NYC Midnight; a journey into the world of short story writing

I was absently scrawling through Facebook the other day, when I saw an advertisement for something called NYC Midnight. I love writing - I write everyday, whether it be note-taking, morning pages, stories and ideas.

NYC Midnight is such a brilliant idea - you enter the competition and there are three rounds. There's a prize for the best story, but I imagine most people aren't motivated by it. They're motivated by the sheer thrill of the process. Every contestant is assigned three prompts - character, subject and genre. Then, they are given a week to write an epic short story of 2000 words.

Untitled, book illustration, 2017 LMC

If you get through to the next round, you are assigned new prompts but are given 72 hours to deliver the goods.

If you get through to the third and final round, you are given new prompts and 48 hours to complete your story.

It's such an interesting process; often when writing, I'll hit a block or hurdle and I'll feel it impossible to overcome it. The NYC Midnight process helps me develop methods of quickly overcoming these blocks. The idea that if you leave it too long, or procrastinate too much you'll miss your deadline works like an energy drink. You have to do it, so you do. It's a similar way I create my illustrations for my clients;  I have a deadline, and I don't miss them. Even if I'm stuck, I just find a path through it, and deliver good work. I just never thought of applying this to my writing in the same way.

The number of people who enter this is insane; rolling through the list of fellow writers (I refuse to call them the competition!) it's pretty obvious why we do it. Not only are the judges highly talented writers themselves, but they give every single contestant feedback, whether you get through to the next rounds or not. It's incredibly useful, nurturing and productive.

There's also something beautiful in knowing that around the world, in all these different countries, people are working on the same thing as you - yes, everyone has different prompts and every story will be delightfully different, but the knowledge that all these people I've never met are pouring their love into their tales is a wonderful thought.

I've just completed the second round, and it was a wild ride! Yes, I got stuck occasionally, and yes I had moments of 'This is crap!' but I kept going, kept honing the words and tweaking the story until I loved it - and that's the point.   I would thoroughly recommend it for next year!

L xxx

Failure, Rejection and How to Move On

Failure, Rejection and How to Move On

www.lizziemarycullen.com

Today with my diploma students I was discussing failure. It's a fairly meaty subject, and one that people respond to differently.

In the creative sector, we fail all the time. 

I failed at least ten times last week alone; rejection of work to blogs, (My Modern Met) a drawing mistake during a work-in-progress, (private commission) and perhaps worst of all, failure to help an old lady I saw on the street cross the road.  Seriously - her forlone image haunted me all the way home.  So much so, that I wanted to head back the way I had come in the hope that she was still there, just so that I could redeem myself. 

And so, today with my students, I asked them all to identify a moment in their lives where they believed they had failed, and invited them to share with everyone in the room how they dealt with it.

I received a variety of different answers, many varying situations; job interviews gone wrong, relationships broken apart, feeling like an inadequate parent. 

Russell and Katy...fail?

The list went on, and on. 

The more we discussed it, and the more 'failures' we shared, it was clear that all these forays of misadventure had one thing in common; in one way or another, every one of my students had learned from the experience. 

We use failure as an important learning device everyday, whether we realise it or not. 

My rejection from My Modern Met had me panicked, and that panic, coupled with a fierce desire to prove my worth, resulted in my landing my next big job (long story!) 

A student in my class was rejected from their dream course, and then landed a coveted place at one of the best colleges in the country, through the same frenzied desire to prove himself.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I guess I'm trying to say: embrace your failures. They were probably meant to happen. Your defeat will only make you work harder, be better, and in the end, result in you becoming more awesome.

To see some of my (occasionally rejected!) work, check out my new Tumblr page! 

http://cityillustrations.tumblr.com/

End : )