"Irina, how long did it take you to write that story?"

A participant of my "Small Stories Big Ideas" my reading club asked.

My story, which is called "A Worthless Life" and which I wrote in my Creative Writing Bootcamp, is 3,300 words long. It took one month to write and three months to edit.

It's not as long as it sounds though.

One month means writing just 750-800 words a week, which is about 100 words a day. Instead of that, though, I wrote 400 words on two different days. Four weeks later I had my first complete draft.

That's writing. Then there is editing.

Three months of editing is, in essence, just several hours, but the hours were days or weeks apart so that I could see the story with fresh eyes. One indispensable part of editing was my Creative Writing Bootcamp team. Reading my own story is one thing, but having feedback from fellow writers is absolutely priceless.

Then you also need ideas to write. My ideas came when I was doing completely different things, like walking or cooking.

So, four months of very relaxed work with my creative team's support and I have a story I am happy with -- one I can share, discuss, or submit to a publication. 💜