Webcam photos and excerpts from the journal of Sarah Maitland, who, along with Ross Merriam and Michal Kozlowski, spent the Labour Day weekend in the Geist office writing as participants in the 31st Annual International 3-Day Novel contest.

DAY 0

Pre-writing. Drawing pictures, writing outlines, getting nowhere, thinking I’ll never be able to do it. Fighting with boyfriend re support for my plight.

DAY 1

9:00 A.M. At the office, ready to go, no full outline or developed characters.

11:00 A.M. Checking chat board way too often, researching too much, watching Michal’s word count soar.

4:00 P.M. Coming to terms with possibility of failure.

DAY 2

9:00 A.M. Getting serious about success. Turning off chat board, less email checking. Goal setting: 100 pages total, 3 per hour, 4 hours for sleep, 4 hours to edit.

5:00 P.M. Sleeping on computer. Accidentally typing 3 pages of z’s with pinkie.

6:00 P.M. Changing seats, cutting bangs, watching Ross (also not working) through a hole in the bookshelf.

DAY 3

2:00 A.M. Only 35 pages to go, or is that 53?

2:55 A.M. Checking email before waking up Ross and stealing the couch from him.

7:00 A.M. Back at it, using stick of gum for toothbrush. Resetting page count goals. Not comparing my word count to Ross’s and Michal’s any more.

12:30 P.M. Eating peanut butter pretzels for lunch.

6:00 P.M. One scene left to write. Not going for dinner with Ross and Michal because I’m filthy.

9:09 P.M. Done, except for major plot revisions. Hating ending. Editing like crazy.

11:55 P.M. Waiting for computer to reboot after crashing during spell/grammar check. Never want anyone to read the novel but will submit anyway.

11:59 P.M. Finished redo of spell/grammar check just in time!

1:30 A.M. Locked in the stairwell. Frantically phoning for help before cell battery dies. Waiting for rescue.