Marathons and Challenges: Motivation or Intimidation?

[Todd]

Are you ever intimidated to sign up for marathons or challenges here because you think you won't finish and will let yourself and others down? Do marathons and challenges here provide a needed boost of motivation to get new sites made?

Over the years being here at Amassment, I've heard several of my friends and fellow members say things like, "I want to sign up, but I don't know if I'll have time!" and others felt bad for not being able to finish. I'm posting this as a discussion so you guys can share your own experiences with marathons, but also as an opportunity to say to you all, don't worry about that stuff! Sign up anyway!

I have signed up for every event and challenge we have ran here at Amassment. I always have high hopes and great ideas, and I'll think, "ooh, this is a great chance to shrine ___ like I've been wanting to do!" Real life gets in the way, though, and I have to say I haven't finished most. The last marathon I have actually completed was the Minor Character marathon in 2012. I'm a slower shrine maker than most, and while I haven't finished other marathons or challenges, I have made progress, and the challenges have inspired me to think about the shrines I'd like to make, which hopefully will pop up in the future! Overall, I think it's a positive experience whether I finish or not.

As a final part of this discussion, which shrines have you finished for marathons or challenges? If none yet, that's okay! I didn't finish a marathon until the third or fourth one I signed up for. Here are mine:

Minor Character Marathon - Requiem
One Page, One Month - This Fateful Hour
Live Action Marathon - Breathe Drew and Wings
One Page, One Month - Forget Me Not
Girl Mode - Ripples

When you think about all of the marathons and challenges I have signed up for, this is not a lot of finished sites, but I choose to look at it from the other angle: look at how many new sites I made to things I might not have shrined if it weren't for these marathons and challenges!

[dubiousdisc]

...Both. D: I think they motivate me out of fear of not delivering, ehhhh...

I try not to join until I have a plan of attack and I've started writing some things and I have assessed that I will not lose interest in three minutes from now. I mean, I know it's perfectly okay to join and then drop out, but it's still sad and if nothing else it makes me feel bad :(

I did however drop out/not join a few marathons and then made the shrine later anyway, so :D

So let's see, in the end I finished...
Minor Character Marathon - Cyber Punk
One Page, One Month - I AM²
One Page, One Month - Rakkaholic
Creature Feature - Oddball

Plus one that was closed (ahem). Huh, actually that's more than I thought. Also, two out of these four had the marathon be a catalyst for a bigger project: Cyber Punk made me realize that, fuck it, I can totally make sites about Quake 3 characters even though there doesn't seem to be a lot to say, so I will. Rakkaholic started as a one page and then...well...I realized I had a lot more to say than predicted, lol.

[Larissa]

I definitely opt out of some marathons or challenges for lack of time. Real life always comes before fun stuff, and unfortunately some activities have fallen during times when I couldn't participate. This was more true in the past than it is now -- the longer length for activities has helped me a lot, personally.

I'm speaking purely for myself here, but a reason that I've not participated in one event or another has sometimes been because I haven't wanted to sign up for something and then not be able to finish it. I'm a person who's really motivated by deadlines, so I hate having to drop out of things, even when RL stuff has meant that I genuinely didn't have the time to work on a site. I like the motivation that events bring! So in the past I've sometimes not signed up if I felt that there was a chance I wouldn't be able to finish a site -- in other words, if I didn't sign up, I couldn't drop out.

More recently though I've become much more relaxed about it and accepted that life will happen one way or another, though. Currently my life is in particular flux and I have no idea if I'll get my Dynamic Duos site done, but that's okay. I hope to make progress on it one way or another, and it'll get done eventually.

I have no idea which of my sites were for events, though, haha. Let me go look.

One Page, One Month - 20 years old (2009, expanded later)
Girl Mode - Never Stop Dreaming (2009)
Valentine's Day/OTP Marathon - death wish (2010 - incomplete when opened)
One Page, One Month - Heaven's Requiem (2010)
The Darker Side (Villains) - uncontrol (2011)
Fanlisting to Shrine Marathon - Amanesis, Fracture (2011, both now closed)
Creature Feature - Imprison, Fury Cutter, Un Dia de Victoria (2014, the third is now closed)
Blast From the Past - death wish (2014 - completed as part of this marathon)
Old School - Drafted (2015)

Haha, wow, I had no idea it was going to be that many. I really am motivated by deadlines, though, and some of these came down to the wire to get them done. I do feel super proud of all the sites I've made through these events. except for the ones that aren't around anymore, shhhhhh

[Laura]

When I make my mind up about creating a shrine, it's pretty much set in stone that I'll do it; it's just a matter of time. So I think when there's a marathon/challenge that allows me to prioritize an idea over others, it really motivates me to get work done. :)

The only challenge I've taken part in so far was a One Page, One Month challenge: I chose to do Nyreen Kandros but I wasn't able to finish it for the challenge. Two reasons for that: I had more content than one page worth and I couldn't design a layout in time (artist block sucks). I still plan on getting it up and running soon though. :)

[Crystal]

I think marathons are probably more challenging for me, with the exception of perhaps 1P1M. I feel with how long challenges run for I feel like I can take my time and not feel rushed to finish. I'm a heavy procrastinator and am not always feeling inspired or motivated to work on something so the extra time helps I think. Maybe.

