I dragged my feet in making this decision, but with just hours left to sign up for the NYC Midnight Challenge, I decided to jump in. I have been using creative writing with an effort for less than a year, and I have enjoyed seeing what each rung in the ladder brings. This writing completion is fierce with over 10,000 participants from all over the world. The first two challenges you are awarded points, which are then summed up, and the top five individuals from your group will advance to the third challenge. They use a point system for all of the challenges, the best competitors continue on to the fourth and final challenge. Participants are given two days to write based on a prompt which consists of a genre, location, and an object.

Have you ever been pushed out of your comfort zone? I am just waiting for my prompt to be something with politics or aliens or both! I will get my first prompt tomorrow night at midnight, which is perfect timing – we leave for the beach the next morning. It will be challenging enough to find the time to write the fictional piece, though it is only 1,000 words.

The benefit of this challenge is the feedback I will receive on my writing. Real feedback from judges and other participants. This is something I am looking forward to and also making my skin crawl. There isn’t much feedback from blogging, people will leave a like or a kind comment. It is always nice to read, but real constructive criticism is what I need to grow. I belong to a writing group, but it is a small group and not very active.

I’ll post my submission on my blog so you can point and laugh at my ill attempt along with the judges.