Let’s Write Together This Year
It’s the end of the year, time to reflect and so-forth–if we have a moment to breathe while holiday shopping, making travel plans, and facing end-of-semester frenzy, and just general what-have-you. But it’s not a bad idea to reflect, and not a bad idea to reflect specifically on where you are as a writer, and where you’d like to be in the coming year. I did this last year in an email to all of you and I’m happy to say that I made progress in 2024. I didn’t submit much, to be honest, but I wrote. I researched, I revised. It was a productive year for me.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t like pulling teeth most of the time.
I often have to “trick” myself into writing. “Just fifteen minutes,” I tell myself. I turn off my WiFi, put my phone in another room (it probably needs charged, anyway), turn a timer on, and WRITE. For fifteen minutes. That’s all.
You know what usually happens? When the timer goes off, I keep going. By the time I reach a good spot to wrap up, I feel like…like I can really breathe and enjoy my day knowing that I did something for me. I can say “I wrote today.” What sweeter words are there for a writer?
And here’s this–if I *don’t* go beyond my fifteen minutes, I can still breathe and really enjoy my day because I met a commitment; I came to the page. That’s half the battle right there. Heck, we have whole sessions and panels on just getting into the chair!
My New Year’s Resolution is to write with you.
I am instituting “Wednesday Write-In with MWW,” a 30-minute Zoom session, first Wednesday of the month, where we get together and WRITE.
It might seem weird to have the Brady-Bunch Zoom screen filled with people not talking to each other, but please trust me: It works. It creates an accountability; it creates a space where your sole purpose is to get words down on paper. I might allow for a *little* chit-chat 🙂
At the start of 2025, the newsletter will include Zoom links for each month. To accommodate people’s availability, we will alternate morning sessions and evening sessions. Let’s dedicate 30 minutes of our day, once a month, to generating words and developing our craft!
We will begin on NEW YEAR’s DAY at 7pm.
You will receive a link in the newsletter that morning.
(I know it’s a holiday so we’ll see how that words out–I just thought it might be fun, and rewarding, to start the year off WRITING!)
Let’s Do This!
Online Masterclass with Jane Friedman
We’re thrilled to host an annual one-day seminar with Jane Friedman in which she discusses aspects of the business of writing and publishing. Our attendees always walk away better equipped for their road ahead. On February 22, 2025, Jane will present “Roadmap to Yes: Plotting Your Pathway to Publication.”
Be sure to check out Jane’s newsletter, blog, and classes, as well as her book, The Business of Being a Writer.
All registrants will receive a recording of the masterclass
Success Stories
Finish an essay, a book, a paragraph? Have something published? Tell us about something exciting you’ve done with writing and/or publishing in the past year. Bonus points if you can tell us how MWW has made an impact on your writing.
Send your success stories to midwestwritersworkshop@gmail.com and we’ll post it on our website!
MWW is dedicated to building a community where writers can network
with others and grow.
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SEE WHAT ELSE MWW HAS TO OFFER
- MWW Writing Service: Receive manuscript evaluations from our experts
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