“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.” ~Maya Angelou

Hello ,

For many writers November means NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) — a glorious tradition of challenging yourself to sit down and write 50,000 words in the month of November.

Crazy? Sure, but doable.

More than hitting any specific word count, what we love about it is the idea that it makes it okay to focus on you and creativity. You clear the decks of activities, throw some pizzas in the freezer so no one starves and let yourself become wrapped up in your world. You give yourself the time to get that untold story that Maya is talking about out of you.

Whether or not you plan to do NaNoWriMo officially, we’d like to challenge you to set a writing goal for November.

It might be a word count, a number of pages edited, a set number of craft books read or creating a marketing plan for your next book. You deserve to put yourself and your desire to create as a priority. So stock some food in the freezer, get those take out menus handy and fire up the tea kettle—we’ve got work to do!

What’s Coming Up in November

We’ve got your back with all sorts of things to help you with your writing goals. There are past recorded workshops on a range of creative and publishing topics and plenty of live events to help keep you on track.

The events tab on the home page will show you a list with dates and times of all events and writing sprints. If you click RSVP, we’ll send you an email 30 minutes before the start time to remind you

Welcome members, new and experienced: Orientation Meet & Greet

Welcome to all the new faces who've joined us since the Surrey International Writer's Conference last week and weekend. We're delighted to have you here and help you maintain your SiWC energy (or rebuild your energy after a grueling three+ days of brain-filling goodness).

Whether you're new in our halls—or have been around forever and still get lost (Donna hangs her head and raises her hand)—we've got a special event to help you get oriented and see all that we have in our archives, communities and learning hubs to support your writing and publishing goals.

Join us on Saturday, November 13th at 10-11 AM Pacific. Here's the link to the Orientation Meet & Greet which will tell you what time it's taking place in your time zone. RSVP if you think you can make it. We look forward to meeting new members and reconnecting with some of our treasured old guard.

Your author biz (with Crystal Hunt)

Wed 3—Just One Thing: Creative Habit

Wed 10—Author Biz Q&A

Wed 24—Monthly marketing mastermind

Your story craft (with Eileen Cook)

Wed 3—Happy Hour: Dialogue & non-verbal communication

Wed 10—Happy Hour: Story Storm & Q&A

Wed 17—Happy Hour: How complex is TOO complex?

Wed 24—Happy Hour: Blue Pencil session

Your hot seat (with Donna Barker & members)

Tue 2—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind (facilitated by Janee/Lynette)

Thu 4—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind

Tue 9—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind (facilitated by Lynette/Janee)

Thu 11—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind

Tue 16—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind (facilitated by Janee/Lynette)

Thu 18—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind

Tue 23—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind (facilitated by Janee/Lynette)

Thu 25—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind

Tue 30—Motivation & Accountability Mastermind (facilitated by Enoch)

Your drop-in Q&A (with Steph Candiago)

Tue 2—Drop-in Q&A Tools & Tech

Mon 8—Drop-in Q&A Indie Publishing

Tue 16—Drop-in Q&A Tools & Tech

Mon 22—Drop-in Q&A Indie Publishing

Tue 30—Drop-in Q&A Tools & Tech

Open Mics (sign-up to read from your WiP)

Wed 3—Sci-Fi / Fantasy Open Mic (with Tracy)

Thu 18—Romance Writers Open Mic (with Danys & Andrea)

Tue 23—Historical Fiction Open Mic (with Jenny)

Genre Meet-ups (hang out with your genre mates)

Thu 4—Romance Writers Rendezvous (with Andrea & Danys)

Tue 9—Historical Fiction Meet Up (with Jenny)

Sun 14—Memoir Community Meet Up (with Vig)

Wed 17—Sci-Fi / Fantasy Meet Up (with Tracy)

Sat 27—Mystery/Thriller Group Meet Up with special guest, bestselling author Robyn Harding (and Eileen)

Sun 28—Memoir Community Meet Up (with Vig)

Other fun, member-driven events

Fri 12—Craft & Chat social evening (with Crystal, Jenny & more!)

Wed 17—Writer's Wellness: Nutrition (with PJ Beavan)

Tue 23—Book Club: Boring Girls by Sara Taylor (facilitated by Elissa)

Writing Sprints

The writing room is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are several times every day when you can be pretty sure to find at least one other person in the room to keep you company. No matter where you are in the world, we’ve got you covered! Check out all the times here:

https://creative-academy-for-writers.mn.co/courses/2010738/events

Are you finding this community a help? 

Consider contributing to help keeping the rooms zooming with all the creative energy and support. We run this community with love but we pay the bills with lucre!

You can make a one-time or monthly contribution here: https://creativeacademyforwriters.com/contribute/

xoxo

Donna, Eileen, and Crystal