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Announcing the Second Annual Winter Writing Festival!!
 Posted by admin Dec 12 2011, 12:01 am
Craving some serious writing productivity this winter? Need to clean up the mess you left in the second half of your NaNo novel? Want to finally, finally fix that pesky plot hole in your WIP? The Rubies have your back!
Here’s the beauty part: unlike NaNoWriMo and other writing challenges that (much as we love them!!) have a one-size-fits-all approach, the Ruby Winter Writing Festival is designed for you. No matter what stage you’re at right now (brainstorming, plotting, free-writing, fast-drafting, slow-drafting, revising, layering, polishing…or any combination of the above) the Ruby Winter Writing Festival wants to give you fuel for your winter writing fire. We’re going to work with a “point” system, with a goal of earning one point per day. Everybody gets one bonus point on the first day for stopping by the Ruby blog and making a public commitment to take part in the Festival. Then, for each of the 50 days of the Festival (including January 11), you work to earn an additional point—and you define what it takes to earn that point. Here are some examples of the sorts of things you might define as worth one point (you fill in the variables with the amounts that work for you): -writing X number of words or pages -deep revising Y number of pages -polishing Z number of pages -freewriting / brainstorming for Q number of minutes/hours -doing R number of 20-minute writing sprints -keeping butt in chair and hands on keyboard for S number of hours
For instance, one person might commit to earning points according to the following terms: -writing 500 words per day OR -deep revising 10 pages per day OR -doing a final polish on 25 pages per day -participating in an hour of writing sprints Any day that person meets ANY of those goals, she gets a point.
YOU set the goals that meet your personal writing style and writing needs. If you can’t meet your goal on any particular day, you can certainly double or triple or quadruple Remember, we all have different life commitments and different approaches to our writing lives, so we all need to set our own goals. All goals are equally worthy. This isn’t a competition, it’s a supportive process for MOVING FORWARD WITH OUR WRITING. We want the Festival to work for YOU! Check in on the Ruby blog every Friday during the Festival to report your progress. If you reach the end of February with at least 50 points, YOU WIN!! Because we’re the Rubies, and we like to do things up right (and…okay, because we have the awesome Liz Bemis of bemispromotions.com) we’ll even have a special sister website up and running during the Festival which you can access by going to rsswwf.com or by clicking the blue “Ruby Winter Writing Festival” button which will soon appear near the top of the Ruby site. It’ll be your place to register, keep track of progress, and stop by anytime to use the special chat rooms, brag on that awesome new scene you wrote, or find a sympathetic shoulder to cry on when that gripping Black Moment you had planned is turning out to be a disappointingly dull shade of beige. You’ll probably find some enlivening advice, and you can even pick up some excellent Ruby Winter Writing Festival swag!! We’ll be posting on both sites throughout the Festival with words of inspiration and support, craft pointers, and bits of wisdom from our own writing lives. We’ll offer participants chances to ask for specific advice on their own plot problems or style snarls, and set up lots of times for writing sprints in the chat room. Everyone who commits to participating on January 11 will be able to download a cool “Ruby Winter Writing Festival Participant” badge (similar to what’s shown at the top of this post) to post on their own website or blog.
If you check in on Wednesday, February 29 and report you’ve WON, you’ll be able to download a “Ruby Winter Writing Festival WINNER” badge to post on your website or blog. And of course you’ll have the satisfaction of achieving a small boatload of wonderful shiny writing progress (not to mention eternal fame and glory…and cookies!). What’s not to love? Decide on your personal terms for earning points, and join us back here on January 11 to get started!! And spread the word on your loops, Facebook, and personal websites! The more the merrier!!
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Through the bleakest part of winter—January 11, 2012 thru the end of February—the Second Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival will be here to keep your creative fires burning, with support, advice, inspiration, frequent writing sprints in our chat room, fun prizes for participants, and as much virtual hot-chocolate (and virtual cookies!!) as you please. ‘Cause nobody’s Muse can resist a party!
Plus, everyone who checks in on a Wednesday reporting that they’re on track with earning points will be entered in random drawings for cool prizes, like copies of craft books, copies of books by published Rubies, and expert critiques from the Sisters!
