I was really struggling to get under 500, especially since I started at almost twice the wordcount. Today I kept bouncing off 505. I'd tweak and twist and cut and move and.... somehow end up at 506, or 504 but never getting below 500.
Finally, I gave up trying to slash at it because slashing at it just wasn't working. I went nuts and just rewrote a bunch of sentences I'd 'optimized'. I redid some wording so it felt better because "might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb". Trying to make a story that sounded good should be my goal, I figured, not something that's been pecked to death by a duck. If it doesn't fit here, then maybe I'll find another contest somewhere with a higher word limit. Or I'd have my OWN contest! With blackjack! And liquor!
After a couple minutes of this, I dropped a copy into my wordcount tool to see what the damage was and... it was at 493.
What the what.
So I'm not sure how it happened, but I feel like I busted through some kinda story membrane. Now, I've got this luxury of dropping in a couple definite articles, a couple spice words maybe... it's an amazing feeling. Can I fit 'ridonkulous' (a word I made up in the late 90s and deliberately injected into English by using it loudly and frequently in the lunchroom at the MGM Building in Santa Monica. Why there? I worked there and it was filled with media folks, many of whom obviously spread out through the industry. Mission accomplished, I heard it on 30 Rock a few years ago, one of my bigger life accomplishments) into the story in a meaningful way? Ok, probably not.
If any of all y'all are having trouble trying to trim down to 500, try saving a copy and just having a 'make it better go nuts' session instead of a 'wordcount pecking party'. You never know what'll happen!