Clarion West Write-a-thon

As you may know, I applied to but did not make the cut for Clarion and Clarion West this year. Still, I met some wonderful people on the forums (some of whom are attending CW), and I have hopes for next year.

This year, though, I’m helping out by participating in the Clarion West Ninth Annual Write-a-Thon. What that means is that during the six weeks that Clarion West is in session, I’ll be ‘virtually’ writing beside this year’s eighteen participants. I’m asking for people (family, friends, you!) to sponsor me, in order to raise funds for Clarion West. You can sign up here to sponsor me, or another writer.* (All the registered writers are listed alphabetically by first name. Click on the name to see a writing sample, goals, and to donate in that writer’s name.) All donations are tax-deductible, so go ahead and be a little crazy! It’ll certainly motivate me to write, write, write knowing that people are behind me in this.

My goals are fairly straight-forward, especially since this is my first year doing this, but still a stretch for me. I want to finish the novella I’m working on (which doesn’t seem to want me to finish it; it’s fighting me every word, every comma of the way), and then to write a story a week for the remainder of the Write-a-Thon, just as if I was at Clarion West (well, not quite…I’m dreaming here, obviously). Daily writing is a given during this time. And I plan to comment weekly here on my blog, letting everyone know how I’m progressing. The more people sponsor me, the more I know folks are interested in seeing me succeed, the more likely I’ll be to feel the need to prove them right–to write every day, to meet my goals.

Don’t think you have to sponsor a huge amount, either. You can donate a flat amount, or so much per week, or whatever you like. $1 per week is just $6, and honestly that’s fine with me–and with CW. If you’re a writer, consider registering at either Clarion West or Clarion UCSD for the Write-a-Thon in order to help next year’s writers’ dreams come true (and further your writing progress at the same time!). If you really can’t donate, just leave comments here, offering your support and encouragement.