25-for-25 Challenges for 2008 Write-a-thon

It's April, and this year's class is looking forward to a summer of writing, reading, critiquing, and learning. Around this time, Clarion West alumni used to feel nostalgic for the workshop experience. They used to wish they could return and write like that again. 

They used to feel that way, but now they look forward to the Write-a-thon.  

Be part of Clarion West this summer without even attending the workshop. Set your own goals for your writing for the six weeks of the workshop. Post about your goals in the forums, and encourage others as they pursue their goals. Sign up sponsors in support of your goals, or just write alongside the others. Yes, the Write-a-thon is a fundraiser, and a very important fundraiser for Clarion West, but the writing is more important than the money. The writing comes first. 

Participants last year wrote first drafts, polished drafts, short stories, novels, screenplays. They wrote alone and as collaborators. Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn started out taunting each other in the Write-a-thon Smackdown, and ended up collaborating on at least six stories, one of which will appear in Fantasy & Science Fiction in the next few months. They'll be back this year. How about you?

Last year, we had more participants than ever before, 41. We'd love to see as many of you back as possible, and we'd like to have 25 people who have never participated in the Write-a-thon before. To that end, we have two 25-for-25 challenges: 

One challenge is for new participants: members of the Clarion West Board have promised to sponsor the first 25 to sign up who have never participated in a Write-a-thon before for $25 each. 

The other challenge will be for returning participants: members of the Clarion West Board have promised to sponsor the first 25 to sign up who have participated in a Write-a-thon before for $25 each. 

The Write-a-thon is open to the whole Clarion West community: alumni, instructors, friends. 

Who's on for the early challenges? Post here, or send me email at kate@clarionwest.org. Thanks!

‹ Trouble Ensues What the Write-a-thon is ›

Comments

Submitted by Sarah Brandel on April 24, 2008 - 7:07pm.

I've participated in the Write-a-thon previously, even when it was certifiably insane to do so. (Last year, I got married about 1/3 of the way through it.)

I am definitely planning to participate this year. Since I'll be starting a novel in May, my current goal would be to write a chapter each week during the Write-a-thon.

- Sarah

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on April 24, 2008 - 8:03pm.

Oh, excellent! Good to have you back, Sarah. 

Submitted by splinister on April 25, 2008 - 4:10am.

I did the challenge last year, and put me down for it again. :)

At the moment I think my goal will be to write a chapter a week of my current novel.

Maura 

http://splinister.com

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on April 27, 2008 - 6:23pm.

Thanks, Maura. A chapter a week? You must be writing at a fearsome pace.

Submitted by splinister on June 11, 2008 - 3:26pm.

I'm going to use the 6 weeks of the write-a-thon to write a full-length feature film screenplay. Hopefully, I'll have enough time to prep, outline, and write the sucker - I've done it before in that space of time.

This is a story that's been on my mind for many years. It's a summer action flick that features spies, go-go boots, car chases, double-crosses, humour and a kick-ass heroine. In my mind it also has a rocking soundtrack.

The French filmmaker John-Luc Godard once said: "All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl." In my opinion "All you need for a movie is a girl with attitude." She'll find a way out even if there's no gun to hand.

I'll post regular updates on my progress on my blog (which is cross-posted to my LiveJournal). I'm beginning my research already, although I hope to finish up a couple of other pieces I'm currently working on before I immerse myself in the world of well-tailored espionage.

Pip-pip!

Submitted by tinaconnolly on April 25, 2008 - 10:02am.

I want to try it this year! This will be my first year participating. I'll probably set some sort of novel goal. (Er, a goal about working on a novel, not an excitingly new goal that no one's ever thought of.)

 

Thanks to the board for the sponsorships!

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on April 27, 2008 - 6:30pm.

Thanks, Tina. At this point, we have 17 people signed up, so we're well on our to a great Write-a-thon.

There are still plenty of challenge sponsorships for both returning and first-time participants.

Submitted by tempest (not verified) on April 27, 2008 - 7:37pm.

I'm in, as always.  and I have a DOOZY of a goal.  I have an idea for a novel that exists in 13 chapters, each chapter a short story related, in a convoluted way, to the others.  If I can get 6 of those chapters done in the 6 weeks of the WAT I'll be almost halfway done with the novel.  And momentum is a happy thing.

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on April 28, 2008 - 7:37am.

Tempest, you're always the best of company, and a convoluted doozy of a goal is a great thing. Web page questionnaire on its way to you via email. Thanks!

Submitted by Charlie Allery on May 9, 2008 - 7:10am.

Yes, you all knew I would be :)

Haven't been hanging out here much recently, for which, apologies, and I'm still thinking about my goals. One will be minimum 250 new words a day as it seems to work for me. But I'm also considering a story/week oriented goal. I think it would be good for me to write or finish a story a week, I'm just not sure that I'll be up to it. What do the rest of you think?

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 10, 2008 - 9:06pm.

Charlie, good to see you're in! We have 27 writers signed up so far, and I'm hoping we'll have 60 by the time the workshop starts. I look forward to seeing you at Wiscon later this month.

You could have 250 new words a day as your base goal, with a first draft or finished story a week as your stretch goal.

