You may remember from a few months ago that Moonrat, that charmingly impetuous rodent, instigated an early “Take 2” of the Write Your A** Off Day which I myself pretty much ripped off last year, from the New York Writers Coalition.
As expected, the official 2010 version of Write Your A** Off Day will occur somewhat later. I’ve recently heard from a Coalition publicity official, who tells me that this year’s date is set for June 12. As before, if you will be in the New York City area on that date, the Coalition has all sorts of activities planned for you.
But my correspondent also tells me that they’ve put an additional twist on this year’s commitment to devote a day to your writing:
We’ve created the challenge of writing 3,000 words (about 10 pages) in one day, and we know you can do it!… In addition, everyone who completes the challenge and writes 3,000 words on June 12 will have the chance to enter a drawing to win a free private phone consultation about your writing project with Jennifer Belle!
Three thousand words in one day. You can do that, right?
(True, NaNoWriMo demands only an average of one thousand words a day. But this is a Saturday! Still a month away! Plenty of time to outline what you’re going to write, stock up on food and beverages, purchase tickets to send family members out of town…!)
Now, one caveat: other than this email, I haven’t seen any official confirmation of this 3K-word challenge — like details about how the drawing will work — particularly for out-of-town writers. I’ll see if I can learn more.
In the meantime, what say? Give it a try? Launch yourself into a summer of big writing with one big day?
Miriam says
Count me in! Write Your A@$ Off Days are always awesome!
marta says
Ah, you see Saturdays and Sundays are the worst days for my writing. So no. I won’t be in. But I’ll cheer for you!
DarcKnyt says
Aw, heck, NaNoWriMo demands more like 1800 words a day. And when I know what I’m writing about 3K a day isn’t much at all to crank out.
I know you can do this. :)
If nothing else, it’s an excuse to sit in front of your monitor and shout “SHH!! I’m writing over here!”
Right? ;)
Josh says
No way I can make it to New York, but I’m interested in participating remotely.
I can only imagine a day of activities would be distracting anyway. (That’s what I’m telling myself… it sounds like a ton of fun!!)
Nance says
There would be a divorce at my house. But my chiropractor would benefit.
John says
Miriam: You going to try for the 3000 word challenge, too??? Good for you, either way!
marta: Okay, I’m going to play the evil taskmaster here and suggest that the specific day isn’t important… that any day you want to try it will be perfectly fine. Well, fine in MY eyes, anyway.
Darc: Certainly I have no first-hand knowledge of shouting anything at anybody, about this or about anything else. But it’s always good to have an excuse at the ready, in one’s back pocket, juuuuust in case…
Josh: Well, last year — don’t know about this one — the idea wasn’t necessarily to spend the day actually writing. It was to devote a day “affirming your commitment to your writing” — something like that. So if you wanted, you could spend a day researching markets, for example, or revising something(s) already written, or combinations of all the above — with or without an actual writing session. But yeah, blocking out an oasis of 7 to 8 hours for nothing but hammering out prose was by far the most popular choice!
John says
I’m going to guess here, Nance, but you’re probably not actually married to your chiropractor, are you?
No, I didn’t think so. Under the circumstances, I think you can be forgiven for just setting aside a little back corner of your mind for the duration — even if subconscious, and even if you never approach keyboard or pen.
India Drummond says
Sounds like great fun! I won’t be anywhere near NYC, but I do love these types of mutual encouragement events!
John says
India: Yeah — there’s something of the sense that “Gee, I’m not the only inmate in the asylum after all!” :)
marta says
@John –
Well, as it is, I’m writing a short story a day this month. I’ll write a novel in a November. Perhaps my a** is already written off.
John says
@marta – HA!
…although now that I’m thinking of it, I wonder how common it is for writers to think they’ve got no more a** to write off? Is that the same thing as burnout?
Rose says
This sounds awesome- if I managed Nano I’m sure I can do this!
John says
Rose: Cool!
And if you do NaNoWriMo again this year, can we count on your churning out a 90,000-word novel? :)
Rose says
Hmmm, well I managed 75K last year so possibly! It might be good for myself to crank it up a bit! :D