Challenge Update & Tech Tools for Productivity

Congratulations to our Month of Writing Challenge participants on another productive week! Last week the Challenge writers produced 98,950 new words, bringing us to a collective total of 286,438 words.

Even if you're not working toward a 50,000 word goal, we all know that staying focused while writing can be difficult. If you do the bulk of your writing on a computer, you may want to look at two programs designed to eliminate distractions. Freedom temporarily blocks your Internet access for a set length of time, while Anti-Social blocks only social networking sites (that is, your email and other important sites will still be easily accessible). Both Windows and Mac OS are supported, and free trial versions are available. Another useful tool is a simple (and always free) program called Caffeine. Its sole function is preventing your computer from entering sleep mode, so if you step away for a few (or more) minutes, you're right where you left off. Like the other programs, it's available for both Windows and Mac. 

This Thursday: Craft of Composing Panel

Just a reminder that this coming Thursday, October 17, is the SNL Month of Writing's "Craft of Composing" panel discussion. Click here for more information about our accomplished panelists. The event will take place in room 1451 of 14 E. Jackson and begins at 6PM. 

In other news, the first count from the Month of Writing Challenge is in! Writers from throughout the DePaul community produced 147,848 words in the first week of October alone, and the tally is only going up! Click here to visit our Month of Writing site, which is updated weekly. 

Month of Writing Challenge Begins & UCWbL Workshop

Today is October 1, which means the start of the SNL Month of Writing Challenge! But it's not too late to join--click here for more information about our challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of October and work toward a collective goal of 1.5 million words. 

The SNL Writing Program has also partnered with the Office of Advancement to help the Month of Writing make a meaningful contribution to the SNL community. I'd like to draw your attention to our new Giving page. Your support will both motivate writers to work toward our collective goal, and, moreover, allow the Dean to award a scholarship to an SNL student thanks to the efforts of our Challenge writers and their friends, family, and colleagues. 

Finally, the UCWbL's Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research is hosting an upcoming workshop on academic writing that may be of interest to your students: "How Do I Cite This?: Incorporating Sources and Understanding Academic Integrity." The workshop will take place on Tuesday, October 8, from 3-4:30pm in the DePaul Center, room 8005. Email the CMWR to reserve a spot. 

Join Us on October 17 for the Craft of Composing Panel Discussion

On October 17, the SNL Month of Writing will host "The Craft of Composing: A Panel of Writers Discuss the Writing Process." Panelists this year include Rochelle George Wooding of the Neighborhood Writing Alliance; SNL faculty member and author Ann Stanford; award-winning author and SNL faculty member Molly Dumbleton; and SNL alum and Writing Showcase winner Megan Stemm-Wade. Click here for more information about our panelists. 

And remember, the Month of Writing Challenge begins on October 1! Click here for more information and to register.  

Details: 
October 17, 2013
6:00 - 7:30PM
Loop Campus
14 E. Jackson
Room 1451

I Am Not Going to Get Up Today: How I wrote 50,627 words in 30 days during the 2012 SNL Month of Writing

Steffanie Triller Fry

I did not get out of bed. That’s my big secret. That’s how I reached my 50,000 word goal for SNL’s first annual Month of Writing last October. I did not get out of bed until I had reached my word count goal for the day.

            Bed was a familiar place for me last October. I was in my first trimester of a first pregnancy. I wrote with a granola bar and a water bottle beside me. Some mornings, despite the granola bar and water bottle, morning sickness hit anyway. My brain is never fully present to the world until I’m up and moving. When I’ve just woken, I’m still in a foggy, dreamlike trance. The covers are warm and the room is cool: my mind tends to wander in these moments. In these minutes, I do some of my most effective thinking of the day. I plan my day, work out problems, write drafts of emails on the insides of my eyelids. This is my time of uninterrupted creative expression. Last October, I used it to my advantage. Each morning, I set a goal of 2,000 words. I often wrote more: if I was on a roll and time permitted, I let myself keep going. I wrote quickly. I didn’t think too much about what I was writing. I was working on a novel – the first I’d ever attempted – about four children who travel back in time to a key moment in their parents’ lives. I did not plan much of the story beforehand; rather, I let it unfold in these early morning hours. Often, in this warm haze of pre-dawn, I found that my fingers worked without my direction. I write best when I don’t look at the keys. (After all, we all have our unwashed socks that we wear on game day to help us to hit the home run, right?) My characters interacted in ways I never thought possible. They found new relationships; they found words of dialogue. They found reasons for traveling in time. Words mounted; the story grew. It changed direction a few times, after all, it was only a first draft. At some point, I realized that I had written over 40,000 words and I needed to start bringing the story to a close. I had done it: I had written my 50,000 words, with a few hundred extra for good measure.

            Besides not getting out of bed, a few other tricks worked for me:

            Most days I woke at the same time. I subtracted three hours from the time I needed to leave, and set my alarm. I kept the computer next to my bed so that I would not have to break the spell of sleep. Somehow, if I did not leave the bed, I could convince myself that I wasn’t really awake yet. Somehow, I thought I had mastered writing in my dreams, still asleep, still blissfully unaware of the dark outside the window. The first week was hard, but once it became expected, became routine, it got easier.

            I didn’t talk to anyone. When I talked to someone else it became harder to hear the characters talk to each other.

            When I got stuck, I read what I had written the day before, or I went back to the beginning and started reading. Particularly on the mornings after I had taken a day or two break, it was helpful to ground myself in the story and the characters.

            I outlined every day. I wrote an informal list of places that I wanted to go in the story. The next morning, I could pick up with whichever scene most moved me. Because I always woke with a goal and direction for moving the story forward, I didn’t have to do this difficult work of structuring the story early in the morning, when my mind wasn’t working this way anyway.

            I gave myself a reward. I’ve come to love facials. I’ve only ever had two. But I told myself that if I completed my novel, I could get another facial. My favorite part is the neck and shoulder rub.

            I ran the event. Because I’m the SNL faculty member in charge of the month of writing, I would have been pretty embarrassed if I hadn’t met my own goal.  

            What are your unwashed socks? What tricks help you complete your writing tasks? This October, I invite SNL students, faculty, alums, and staff to challenge themselves to meet their own writing goals, even if it means refusing to get out of bed in the morning.

Month of Writing Challenge Website Is Live!

Registration is open for the SNL Month of Writing 2013 Writing Challenge! 

Please visit our new Digication site for more information about signing up, the Challenge itself, upcoming events, and more. 

Coming in October: SNL's Month of Writing Marathon

Get ready for SNL's annual Month of Writing Marathon! This October, accept the challenge to write 50,000 words in one month, working with students, alumni, staff, and fellow faculty toward a collective goal of 1,500,000 words. More information will soon be available on the Writing Guide; also feel free to contact SNLWriting@depaul.edu for more information on how to participate. 

Also this October, instructor Steffanie Triller Fry is offering a course in conjunction with the Marathon: AI 196 - WriteNow: SNL Writing Marathon. This is a late start (10/3) course that students can take for one competence (A2X, A5, FX).