The CORE Elements: The Contract and the Group Meetings!

1. First, read this essay to find out where this idea came from:

The Best Way to Get Creative is to Make Some Rules

by Aimee Bender

2. Next, set up your own writing contract:

You make your own terms for your contract! You could commit to 500 words 5x a week, 2 hours a day, 25 minutes a day, or 4 hours 1 day a week —whatever makes sense for you and your life!—the important thing is to make some rules and commit to them!

Download a contract here

See example of an old contract between Annie & Tessa here!

3. Book an intro phone call with Annie or Tessa:

You can use the links below to schedule a call! We will go over the contract, hear about your life, advise you, and explain any questions you have about the group.

https://calendly.com/accountability-workshop-annie

https://calendly.com/accountability-workshop-tessa

4. Start your Daily(ish) Check-Ins!

On the days you've completed what you specified in your contract, send an email to ContractIsFulfilled@gmail.com with an indication of completeness, aka, the word “Done.”

We'll acknowledge completeness with the word “Check.”

(No need to mention what you did, or include the work itself--rather, this is just to say you did what you said you were going to do. You may end up with a long chain email that feels, from personal experience, very satisfying.)

You can choose to start this anytime—as soon as you draft your contract, or after our first meeting—totally up to you.

**Please make sure to send Done emails to ContractIsFulfilled@gmail.com rather than to our personal emails, it allows us to stay organized. **

5. Go to your group meeting!

When you signed up, you picked your meeting time and we will email you your start date. The meetings are 1.5 hours, and we meet every other week. Use the MEETING LINK to join your meeting (available in pull down menu and also click on cartoon of computer on welcome page).

What to expect in the meetings: everyone has a chance to “check in” and talk about how writing is going for them, and we all have a chance to support them, and talk things through.

Beyond the core elements—the meetings and the contract—the Accountability Workshop is a vibrant and supportive community.

Here’s how to take advantage of it!

1. Join Slack Chat!
Want to chat and connect to other members of the accountability workshop? We've created a slack chat for just that. If you’re not familiar with slack, it is basically a community message board. Join in, say hi, ask questions, celebrate successful writing days, share fun facts, point us to useful resources, commiserate, whatever. 

2. Come to a Cave! We run two group writing sessions a week on zoom for some added accountability. These are different from the meetings, in CAVE sessions, we just log on and write together for an hour.

Log on, say hello for a minute, write together for an hour (we turn off our cameras, but know the other people are there, also writing, and that can help you focus). 

The cave times are Monday at 11 am ET with Tessa, and one at 5 pm on Weds ET with Annie, and more led by community members -- schedule sent every week in newsletter/invites sent by email.

Use CAVE link for these sessions. Available in dropdown menu or click on cartoon of a cave.

3. Watch some of our past speakers! 

Every month, we have a guest speaker of some kind, and you can attend live or watch the past recordings. We've compiled the recordings of all our past accountability workshop speakers onto the member portal for your viewing pleasure. Videos include many amazing authors, agents, publicists, and a Scrivener masterclass. We add videos of the speakers as they happen—but ideally, you can attend live!

4. Read for Bookclub!

We read one book per season—4 books a year—and meet on zoom to discuss. Totally optional, obviously. Book selections announced in newsletter.

5. Remember - we're here to support you!
And always, if you're stuck or want to talk anything through or brainstorm a plot point or bitch about anything at all, send us an email or text or book a phone call using that “book a call” link above.

These one-on-one phone chats are available on demand as part of the group membership. We don’t limit how many meetings you get because we ask people only use them when they need them…so use them if you need them!

Now, let’s get some WRITING DONE!!!

XOX

Annie & Tessa