make it happen stories – recaps

MAKE IT HAPPEN STORIES MARATHON

RECAP


THE END OF FAILING GOVERNMENTS

The conditions for this first full stories marathon were far from ideal. I had little time to beat the drums upfront and I was exhausted from completing the third part of book 3, shaping.
Nonetheless, I am glad I did it. And I am grateful for every single person who sent a like, who reposted a story, who added a comment and who made a contribution on Bluesky.

My marathon days

Unsurprisingly, I was pretty slow on the first day and only published six stories. Most of them were great fun to write because I focused on stories in which Trump himself would resign. Impossible, you think? Well, have a read. https://charlie-alice-raya.org/the-end-of-failing-governments-make-it-happen-stories-marathon-15-17-may-2025/
On day 2, I decided to stay offline, mostly. 
The thing is, whenever I go near overwork, I get to a point where sitting at the computer becomes a no go, and I literally need a break from the screen. Knowing this and sensing that I was getting close to this point, I packed my things and slipped out of the house before seven in the morning, without waking the dog.
I went to the bakery, had a coffee and wrote my first lines on the terrace. I don’t remember all my stops. But I do remember my favourite one: A table at the beach with a full view of the sea. I know the owner a little and didn’t have to worry too much about overstaying. It was great to write there — until it got a tad too cold, and it was time to go back to my friend’s place.
Day 3 was a bit like opening a sack full of goodies and I began to pick my favourite stories from my notes, edited them, inserted them into the boards (I use an old version of InDesign) and then began to frequently publish batches of story snippets.
This reminded me that I can only recommend to participate at a marathon with a team because once I started publishing, I wanted to stay online but I also wanted to continue to edit and write more snippets. So, if you can, get yourself a team who support you with editing, publishing, reposting, liking.
I admit I was a little disappointed at the end of the marathon that I only published 43 stories. Though in all fairness, quite a few were longer. I have to smile about this. The stories marathons are not about competition, nor about high scores. But I do like a good big number, in a playful way. Mostly.
I finished the marathon with a lot of unused material and I add more snippets to this series at a later point. Maybe it’s a good idea to have frequent marathons on key topics.

What I learned from the first full stories marathon

• Skip a day of the marathon if you’re exhausted.
• Yes, listen to yourself. If writing is what you want to do, do it. At least on days 1+2. Day 3 will need to see some publishing.
• If you can, have outdoor periods. It’s always good for the mind to be in nature, be it in the forest, in the park, at the beach, on the river — anywhere that is outside and sufficiently quiet.
• Schedule time for reposting.
• Have a team.
• Three days work well for me, so far. It also allows people to pick a day on which to participate.
• It’s useful to prepare some stories upfront so that you can post frequently even if you don’t have enough stories ready.
• Posting 6-12 story snippets at a time seems to work best.
• Finding good # is still on the to-do list.

MAKE IT HAPPEN STORIES MARATHON

RECAP

THE END OF ALL WARS

To do a test stories marathon was a spontaneous idea in the middle of finalising the third part of book 3, shaping.

But when a friend reminded me that this year May 8 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, I decided to forgo editing and to do a brief test marathon.

In the end I had to delay my publication for two days, but it was absolutely worth it.

In 2024, I wrote the first story for the series The end of all wars.

It’s a story where the reader can join the exploration into the roots of wars and where the reader gets a peek at potential ways out of violence and destruction.

While writing this story, I drafted many additional stories, some of which can be found on the series website: www.the-end-of-all-wars.net.

It was partly the experience that a story snippet can inspire us which made me confident that a stories marathon could be a tool for change, a tool to draft visions which help us to rethink our world.

In that sense it was doubly fitting that The end of all wars snippets got to be the first to be aired at a stories marathon.

For this test, I only wrote seven entirely new story snippets during the 6-hours marathon and added (variations of) existing snippets, 61 story snippets in total.

What I learned

• Six hours are too short for a marathon.
• I need to find a rhythm which allows me to write undisturbed for two or three hours, then prepare posts and post.
• If you post single stories, there will be few reactions. Post seven or more, and more people will react.
• It would be great to have a team (more on that in another post) and divide all tasks: writing, editing, research, promotion, preparing boards with story snippets, posting, interacting, making sure everyone drinks, eats and takes the occasional break.
• Work with a big headline on the board.
• Research fitting # upfront AND use them.
• Prepare a template text for posts which you only have to adjust.
• It’s tempting to use several platforms during a marathon. I had planned on using Bluesky, my website and Substack. But if you want time to actually write during the marathon and you don’t have a team, then only use one platform and involve the other platforms later.
• Prepare food upfront. I had a big pot of veggie stew.
• Warn the people around you that you might not be your attentive self because your attention will be on the marathon.

You can read the story snippets from the test marathon THE END OF ALL WARS here >

For more connect on Bluesky: @mihstories.bsky.social