As a writer, I am always looking for unique writing opportunities. Writing for my peers through the Odyssey and leadership opportunities through my campus's poetry club have provided me with unique experiences that have greatly affected me. But one of my most interesting writing experiences was writing my way through a twelve hour poetry marathon. Technically, in the group that I was writing with, I participated in their half-marathon (the full marathon would have required me to write nonstop for twenty-four hours), but it was still an interesting experience. How the marathon/half-marathon worked was that every hour, I was required to write at least one poem to be posted onto the marathon blog. Before I signed up for this I thought, "Write poetry for twelve hours! Ha! Easy!" I signed up for the twelve hour one since it sounded less insane than the twenty-four hour one. I did not expect for this writing challenge to be the experience it had been. It was a rollercoaster of a time, and I completed it with many new lessons. So here are the ten things you learn from participating in a writing marathon.
1. It is truly exhausting.
I remember one of my friends comparing writers to athletes. They surprisingly have a lot in common. Both must practice, both have "off seasons," and both tire after a big event. After my twelve hour poetry extravaganza, I was beat. Physically, I felt fine. I wasn't about to drop to the floor and fall asleep, but I did not want to think afterwards. It was a total exercise for the brain. In addition to it being a mental drain, it was an emotional drain. It didn't feel horrible, and it was a very rewarding experience, but it was tiring.
2. It starts out easy, but it gets harder and harder.
The first poem you write is easy. It's right in the morning and you barely have to think. Just write about the first thing you think about in the morning. I wrote my first marathon poem about coffee. Easy. The next few also came effortlessly. I wrote about my recent life, my friends, very basic and accessible things. Then it got harder. I had to dig deeper. Things got darker, some poems got nasty, and ideas were not always near the top of my head. After awhile, you get used to having to write something every hour. The difficult part is figuring out how much of yourself you are willing to expose.
3. Poetry is an emotional rollercoaster.
This was poetry. For twelve hours. I was metaphorically ripping my insides apart and using my blood and heart strings as ink all day long. Poetry is very different from a lot of other writing. In general, poetry is all emotion and pure feelings put into words. For those twelve hours, I saw the landscape of my emotional being. I saw my best sides, my funny sides, my deeper sides, and I also saw my worst sides. It was up and down, through hoops and around circles. I saw where my emotions moved throughout the day, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that.
4. You learn what sort of writing you can do professionally.
If you are like me and have been interested in writing for a long time, then you have probably explored and fell in love with different sorts of writing. When I began to take writing more seriously in high school, I was cornered by fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. I didn't know which to take the most seriously. Should I run to prose or should I stand by poetry like I had for so many years? When I became an English major in college, fiction and creative nonfiction proved to be a better choice. But this challenge was a reinforcement of what I had figured out. Typically, a full time writer will spend six or more hours alone with their writing. After the fifth hour of poetry, I felt like I was going crazy. I started to miss storytelling prose. As much as poetry will always have a place in my heart, I could never be a full time poet.
5. Your writing will tell you when you need a break.
When your poetry goes from "...the vivid dream/ Will meet the silent night/ And from it,/ You will create." to "I killed the noodles./ Too much water. No flavor./ I cannot adult.", it means that you should take a break.Your words don't lie. It helps to listen.
6. Prompts are very valuable treasures.
I'm used to using writing prompts to break through writer's block. I even write my own prompts for my school's poetry club meetings. But I value them much more now. Participating in a writing marathon requires continuous quick thinking. That quick thinking is much more alive in the early hours, but, as you continue, it begins to tire. A writing prompt is like Red Bull for writing. If you want or need quick, creative writing results, prompts are excellent.
7. You lessen the fear of being wrong.
This is not just a writing fear. Most people are afraid of being wrong to some extent. In writing, though, that fear can prevent some great creative works from being made. But when there is a time pressure, you are more concerned with with writing something on time than writing something right. Plus, there is no right or wrong way to write a poem.
8. You learn to be less afraid about writing.
I'm sure that I'm not the only writer who feels afraid to write sometimes. There's the fear of being wrong as described before, but there's also the occasional fears of exposing one's self too much, not exposing enough, and the fear of not writing the right thing at the right time. When you're on a very narrow time constraint, you forget those fears and simply write.
9. You answer the question, "Could I be a professional writer?"
Could you you spend hours writing alone with minimal human contact? Yes? Great! I remember that question being a discussion in my college fiction workshop class. I knew that I could write for long periods of time and that alone time didn't bother me, but that was just a hypothesis. Being a full time student with a variety of activities and responsibilities while being a writer, I didn't know if I could test it right away. I finally tested it. I did it and knew that I could do it with my writing (with prose, not poetry). If I could spend a day with writing, I could handle the pressures of being a full time writer.
10. You end up participating in a wonderful and rewarding experience.
Though it was emotional, tiring, and, at times, difficult, I am glad that I had the opportunity to participate in a poetry marathon. It is something that I recommend to fellow writers, whether they choose to do the full twenty-four hours or stick to the less exhausting twelve. I am still debating as to whether I would like to participate again next year, but I am glad that I chose to this year.
If you are interested in learning more about the poetry marathon, here is a link to the official blog
https://thepoetrymarathon.com/
