Twelve hours is an awful lot of time. It’s half a day. In 12 hours, most people work an eight-hour shift and probably have enough time to go to school. Most people usually are not aware of what they do in 12 hours, let along what day of the week they’re in. However, for Lindy Russell and Melissa Bright, 12 hours is just enough time to hold a write-a-thon.
Russell, an English major held a 12-hour write-a-thon on Friday for those who wanted to just sit and write.
Held in the 24-hour Student Lounge at the library, participants were to check with Russell (not to sign in), take a spot and write.
There were no activities and no assignments – the only object was to write whatever flowed in your head. Russell handed out papers she had typed that gave examples of different writing and poetry styles. Besides writing, the only commitment on the participant was to stay for the full 12 hours.
“I don’t think many people will stay,” Russell said three hours into the 12-hour write-a-thon. “I think me and Joe (Rice) will be the only ones awake.”
The idea of the write-a-thon came about when Bright read an article in a newspaper. The article, which was written by a community newspaper based in Bellingham, Wash., was about a group of students that stayed awake for 24 hours straight while participating in a write-a-thon where the student had to write a play. The next day those students would perform the play and the winner would get an award.
Bright showed the article to her friend Lindy, and they began to think about idea of how to form a write-a-thon here at ETSU.
“I thought it was pretty cool,” Russell said, “but I wanted to center it around writing instead of acting. And I also wanted it to be more about … experimentation.”
Together, Russell and Bright began planning their own write-a-thon.
“We didn’t want to do a 24-hour one, most people might leave,” Russell said. “We didn’t want to do a six-hour one, because that’s too wimpy. We wanted to go full force.”
Participants could bring papers and pens, notebooks, laptops, a portable CD player and anything they needed to help them write and get through.
Russell and Bright had no sponsor and therefore had no funds to help, so they funded the whole get-together.
One booth was filled with soda, coffee, snacks, plates and cups.
When the 12 hours was up, Russell picked up any submissions members wanted to contribute. She plans to take the appropriate ones and share them with those who were involved.
According to Russell, the group disbanded at around 3:30.
In spite of this, Russell said, “Everyone who left felt it was a success because they did some writing they wouldn’t have done otherwise.”
Russell has no plans to recreate the 12-hour write-a-thon this semester. However, next semester is a different story. Russell plans on getting more people involved for the next one.
If you are interested in participating in the next write-a-thon or need more information, contact Russell at dork_poet@yahoo.com.

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