Oh man - have had a really tough time writing today! My brain never fully woke up. The tweetchat helped, but really I could barely pull anything from me when I went to write. I'm working on a short story to submit to Spellbound. oh but the good news is that this story is part of meeting two writeathon goals! The first was one of the original goals, to write at least two short stories and submit them. This will be the second short story! The other goal was to experiment with writing scenes from my book-story series as short stories and see how that went. I wasn't sure how that would go, since a short story would still need to be changed to fit into the flow of the whole book. BUT - this short story that I'm working on creates three new characters, characters I could kind of feel lightly before, like bunny whiskers, but couldn't identify till this past week! I know exactly which book I want it to go into, and it won't be a problem time-wise if Spellbound accepts it, because this particular book won't be ready till after the 6-months it would be exclusive to Spellbound. Very excited! It also projects the path for that whole book! And apart from having a hard time today working on the ss, I DID write a haiku for a chain-haiku :)

That short story that I've been yammering about - I submitted it today! It's going to a Baltimore e-zine. :)

oh ok! Thanks! btw, really really happy with how much I've gotten done today! I'm maybe 1/3 to 1/2 through my storyboard!

What is the "workflow" tab I see on the writer's page?

The shadow workshop and the Write-a-thon are the same thing. The Write-a-thon shadows the six-week in-person workshop. It started in 2003, when the class of 2002 decided they wanted to set themselves writing challenges just as difficult as they had faced when they were at the workshop. That shadow workshop was informal, but I understand that a lot of writing happened. The next year, it turned into a small fundraiser, like a walk-a-thon, but with words, like NaNoWriMo. Now, it's a larger fundraiser, though certainly not on a scale with NaNoWriMo. The central focus is still writing, just as NaNoWriMo's central focus is still writing: writers setting themselves writing goals and meeting them.

Hi, I am interested in knowing more about the "shadow workshop" but I can't seem to find any information about it on the site. Can you tell me more?

for me, writing a story that is science fictional is new. I like it though I only know high school science so that sort of sucks. I keep having star trek moments that make me think this story would work best if I just could use their back story. Ugh! Meanwhile, I am having fun thinking of all the stuff now if . . .

Debtaber, is the obliquely autobiographical tell-all about you, or are you writing it by a fictional character? Yeah it's odd how things can morph into a different type of writing than when it started! I mentioned on here somewhere that I had started a short story the first day. Then by the next day, had turned it into a poem kind of writing. Now, I have been writing it as a poem, but I think it is going to morph back into a short story, with a more lyrical tone! :D I'm just determined that when July 27 gets here, I can see what I've finished and submitted. Right now, of course, nothing is finished and then I get a tiny bit panicky that nothing WILL be - when, of course, in a month I would have accomplished a lot thanks to the writeathon! I guess it's just the normal initial sprint charge and nerves.

Hey all! Kate, my goal's pretty much like yours--just WRITE. I got off to a rocky start but just now finished a brief but productive writing session. I'm starting in on a new project (Short story? Novella? Novel? Obscure yet obliquely autobiographical tell-all book? Who knows?) and am now at just over 600 words. Not much, but it's nice to be getting into the swing of things. What's everyone else up to?

I realized that for that odd short story, I was channelling Ira Glass, but since I am not his wonderful self it really was hmmm - not good. I wasn't channelling him on purpose! So I ditched that effort and started a poem based on a similar premise which I LOVE, started a second, and wrote and finished a third! So my slow day ended well writeathon-wise! Something also kicked in when I picked up my notebook at some point this afternoon. It felt like it should be my absolute priority. Not doing laundry or repotting a couple plants or doing any other chores - but writing. I felt no guilt, and had no thoughts that I was just indulging myself, but felt that I was doing exactly what I was suppose to be doing. That's the first time I have fully felt that!

That's such a good goal - I am trying to remember that that should be part of my goals, too! Ugh today has not been good, I feel so sluggish! It's mostly because I don't like how I started this short story - I don't know where it came from, it's like I was channeling someone else and since I am not them, it sucks! So I got up to make some tea :D

Zantippy, this is a fine place to post about your progress. With over 200 participants, the Write-a-thon is like a big writers' party; you can find groups of writers talking about what they're doing all over the Internet as well, including on Twitter under the hashtag #writeathon, on Facebook, and on participants' individual blogs. Congratulations on your productivity! My personal goal is to write something, anything, every day during the Write-a-thon. So far, I've succeeded.

Hi! Is this where we stay in touch during the writeathon, or is there another place? Yesterday I wrote a haiku, rewrote another one that had been waiting, and started a short story, a short story that is just weird for ME to write, it isn't my style at all and I don't know where it came from LOL!

thank you!

Because of the flood of participants signing up on the last day (thank you! thank you! thank you!) there are still over 25 pages awaiting final publication. Mari, your page should be up later today. We'll send you email to let you know.

We apologize for the delay. In the meantime, I hope you're all working on your writing goals.

Thanks again!

My participant page is nowhere to be found.

Thanks for your prompt response.

Marilyn, let's talk. I'll give you a call. I know you're an early adopter, and you may have registered during the beta testing period, when things were flukey. We'll get it straightened out. Thanks.

I registered when the first announcement came out and I am not on the write-a-thon list. I saw my name on it then and a few weeks later, too. Marilyn Holt 6/17/12 -- a day later -- Kate called and this is being straightened out. It won't be a problem at all. I registered while the sign up was still in beta, and you know betas, but colored but unreliable (fish, software, all alike). Thank you, Kate. Best, Marilyn

Hi! Oh I don't know why it doesn't say my name - I'm the one who had the formatting question. I just checked and someone fixed it, it has been formatted beautifully so whoever did that, thank you so much!!! ok time to start writing yay!

Thanks

Yes, starting a topic is great. I can't tell who posted the topic starter, though, so I can't go look at the Write-a-thon page in question. Has the poem been correctly formatted yet?

rhbee, your page is in the proofreading stage and should be published later today. We had a lot of people sign up yesterday (thank you so much!) so we're a bit behind in getting the pages live. Most of the people working on the Write-a-thon are volunteers, including me, so we're putting this together in our not-precisely-spare time.

How the process is supposed to work: well, it's different for everybody. The important part is the writing. I looked at your page. You have some poems and stories to write; start writing.

The secondary part, even though it's important to us, is the fundraising. Once your page is live, you'll see a PayPal button on it. If you choose to ask people to sponsor you by making a donation to Clarion West, that button is the easiest way for them to do so.

Thanks again for signing up. I'll ask for some help in getting last year's FAQ updated, and we'll post that to the forum by tomorrow.

I'm with you. I just registered on the 16th and even though I have an account I'm not on the list (?) and I haven't a clue as to how this process is supposed to work.