After working late last night and waking up early this morning to keep writing, I submitted my 24-hour story nine minutes before the deadline. My story ended up at over 7,000 words. The effort has left me exhausted. I might’ve snuck a cat nap at some point if the rest of the day wasn’t so crammed-full with tux fittings and speech writing for the Friday gala. I was so tired that it took me about ten minutes to realize that the jovial, joke-cracking gentleman beside me getting fitted for a tuxedo with yellow sequins was, in fact, Todd McCaffrey. You may have heard of him. His mother, Anne McCaffrey, created the Dragonriders of Pern books–a legacy that Todd is carrying on.
It also took me half a minute to realize I was sharing an elevator with Kevin J. Anderson earlier, but I blame that on the covid masks.
One of the most exciting events of the week occured in the afternoon: the art reveal. Each writer for the WotF anthologies is paired with an artist. Without knowing who our illustrator is, we have to walk around a room and pick out the artwork that goes with our story. I recognized mine at once. The artist was so faithful to my vision that he even put details into his portrait of my main character that I’d forgotten about. The artist, Daniel Watson, lives in England, so I wasn’t able to meet him, but he’s incredibly talented. You should check out his work at danwatsonart.com.
Tonight we’re supposed to read three of the 24-hour stories written by our classmates and prepare to discuss them tomorrow. This prospect is exhilarating but terrifying, and leaves me glad that my story wasn’t one of the three random selections. Now: for some sleep.
Good night, all!
Luke Wildman 