I’m in! I really made a lot of progress last year, and I think I was short like 2 points. But I am really, really close to submitting the project I worked on. (My first submittable MS).
This year, I will count attending my RWA Chapter meetings as one way to earn a point. My goal will be to finish a full draft of the book I started for NaNo but only got around 15,000 words. I have learned I’m not good at blindly putting words on the page. That’s the beauty of RSSWWF, it’s about so much more than the word count. Any forward progress is fair game.
Looking forward to working with you again.
Hurray, Kristina! So glad you’ll be with us again! Get that baby finished!
I can’t wait – I was probably more productive then than any other time in my writing career. I LOVE the sprints and it’s so good to set those goals in January and plug into something that helps me achieve it!
My two favorite things about Christmas being over – Ruby Winter Writing Festival and American Idol
They take the blues right out of my post-holiday hangover.
I agree — it helped me be very productive at a time I’m usually a quivering lump do-nothingness.
And the sprints were fantastic, fun, funny, and oh-so-addictive!
This worked soooo well for me last year – much more my style than NaNo. Thrilled you are doing it again, and can’t wait to sign up!
I can’t wait either, Liz! This is a great way to feel connected to other writers. Last year we all had so much FUN during the sprints. This is just I need to jump start a new project. So thankful for the Ruby Sisters for hosting the Festival. The camaraderie is amazing. Count me in!!
Woo-hoo! I’m very excited for this! I got so much done last year, without feeling as wiped out as I do during NaNo time.
My calendar is marked with a glistening gold. I can’t not wait. I hope to get the bare bones of my next book done.
This winter is going to rock!
Yay, yay, yay, I’m even more ready this year!
I am so doing this! I’ll be in the final sprint to a deadline so this will help keep me on track. Thanks, Rubies!
Woohoo!!! I am so ready. Have another book due mid-Feb, so this is perfect.
I am sooooooooo there and cannot wait!
I’m SO excited. My edits are due Jan 2nd, and then I can focus my energy on fixing/finishing my NaNo project. Woohoo!! Great timing.
Yay! Can’t wait! I need the motivational kick. I’m trying to get my book drafted this month and use the WWF for deep revising/polishing. Nothing makes me work harder than having to be accountable.
This sounds like exactly what I need! I’m looking forward to a fresh start, with hopefully a less hectic, winter blues kind of schedule.
This will keep me motivated and give me some goals to work towards without having to ‘start’ a new novel. (I may be in revision/editing mode like I was in November.)
Thanks for the post and the opportunity. Looking forward to checking back in January!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!
Loni
looking forward to seeing you here Loni. It really is fun and encouraging.
This is a great way to get back into writing mode after the holidays and for those looking to finish and polish their NaNo and GH books.
BTW has anyone heard from Tia lately?
Yay, so looking forward to this!
Whoo-hoo!! NaNo is at *such* a bad time for me. I love the timing and the flexibility of this contest. I’m going to be ready for it this year–I’m ready to get some serious writing done to put my current WIP to rest!
Can’t believe the Ruby Festival is almost here. Looking forward to it!
Can’t wait, ladies.
Can’t wait! I’m be in deep revision mode.
Ooops. I’LL be in deep revision mode. Jeez, it’s really sad when you have to revise your posts too.
Not sure what I’ll be writing but I can’t wait!
I want points for balancing dark chocolate M&M’s on my research books while doodling my hero’s name in little hearts…ok, now I’m done laughing. I shall figure out a legitimate half revisions/half new-story system…and hopefully chocolate will be involved, too.
Kudos to the Red Slippered sisterhood. You couldn’t have picked a better time of year to do this.
I’m gearing up for the second book in my Tudor paranormal MAGICK trilogy. I’ve filled my purple notebook with character sketches, worldbuilding and research, so I’m geared up to start WRITING. Can’t think of a better group of writers to cheer on!
I am diving into this again hopefully I will get loads done and conquer one of my biggest problems posting updates, word counts, etc. I am terrible at it, but it isn’t going to get better if I don’t try so here we go and this time going to get it done.
[...] Sisterhood’s Winter Writing Festival is the fact that you can set your own goals (see details here). But of course that means you need to think carefully about what your goals should be to make best [...]