Category: Write-a-thon

Write-a-thon DONE omg

By:  TempestWriting
Write-a-thon DONE omg

Short post.  It was a photo finish but I finished off my sixth and most terrible chapter last night at 11:45.  Sorry for the lack of updates.  New job + ranting = no useful updates.  Plus, my writing habits changed a lot over these past few weeks because of said new job.  I wrote mostly on trains and late at night, eschewing the internet when possible to concentrate.  Then, of course, I was so tired I didn’t update my first draft LJ or email any sponsors with updates.  Bad me!

I did reach all of my goals, though :)  My chapters are all horrendous and terrible as I completely changed everything around between each one.  I guess I’ll have to start over again, but this time with a much better idea of what I’m doing (always helpful).  So it’s been a productive six weeks.

I will email all the sponsors sometime today.  Thanks for supporting me, everyone.  And look, $1010 for Clarion West and the Butler Scholarship!  WOO.

Write-a-thon Week 3 Brings Amazing News

By:  TempestWorkshops
Write-a-thon Week 3 Brings Amazing News

Week 3 starts today and I have two bits of good news to report.  First, according to the CW workshop admins, people donated enough money in a little over 48 hours to cover the cost of purchasing new laptops for the students who lost theirs to theft.  You know how earlier today I said there were times I just wanted to walk away from this community?  Well, this is one of the reasons I don’t.  We are a community and we take care of each other in times of need.  People’s generosity always amazes me, even though I see it time and again.  Thanks to everyone who donated or spread the word.  I’m sure the students and admins and teachers appreciate everything and will always do so.

Speaking of generosity, I just got a note from a write-a-thon coordinator letting me know what sponsorships have come in so far.  A few people went ahead and donated their money (Linda Addison did so with the warning that she knew where to find me if I didn’t write — eek!) and some of them weren’t on the list I was keeping to see if I’d reached my goal yet.  Well lo, with the addition of these fine folks, I found out that I met my goal of having $1000 pledged!  In fact, the total is actually $1010 if I meet all of my writing goals.  And I have a ton of motivation to do so.  Thank you, everyone.  This really made my day.

So!  This week I’m thinking of doing chapter 2, since I have a vague idea of how it will go and I’m interested to see where my girls will take me next.  This is probably going to be a longer one, so I’m back to grinding out 1K a day or so.  Should be interesting as I’m going to be upstate for most of the week.  At least it’s a nice place and quiet in the evenings :)

Write-a-thon Week 2 Update

By:  TempestWriting
Write-a-thon Week 2 Update

The reason for the lack of updates this week is that I hadn’t been writing much (due mainly to work and such) but I knew that this week’s chapter wasn’t going to be very long so I felt okay about waiting.  Last night, when I was very tired and wanted to sleep, I had a revelation about the chapter, switched my protagonist from female to male, and wrote it all in one sitting.  It’s only around 1000 words and isn’t likely to get much longer in revision, so I guess I have room for a longer chapter somewhere else.

Zokutou word meterZokutou word meter
5,335 / 53,000
(10.1%)

Since I’m done early this week, I’m going to pause for more research. I just got a book on Egypt by Margaret Murray, one of the few early female Egyptologists, and I’m looking forward to seeing her take on different aspects of the culture and history.

Write-a-thon Week 1 Goal: Complete

By:  TempestWriting
Write-a-thon Week 1 Goal: Complete

I just finished the first draft of chapter one — woohoo!  It’s just shy of 5K now, and I’m sure it’ll be a bit longer when I revise and put in things like what stuff looks like and smells like and all those things I have to deal with in the second draft.  Still, I met my goal!  Let’s hope this trend continues over the next 5 weeks.

Week 1/Chapter 1 Progress

By:  TempestWriting
Week 1/Chapter 1 Progress

Wrote 1,029 words today.  My goal has been to write at least 1K every day since I’m aiming for the chapters to be between 3 and 5,000 or so.  So far, I’m meeting that goal and I have a little over 4,000 total.  I have probably one or two scenes to go and then I need to write the interstitial/intro thingy, which will be 500-1,000 words.  In other words I’m still on track to finish by Sunday.  Yeah!

I spent a lot of time today pondering if I want to tackle the story that inspired this novel and get it in shape for an urban fantasy anthology I want to submit to.  I don’t know if I can write it in such a way that it will work as a chapter for the novel… we’ll see.

Moving Right Along

By:  TempestWriting
Moving Right Along

Over 1,000 words today on chapter 1.  I completed a difficult exposition-heavy scene and am satisfied with the expositionyness of it.  Tomorrow I take my girls to the temple of Nebt-hut and they get to talk to a goddess and possibly throw down!

I’ll probably finish by Saturday.  Friday if I shirk work, which I should not do…

I’m amazed at the ease of writing this chapter now that I know exactly what happens.  Let’s hope this trend continues for the next six weeks.  That, of course, depends on me knowing what happens in 5 other chapters, which could prove an issue.

In other news, one of my stories was rejected the other day and I’ve completely run out of markets for it.  It’s a difficult match because it’s around 11,000 words and not many markets take stuff that long.  It’s one of my older stories and there’s not much hope of making it shorter, so I suppose I’ll just have to trunk it or put it up on the blog or something.  It makes me sad, as I absolutely love this story… sigh.

Write-a-thon Begins!

By:  TempestWriting
Write-a-thon Begins!

I’m not the only person who was so busy yesterday that I forgot to mention that the Write-a-thon started.  I was actually at a writing retreat since last Thursday and we came back down from the mountains yesterday.  Still, I got a decent start on the first chapter of the novel and some ideas to use for the upcoming ones.

It’s only Tuesday and I’m sure I’ll make this week’s goal!  That’s an excellent start.