Submitted by Charlie Allery on May 18, 2008 - 9:16am.

Meaning ... that I can aim for the story/week goal but not forfeit sponsors if I miss it?

That makes some sense, because I *know* I can do 250 words, but I really have no idea if I can write or finish a story per week while working, but it's something I'd really like to have a go at. Yes, I think it would 'stretch' me alright! Cool

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 18, 2008 - 5:46pm.

Remember, you set your own goals. Vertical, horizontal, base goal, stretch goal: the Write-a-thon is all about reminding Clarion West alumni that you're still part of a community of writers who care that you do get that writing work done.

I need to go over to the Wiscon thread and post about the CW party on Friday. Woohoo! See you then.

Submitted by S H Blount on May 17, 2008 - 11:46am.

Okay, I'm in.

 

I plan on being in Seattle for at least some of the time of workshop, so it will be challenging, but I'll commit to 2000 words a week. 

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 18, 2008 - 5:48pm.

Thanks, Stephen! It will be good to see you again. Way to go with the serious goal.

Submitted by chrisfurst on May 18, 2008 - 9:13am.

All right, I'm going to do it. My goal is 1500 words a week, and I hope to finish drafts of three stories during the Write-a-thon.

 

Best,

Chris Furst 

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 18, 2008 - 6:03pm.

Thanks, Chris! That sounds like a manageable goal. Questionnaire is now on its way to you. Let me know if the email address I have for you doesn't work.

 Class of 2005 peer pressure: a force for good. Really.

Submitted by tinatsu (not verified) on May 28, 2008 - 11:33pm.

Ok, I'm in.  500 words per day.

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 29, 2008 - 7:27pm.

500 words per day sounds manageable, Tina, and it adds up.

Submitted by McJulie (not verified) on May 30, 2008 - 11:40am.

Goal: one short story or one story-length novel chunk each week.

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 31, 2008 - 6:53pm.

All right, Julie! Questionnaire on its way to you now.

Submitted by adaCW05 (not verified) on May 30, 2008 - 1:02pm.

I am going to revise two chapters a week of my novel, Analytical Magic, for the Write-a-thon

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on May 31, 2008 - 6:54pm.

Thanks, Ada. Revising is harder than writing the first draft, so that's definitely a challenging goal. You can do it!

Submitted by Michael Swanwick on June 10, 2008 - 7:25pm.

I resolve to write at least two pages a day, five days a week, for a minimum of 2,500 words a week.                                                                                                                                                    

 

I have been running about publicizing The Dragons of Babel for the past several months, during which time I wrote nowhere near as much as is usual for me, which leaves me desperately out of practice and off my game.  So this year I shall not deprive myself of a possibly needed escape hatch by exempting flash fiction from the total.  But if I do employ flash fiction, I shall employ it only in extraordinary and dazzling ways.                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

Not that I think I'll need it.                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

For the rest, I shall write sentences as strange, sinuous, twisty, and sinister as Moses' serpent-staff, paragraphs as plain as pancakes, pages that stack up neatly and go about their work in as mannerly a fashion as so many colonies of ants, and stories whose outcomes the wisest man or woman could not possibly predict.                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

I am too old to waste my time on anything less. 

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on June 14, 2008 - 10:05am.

Michael, you may have noticed that Eileen is off at Sycamore Hill, conferring and hobnobbing with other Sycamore Hillians. This may just be a clever ploy to make you think you're getting a healthy head start, or it may be a way of stockpiling verbs, nouns, and past transgressive phrases ready for deployment as necessary.

Submitted by Eileen Gunn on June 23, 2008 - 4:38pm.

 
Hey! I'm back now, after a strenuous two weeks that involved visiting relatives, workshopping like crazy, and attending the Locus Awards and the induction of William Gibson and Rod Serling into the SF Hall of Fame. The latter was a moment that could have been no less cognitively dissonant for Gibson than it was for me. Shouldn't that have been Sterling and Gibson?

Kate, I didn't know I was allowed to stockpile verbs and nouns. I should have been doing this since childhood in order to go up against Swanwick. It is well known in the Philadelphia area that he has many boxes of mint-condition parenthetical phrases in his garage, stockpiled against nuclear attack, and some suspect the existence of an underground vault filled with figures of speech, the entrance concealed by the clever placement of a water feature in his back yard. 

Eileen Gunn

Vice-Chair

Clarion West Board of Directors

Submitted by Kate Schaefer on June 23, 2008 - 6:42pm.

Allowed? Allowed? I don't think there are any Write-a-thon smackdown rules addressing allowable quantities of nounage and verbiage. If you do store extra parts of speech and the odd synecdoche, make sure you keep them in an air-tight container and take care to rotate your stock.

Submitted by Doug Sharp on June 14, 2008 - 11:11am.

I will finish my near-future political novel "Operation American Freedom".

George W. Bush leads an American insurgent militia band against Chinese/Iranian invaders in 2013. He is as fine a guerilla as he was a president.

 

The book is currently 25k words long and looks like it should be 75k. I will be posting chapters to the web as this book has a definite sell-by date.

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Old-school game programmer currently reviving my game ChipWits at www.chipwits.com.