will understand, eventually they will understand. Or at least they will stop asking.

I am so tired! I’m glad I finished my story in a little over three hours and was able to spend the last bit writing other things in long hand. I’m not sure I would have had the energy to write a whole new blog post! Since completing my challenge at around 5pm I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping, eating and gazing blankly into space.

Here is what I wrote after I finished a whole story!!!!! Shatner still blaring in the background, just as Shatner continues to play in the silence of my mind.

Wow! So that was a thing, still is a thing as I write this with 40 minutes to go! I had three hand written pages when I started my epic four hour Shatner experience. Now I have a complete story and it’s not super short either. BOOM, Clarion write-a-thon challenge complete with days to spare! Words can’t express how amazing and marvelous it is to have people come hang out on google with me while I obsessively write and listen to Shatner until my head started to pound (and beyond!).

Three hours of constant writing with no pause bigger than 30 seconds and precious few of those (My bladder is invincible! Thank you salted popcorn!). I did need to paus at one moment to refill the ink in my fountain pen.

Seeing people’s facing turn up was electrifyingly wonderful! I could FEEL parts of my brain lighting up with joy and had momentary pauses to blow kisses at people and waving freshly written hand written pages at folks (not to mention waggling my ink stained fingers at them). I’m super pleased that other people enjoyed the hangout and got stuff done too. Difficult novel chapters were written, 700 words (including editing), 1200 words, computer code, marvelous things. It made me feel luminescent looking at everyone’s hard working faces.

Big big love to everyone who popped in

• Simone T. Cooper
• Stina Leicht
• Sara Mueller
• Curtis C. Chen
• Dotstry Dolemout Jackson
• Katherine Nyborg
• Mishell Baker
• Nancy Etchemendy
• Manny Frishberg

Because I finished my story with so much time to spare I also drew a somewhat scratch things comic, wrote a long hand version of this blog post, wrote a long hand version of a blog post about Uncanny Magazine and in the final moments to spare tried to draw the Things by holding the page at the web camera and being guided by what was on the screen (it did not go well, I shall do it again).

Oh so many pages. 23 pages in total and I think I like most of what I wrote! I want to do this again, it was so wonderful, it made my heart sing… but perhaps another nap first.