The End... And a New Beginning

The inaugural #Write2TheEnd Writers Workshop kicked off with a bang. Practically every genre of writing -- poetry, memoir, non-fiction, and fiction -- was represented in the Summer, 2014 session.

We met weekly. Some participants had never finished a book before. Others had publishing experience, but wanted to challenge themselves to produce something new. Some were introverts; some extroverts. Some had never comfortably called themselves "writers" before.

We all discovered that a lot can happen in eight weeks:

A mother of two can become a mother of three...

A parent can experience a life-threatening crisis...

Family members can require long-distance assistance scouting and purchasing a home, and help coordinating a major household move.

Friends and family can come to visit -- and stay... and stay...

Medical crises can result in hospital stays... or rehab... or, sadly, death...

ALL of this, and more, happened to our #Write2TheEnd participants this summer.

And we STILL wrote.


No Ifs, Ands, or Proverbial Butts

We stretched ourselves, setting goals at the beginning we knew were ambitious. Then life set in. Yet we persevered.

We wrote our proverbial butts off.

Kim & Ami are facilitators, but Ben is The Great Motivator.

We also kicked proverbial butt. I am honored to report that #Write2TheEnd participants have a 100% success rate for our first session.

One participant has two children under the age of 3 and another on the way. Yet, she wrote over 60,000 words on her novel and met her goal!

One participant is a natural introvert who lives an hour away. She took a leap of faith, never missed a meeting, completed an entire poetry chapbook to enter in a contest and met her goal!

As facilitators, Kim and I both felt that a high point of our whole summer was handing out certificates of completion -- and crisp, new $100 bills -- to each writer whose goals were met.

Here's what one of our participants had to say about her experience:

"I've tried several times to write this book for over 6 years, but never gotten very far. This summer, I did it! I wrote it! I had my money's worth out of the workshop already by Week 5!"

What's keeping you from leaping?

Here's another perspective:

"The #Write2TheEnd writer's workshop has been an incredible experience for me. I began the workshop with a started project. By the workshop's conclusion, my project was finished and ready for submission.

Throughout the workshop, Ami and Kim were encouraging. They made me feel my project was important and worthy of completion. They held me accountable for getting an adequate amount of work done each week so that my project would progress in a timely manner.

Kim and Ami are wonderful facilitators. They presented me with many useful tools which will continue to make me a better writer. 

I'd recommend #Write2TheEnd writer's workshop to anybody with a writing goal to achieve. I truly did Write2TheEnd."

All writers interested in finding out more about how #Write2TheEnd can help you finish writing or editing that pet project (you know the one...) are invited to a free Meet and Greet on Monday, August 25, at 420 Main Street in St. Joseph, MI.

Our Fall, 2014, session kicks off on Monday, September, 15 at 6:00 p.m. Sign up today! And come Write2TheEnd with us!

Introducing The Doubt Box

Last night kicked off the Summer, 2014, #Write2TheEnd Writers Workshop in St. Joseph, Michigan. We met the writers who had signed up, learned what their goals are for the next eight weeks, and discussed initial strategies for achieving those goals.

(At #W2TE, every participant who meets his or her self-determined goal by the end of the workshop receives $100. Co-facilitator Kim Jorgensen Gane and I are committed to doing everything in our power to help participants get that hundred bucks.)

I'm the Roll-Up-Your-Sleeves, No Excuses, Get To Work type. I love to present writers with tools for organizing their content, improving their productivity, and making the creative process easier.

In a sense, I'm the Activities Organizer. But Kim is the Emotional Core. Case in point:

How big must it be to hold all your doubts?

When we were preparing our presentations, Kim mentioned an exercise she had planned. She brought out a lovely, little blue box with a hinged lid. "This is the Doubt Box," she told me. "I'm going to have people to write out the doubts that are holding them back on the project they want to finish. Then they'll divest themselves of those doubts and put them in the box for the duration of the workshop."

I did not laugh. But I am a lousy actor, and "You've got to be kidding" must have shown clearly on my face.

"What?" said Kim. "Don't you like the Doubt Box?"

"It's not that I don't like it," I told her. "Exercises like that -- touchy-feely things -- just don't resonate with me. But that doesn't make them less valid. So, by all means, hit them with the Doubt Box. Oh, and by the way, can we burn the doubts at the end of the workshop? I can get into that. Because... fire!"

Kim humored me and nodded. So I am totally looking forward to the Doubt Flambe of the final session. But I digress...

Don't carry your doubts with you.
They'll weigh you down as you venture into the unknown.

During our first session, Kim talked about the importance of writers allowing themselves to see themselves as artists. Of claiming creative time and jealously guarding it against the vagaries of life. (No, she didn't use the word "vagaries." I'm paraphrasing.) She talked about the realities of unpublished writers sometimes seeing their work as frivolous, or themselves as frauds.

Then she brought out the Doubt Box.

As soon as she mentioned it and named it, before she'd even had a chance to fully explain her plan for it, our wonderful #Write2TheEnd participants grabbed pen and paper and began writing. They got it. Immediately.

The Doubt Box quickly accumulated pieces of paper -- each one a doubt that was weighing someone down, keeping that person from charging into the fray and tackling the writing endeavor that fed her soul. As the Doubt Box filled, the participants grew noticeably more positive -- more ready to get to work.

This. This is what #Write2TheEnd is all about. It's about finding ways to help writers commit to a project they love. It's about networking with others who share similar goals, but who may not have the same core approach as you. It's about being willing to divest yourself of doubts, and get writing.

What doubts are weighing you down? You can put them in a Doubt Box of your own. Share them below, then let them go. Put them in the comment box, and get them off of your back and out of your mind!