Ninja Writer Friday Newsletter
June 22, 2018
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Hey, Ninja Writer!
Happy Friday and Happy Summer :)
I really love summer. Not only because I'm just a warm-weather girl at heart, but because I really love any opportunity for a fresh start. And after New Year's Day, summer represents the strongest fresh start time of year for me.
We're just finishing up a group run through of The Plotting Workshop. And now? Now is a great time to move right on into writing that book. So many of you signed up for The Plotting Workshop and I'm so super proud that so many of you stuck with it all the way through. I've decided to do something I've never done before.
I'm re-opening the Ninja Write-a-Long for a few days. You can read more about NWAL here. And if you want to, you can join the 2018 class, already in session. We've been plotting along with you, so you won't be behind (although, any student will tell you that I beat the 'there is no behind' drum pretty hard.) If you want to write your novel in 2018, we'd love to have you join us. We're having our next live chat on Monday morning! Sign up here. The doors close again, for good until 2019, on Monday June 25 at midnight PST.
(If you'd just like the DIY version of our signature course--A Novel Idea--without all the group stuff, you can check that out here.) A Novel Idea is a year-long, self-paced writing course. The Plotting Workshop is the first part of it, so if you just want to continue on, this is a good option.
(If you'd rather not get any more info over the next few days about NWAL, click here.)
Giveaway
Don't forget to click here and sign up to win one of three Advance Reader Copies of my new book, The Astonishing Maybe. Each winner also gets lifetime access to the DIY version of A Novel Idea! (Because I really, really want you to know how cool it is to get ARCs of your book in the mail.)
If you've already entered the giveaway, make sure to click the link and get your unique URL. Share it around! Every time someone enters using it, you get three more entries.
Listening to Records
I'm on a decluttering jag at home right now. Operation Ruthless Declutter. The best side effect so far? I can actually get to my record player and albums.
There is something so satisfying to me about putting on an album. It's old-fashioned in this era of digital playlists to listen to an entire album from one artist. To hear all the songs, including the ones that aren't super well known. I'm having a lot of fun with it.
I have about a bajillion records, thanks to these notebooks. I had an ancient record player that was retired from a high school probably fifty years ago. I bought it for $7 from a thrift store because I loved the way it looked. I took it to a repairman who tried to fix it, but he couldn't quite. So it had a weird, wobbly sound. Kind of like listening to U2 or The Beatles under water.
Also, I absolutely love this book about the comeback of analog things.
I'll update you on Operation Ruthless Declutter this week.
Patreon
I'll be posting the July Magic Bullet download in our Etsy shop and to Patreon patrons this week. The Magic Bullet is a pretty powerful organizational tool for writers. If you want to check it out, head over to Patreon and sign up at the $10 level. you'll get June's (it's there now) and July's when it drops on June 25.
We have a goal of getting to $5000 a month in Patreon support. When that happens, every patron (even at the $1 level) will get access to the DIY version of A Novel Idea. I love (LOVE) the idea of that course being community supported. Will you help us reach our goal, so we can help you reach yours? Even $1 a month means so much.
What that $1 mostly means is that we get to pay the contributors to our quarterly zine more! On July 10, we'll put $1 for every active patron into a pot to pay the 10 contributors to the July issue of our zine. Patrons at the $1 level also get instant access to all of my posts that are behind Medium's paywall.
Speaking of Patreon rewards, if you are a patron you'll be getting a link in your inbox this week that will put all of your rewards in one place. Hallelujah!
What I Wrote This Week
Love,
Shaunta
Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is.
Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She lives in Reno with her husband, three superstar kids, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nationand the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.