I have lots of event shrines so uh let's see...

One Page, One Month - Sentience, Hikaru, Grace, Wyvern Friend, Dreaming of Love
Paperback - Risk
Creature Feature - Shuriken, Ember, Prism
Blast From the Past - Radiant Dawn

[Camy]

Are you ever intimidated to sign up for marathons or challenges here because you think you won't finish and will let yourself and others down?
I used to feel this way during the midway of my college but these are about having fun so I shoved that feeling aside. Sign up anyway and have fun with it and if you can't do it, always next time or the next challenge/marathon :D


Do marathons and challenges here provide a needed boost of motivation to get new sites made?
Yes! It's helped me get off my butt numerous times :D


Which shrines have you finished for marathons or challenges?

• One Page One Month 2010 - Deranged
• Minor Character 2012 - Guardian
• Creature Feature 2014 - World Eater
• Blast From the Past '14-'15 - Never Boring With You (got time traveler)
• Old School 2015 - Control Their Lives
• One Month, One Page 2015- Edna Mode

I feel pretty good with pushing this much out considering how many projects I had going on at the same time with college and freelance. Plus, I'm a procrastinator as well orz Edna Mode's was literally done a day before from layout to content. Why do I do this to myself?

Hoping to finally do Princess Luna's this year in 1p1m +_+

[Mikari]

It was a motivation when I made shrines. My second info centric shrine about Ureksa from Summon Night was made for a marathon. Boshi was also for a marathon and there are others. I didn't sign up unless I felt I had plenty of time though, so I did skip a few marathons for that reason back when I made shrines. Overall though, a lot of my shrines wouldn't have existed at all without marathons.

[Emma]

Yeah, I'm often hesitant on signing up because I know there's a good chance I won't complete the site and then I feel bad when that happens. I'm a terrible procrastinator.

That said, I do find the challenges motivating. I don't think its the deadlines that motivate me, but more people talking about their sites and getting excited for them and things like that.

Anyway, let's see what I have actually completed...
1 Page 1 Month - Through The Ruin Grey, Prince of Zero, Messenger of Magic
Creature Feature - Howling Moon, Cute Charm

[Lethe]

I'm with wolfrun and Emma on this, and also partly dubiousdisc. <3 I'm the type who doesn't even "decide" on making a shrine unless I have something specific about the subject I absolutely want to talk about, which motivates me to create the context for that very essay, the context being the rest of the shrine. Once I know what I'm shrining, I sign up.

I thought it was just about deadlines being motivating, but that's not actually it - it's seeing how everyone is working on something for a specific event! This includes seeing the amount of people who have signed up for an event and resolved to do something for it. Whether or not they deliver doesn't change the motivation I get from seeing them participate!

And, as wolfrun said, an event makes me prioritize things over others and help push out something that may not have been realized in the near future. Or it makes me pick a subject I wouldn't have considered shrining otherwise.

Onigiri Box - Baton Pass (2015)
BAB The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions - Valkyrie (2015)
One Page, One Month: Encore - Jamais Plus (2015)
BAB Metamorphosis + One Page, One Month - Awakening (2015)
BAB Metamorphosis - In Control (2015)
Old School - Strength of Heart (2015)
One Page, One Month: Encore - Prisoner's Dilemma (2012)

So, I own nine shrines, and seven of them were made for events. These shrines mean so much to me - yet, would you have guessed that if I had not decided to sign up for these events, I'd most likely not have any of those now? I think about five of these subjects I wouldn't have considered shrining if they hadn't been just such a good fit for the respective event (theme- or format-wise). At least two of these were so overwhelming to think about, I don't think I'd have had the resolve to sit down and actually START mapping out my plans and then work on realizing those plans without those events.

I think that you should look at it this way: Even if you don't manage to finish your shrine, just the fact that an event made you plan out the shrine and get started on it already means plenty of progress. Several people use that to keep working on the shrine they've started, or come back later to finish it. An unfinished product does not mean no progress, or having nothing to show, or having failed and not being able to take pride in yourself.

If you haven't signed up for many events yet and/or are new, I recommend starting with those 1P1M marathons - they're just such a lovely way to get into it. And even outside of that specific marathon, I'd recommend considering making one page shrines for whatever event comes up!

[Destinie]

I remember doing my first Marathon and I was so excited! I would come across people's websites that had banners on them linking them to marathons that they participated in and I was so desperate to participate, I thought it was the coolest thing!

I am definitely guilty of not signing up because I don't think I will ever finish the site. However, I think the last few I have signed up and then didn't feel too bad if I didn't finish. There's no penalty so now I try to go on the side that I would rather sign up than not, if that makes any sense.

I sometimes think most of my sites were made for marathons! Let's see:

Country Bumpkins- Dynamic Duos
Immemorial- 1 Page, 1 Month
Penumbra- 1 Page, 1 Month
Soothsay- Girl Mode
Thunderstorm- Creature Feature
Rock Steady- Minor Character

And the Godfather was made for the first PokeThon that many Amassment members participated in! I also had another 1P1M site that is now closed. So that's...a lot actually. Thanks Amassment for inspiring me to work on my sites! :P