The Clarion West kids have probably finished up their first crit session by now.  I’m so jealous!  Good luck guys and gals and others.  I hope CW is as awesome as it was my year.

In other Write-a-thon news, I now have $820 in pledged money.  Yay!  However, I am $180 short of my goal.  It is NOT too late to get in on this.  Even if you can only afford $5/week, that is still very helpful.  Join the ranks of the generous people who sponsored me!  Just email: sponsorkt, which is a gmail address.

And on a related note, Sunday was Octavia Butler’s birthday.  It coincided this year with the arrival of the new CW class, and I know Leslie, Neile, and Kate (amongst many others) are missing her particularly now.

Part of why I am so motivated to raise money in this write-a-thon is because half of it goes to the Butler Memorial Scholarship.  It’s one way I honor Octavia’s memory — by helping writers of color attend Clarion and Clarion West, something that made a big difference in her life, and mine, too.

And last, I’ll show you a small snippet of the chapter I’m working on:

All of the shrines and [temples] in –ward were built along the wall that separated the City from the outside. It was so high and so thick that the citizens rarely heard sounds from the greater world. Every [god] had a small house here, but the houses of Nebt-hut, Anpuu and Heqat stood above them all, Nebt-hut’s columns reaching almost the height of the wall.

The girls waited impatiently for their mother to catch up before walking on to the [temple] of Heqat. They made to rush into the birthing room, but Tian called them back.

“You have to be clean before you can go in. To keep Akana and the baby safe.”

While they washed their hands, arms, and feet, their mother dressed them in blue Heqat shifts that smelled of myrrh and chamomile. She prepared herself, slipping on a jeweled headband that marked her as high [priestess].

“Now we can go in.”

Kamisi took Miu’s hand and they entered quietly, the atmosphere of the room transforming their excitement into reverence. They were about to witness their first birth.

Write-a-thon Sponsorships — Halfway There!

By:  TempestWrite-a-thon
Write-a-thon Sponsorships -- Halfway There!

According to the progress meter on my site, I am just a scooch over halfway to my goal of getting $1000 in sponsorships! Yep. Right now I have $510 in pledged money, which leaves only $490 to go. If 9 more people pledge $10/week, I’m all set! Or 18 people at $5/week. Or just a flat $50. I only need 10 people if you do that!

Of course, there might be someone out there with $490 burning a hole in their pocket. Why not donate it to a worthy cause? ;)

ETA – Big news!  As of Friday the 13th, I now have $660 in sponsored money. !!  This means I only need $340 more.  That’s about $57/week.  If 6 more people sponsor me for $10/week, I am home free!

To sponsor me, just email my gmail: SponsorKT. Let me know how much and if you’d like your name on the sidebar.

Write-A-Thon 2008

By:  TempestWriting
Write-A-Thon 2008

I’m participating in the Clarion West Write-A-Thon again this year, raising money for the workshop and for the Butler Scholarship. I’m in the process of finding sponsors to help me reach my goal of raising $1000 total.

For those of you who don’t know, a write-a-thon is a lot like a marathon. Instead of sponsoring me per mile, you sponsor me per week. If I reach my writing goal for the week, you pledge to send a certain amount of money. There are six weeks of write-a-thoning to mirror the six weeks of workshopping at Clarion West.

Also for those who don’t know, Clarion West is a writing workshop in Seattle where 17 students have the opportunity to spend a week with 6 or 7 professional writers and editors to improve their craft. This year’s instructors are:

Paul Park
Mary Rosenblum
Cory Doctorow
Connie Willis
Sheree R. Thomas
Chuck Palahniuk

And finally, the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund was set up by the Carl Brandon Society to give financial aid to writers of color attending Clarion and Clarion West. Octavia got her start at Clarion and she gave her support to Clarion West as a teacher, volunteer, and speaker. She was keenly aware of the need for more voices of color in the genre. I can think of no better way to honor her memory than by giving students this opportunity.

When I went to Clarion West a very kind individual donated my full tuition to the workshop anonymously (knowing that I actually did not have the money to go and was planning to take out a loan if it came to that). It was an incredibly generous gift and I’ve always felt that I can never fully repay it — my time at the workshop meant so much. But I try, every year, to do my part in giving that gift to other students.

As I said, I’m hoping to raise $1000 total, which is a high goal but not impossible to reach. It breaks down to about $170/week. If 17 people pledge $10/week, I’ll make my goal. If 8 people pledge $20/week, I’ll make my goal. You can also do a flat amount. $60 only if I reach all of my six week goals. Or $100. If 10 people pledge $100… you get the idea.

I’m looking for 8 – 17 people who can do $10 – $20/week or $60 – $100 overall. Of course, I can’t reach my goal unless I write!

I’m currently writing a novel of 12 interlinked stories, so my goal is to write one chapter/story per week for the six weeks. If you sponsor me for $30/week or more, I will send you the (very, very!) rough drafts each week as I complete them.

If you would like to sponsor me (yay, thank you!), please send an email this gmail address: SponsorKT. Tell me your name, your pledge amount, and if you’d like to pay (in the end) via PayPal, credit/debit card, or by mailing a check to Clarion West. I don’t handle any of the monetary transactions, by the way. It all goes through CW. Soon there will be a webpage with a payment link, which I’ll send you as soon as it’s set up. Also let me know if you’d like me to put your name on the sidebar of my blog as one of my sponsors and if you’d like weekly updates.

Who will be the first to sponsor me?

ETA: My sponsor page on the Clarion West site is now live (Thanks, Kate!). That’s where you can go to send your money via PayPal once the Write-a-thon is over. If you do that, please still drop me a line at the gmail address above to let me know how much you’ve pledged. I’m keeping track of how much more I need to reach my goal. Thanks!