kate_schaefer | Clarion West Write-a-thon Sign-up

Clarion West Write-a-thon season, coming on now! It’s write-like-a-maniac time again, time to challenge yourself, challenge other writers again — and I’m not in charge any more, so it’s time to keep Erin happy that she volunteered. Help me out here!

The Write-a-thon is open to the whole Clarion West community: alumni, instructors, friends. The deadline for signing up for the Clarion West Write-a-thon is June 18, the day before the workshop starts, but the online sign-up form is ready for you now at:

http://clarionwest.org/Write-a-thon_Participant_Registration

Like last year, signing up and sending your page material is now just one online step, rather than requiring all the back-and-forth email we used when we first started. This means that you need to be prepared to answer the usual Write-a-thon questions when you fill out the form, including having a picture ready to upload. You can look at the form as many times as you want before you submit it.

We’re still interested in feedback about the user-friendliness of the form. Since we always want to improve the process, do let us know what could be better.

We have a few pages live already (thanks again, early testers!), and we’d like to get as many more as we can set up in the next few days. We’re doing this early push because the Write-a-thon is completely volunteer-run, and there will be some days when none of us will be available to set up pages, which will make the final push just before the workshop starts even more of a time-crunch than usual.

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.

Last year, we had 79 participants and 210 donors, and the goals for this year are even more ambitious: 100 participants and 270 donors to mark the 27th consecutive workshop. If you’ve done the Write-a-thon before, you know what it did for your productivity. C’mon back, and bring a friend with you. Got a challenge for your classmates? Bring it on!

Give yourself a tough but realistic writing goal and have a good time. If you’re not writing this year, cheer on those who are.

Thanks!