Bi-weekly group meetings on zoom (that means every other week)
Your personalized writing contract: You make the terms, you check in with us when you complete your goals
One-on-one meetings with Tessa and Annie as needed: pep talks, brainstorming calls, questions you’re too embarrassed to ask in the group
A vibrant literary community: a slack group, a book club, a monthly speaker series
THE BASICS:
WHY an “ANTI-”workshop?
No shade to traditional workshops — okay, maybe a little shade — but we believe, especially when writers are working on longer projects, they’re better off going on long stretches without getting feedback, so they can just focus on the process and progress, not product or perfection. Feedback and editorial advice is crucial to every writer, but the writer needs to be ready for it. Traditional workshops can be like baking with a toddler — get your fingers out of there! Stop licking the spoon, the eggs are raw! It’s much more productive to bake alone, and it’s more productive to write your book alone. AND YET: we also believe writers benefit from deadlines and community and advice and the camaraderie that traditional workshops offer. With the accountability workshops, it’s the best of both worlds. You don’t get confusing and potentially derailing feedback, and you don’t have to give feedback either. Your time is yours to work on your book.
That said, when projects are complete and ready for feedback, members can ask the entire community if anyone is willing to read. It’s been a good place for members to find beta-readers.
BI-WEEKLY ZOOM MEETINGS
1.5 hour meetings, held every other week on zoom. Again, this is not a workshop, but a chance to check in with other writers and your coaches and discuss your recent progress, problems that come up in our work, ask craft questions, hone writing routines, brainstorm plot problems, ask professional advice, and even the more personal advice (why doesn’t my boyfriend care about my writing, how to get your writing in on a family vacation, how to handle questions about your writing during the holidays). Each cohort is made of 10-12 writers.
Meeting times (you join one group, let us know your preferred time):
Monday: 1-2:30 pm ET, every other week
Weds: 1-2:30 pm ET, every other week
Weds: 8-9:30 pm ET, every other week
ONE-ON-ONE SUPPORT
If you’re stuck for any reason, or need extra or private support, just ping Annie or Tessa or both of us. Quick questions may be asked via email or text, and we answer longer and more complicated problems on phone calls or zooms. We’re glad to answer craft questions or brainstorm plot problems. We’ve done practice interviews, advised on agent hunts, and just generally listened when a member needs an ear. One-on-one support is available on demand.
MONTHLY SPEAKER SERIES
Every month, we bring in a special guest speaker to talk to the workshop in an intimate, frank conversation. It’s an opportunity to ask your favorite writers all your questions, and get their advice. We pay these writers for their time, which means we get really cool people to come talk with us. Past guests include: Jonathan Escoffery, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Marie-Helene Bertini, Rufi Thorpe and Clare Beams, plus the literary agent Katie Grimm, the publicity Alyson Sinclair and a masterclass on Scrivener. The talks and classes are all recorded (for our internal use only) so if you can’t make them live, you can watch at your leisure.
The final DETAILS:
Cost: $150 a month, payable the 1st of the month
Scholarships available! Scholarships available for underrepresented groups in publishing, focusing on writers of color. Application opens seasonly, but contact us anytime for information.
All genres welcome — current and past members include many novelists and memoirists, but we also have short story writers and well as TV writers and poets. We do have a primary interest in helping writers finish their long-form projects, but we are glad to welcome anyone to the workshops who would find a contract and mentors to be of use.
You can drop out at any time, so join us for as long as it’s useful! Sometimes people join us for a few months right before a deadline, although the majority of our members are here for the long haul — most of us need someone to hold us accountable to our writing, and to keep holding us accountable. We are glad to help you for as long as you need us! And welcome you back again if you fall off the wagon. Payments are due the 1st of the month, and we appreciate a week’s notice if you do not plan on joining us for the next month.
THE WRITING CONTRACT
Inspired by an Aimee Bender essay and fine-tuned in Annie and Tessa’s years in using an accountability work contract, you will be asked to fill out a writing contract with your terms of how much writing/editing you are committing to—whether that’s 2 hours a day, or 3 writing days a week, 1000 words a day, whatever—you will be in charge of your own terms and what makes sense for your life. Once you sign up, we will send you a sample contract to show you what has worked for us, and then we will have a meeting to advise you about your own contract.
Once you’ve committed to your contract — the fun begins! People often experience a joiner’s high, similar to the first few months after joining a new gym. After you fulfill your contractual obligation for the day, you’ll report your success to your supervisors via email: You’ll send the word “done,” and you’ll receive a response from Annie or Tessa with the word: “check.” Now that your writing is done, you can enjoy the day!
GROUP SUPPORT
Each cohort has their own slack channel for you to stay connected to each other between meetings, share resources, post successes and ask one another questions. You’re also connected to the larger community of writers in slack too, and it’s an amazing fountain of knowledge.
Through not required or expected, group members are allowed to ask for beta readers for their manuscripts in slack (or ask for feedback on something shorter), and usually someone in the group is willing to read.
A BOOK CLUB
This started as a joke, but now we have a book club! It’s an optional and fun way to interact with the larger accountability community and talk with other smart writers about writing. So far we’ve read The World According to Garp by John Irving (the love of Annie’s life, that’s where the joke started), The Secret History by Donna Tartt, and we’re currently reading We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry. We read one book per season so not to overload your reading schedule, and books are chosen by vote.