This Is the Year You’ll Finish Your Book

This Is the Year You'll Finish Your Book with Allison K Williams

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Goal Setting and Project Planning for Your 2021 Writing Life

This year, you’re going to finish a book. But which one, and how? You’ve got multiple creative projects tugging for your attention, not to mention family, pets, work. When can you carve out time for your manuscript, and how will you stay motivated to finish by the time April rolls around, let alone October?

In this Friday, Jan. 22 live class, taught by Allison K Williams, you’ll learn how to clear mental space to focus on one project, set a realistic timeline, and self-motivate to finish your book—for real!—this year. You’ll build a step-by-step work plan to guide yourself through creative blocks and overwhelm, and learn specific strategies to create open time in your day. We’ll talk about how to work significantly even in very short bursts. You’ll discover how to feel good about your work, no matter how close to “done” you get in 2021.

This workshop will cover:

  • 4 main obstacles between you and your finished book and how to conquer each one
  • Making time out of “no time” (and how to get the people you live with to support and protect your writing minutes!)
  • Strategies for starting strong in every writing session and controlling distraction
  • How to create painless, consistent accountability to yourself
  • 3 key routines to keep you writing when you want to be (NOT the “write every day” platitude!)
  • How to weigh trade-offs and opportunity cost so you can write guilt-free
  • The simple technique to help yourself feel “good enough” to keep writing
  • Realistic planning to tackle your novel, memoir or essay collection as a series of accomplishments and feel-good moments

Who should take this class

  • Writers who want to finish a book this year
  • Creatives having a hard time choosing between multiple unfinished projects
  • Novelists and memoirists with child/family/caregiver obligations who just can’t see where the time will come from
  • Writers who want to add form and definition to their writing life through conscious practice
  • Creative writing students and MFA graduates having a hard time writing without external deadlines
  • Writers who alternate between prolific writing binges and “hitting a wall” or getting creatively blocked

How do I know if this webinar is worth the cost?

This is an important question, and it’s a tough one to answer—especially since so much online education is available free of charge. Furthermore, every student is different, and a valuable webinar for one person can end up being a disappointment to another. For this reason, we offer full refunds if you register, attend the entire class, and fail to get the information you were looking for. Please email us directly to request a refund.

Do I have to attend the live class?

No. Everyone who registers will get access to the recording. However, if you’d like to attend live, keep reading.

How do I attend the live class?

This class uses Zoom webinar technology. You will join through your Internet-connected computer or mobile device. When you register, you will receive information via email on how to join the class. If you don’t receive it within 1 hour of registering, please contact us.

  • When: Friday, January 22, 2021
  • Time: 1 p.m.–2:30 p.m. Eastern Time / 10 a.m. Pacific Time
  • Fee: $25

The webinar is broadcasted via the internet with live audio delivered through your computer or mobile device speakers. The visual presentation is displayed directly from the presenter’s computer to your computer screen. The Q&A is managed through a chat-style submission system with questions read and answered by the presenter for the entire class to hear.

Closed captions are provided during the live class. We use Rev’s automated closed caption service, which is about 80%+ accurate. For students joining the class through the Zoom app on a mobile device, you can disable the closed captions by going to your settings and turning off closed captions.

Allison Williams

About the instructor

Allison K Williams has edited and coached writers to publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Knopf, Mantle, Spencer Hill, and St. Martin’s Press as well as hybrid and independent presses. She’s guided essayists and humorists to publication in media including the New Yorker, Time, the Guardian, the New York Times, McSweeney’s, Refinery29, Hippocampus, the Belladonna and TED Talks. As Social Media Editor for Brevity, she inspires thousands of writers with weekly blogs on craft and the writing life.

As a memoirist, essayist, and travel journalist, Allison has written craft, culture and comedy for National Public Radio, CBC-Canada, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Creative Nonfiction, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Kenyon Review Online, the Prairie Schooner blog, the Drum and Travelers’ Tales and Flash Nonfiction Funny.

Allison holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and spent 20 years as a circus aerialist and acrobat before writing and editing full-time. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats series.

Her book, Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book will be published by Woodhall Press in March 2021. 

THE CLASS WAS STUPENDOUS. It at once opened doors for me, so much so I started writing my coming-to-America memoir after that.

Victoria Schultz

student

Allison’s was the very best webinar I’ve ever attended on writing, and I’ve gone to a lot.

J. Rich 

student

What an energizing, inspiring, informative session today was! Truly so creative and captivating.

Kate Marshall Flaherty

student

You’ll receive the following

  • Access to the 90-minute interactive class. After 75 minutes, Allison will take questions using in-class chat/text. The class will end after roughly 90 minutes.
  • A recording of the class—audio and video. This is especially helpful if you have a conflict with the class time or something comes up and you can’t make the session. Each registration comes with access to the archived version of the program and the materials for 30 days. You do not have to attend the live event to get a recording of the presentation.
  • Presentation slides. All participants receive a copy of the slide presentation in PDF form.
  • Rough transcript. We use Otter to create an automated transcript of the entire webinar, which we’ll share with you in addition to the audio and video recording.
  • Supplementary worksheets to plan your time, rank your priorities, and determine which project will be your focus this year.
  • Optional opportunity to join a low-key accountability group with other writers.

Event Attendance & Anti-Harassment Policy

We strive to provide an environment where all present—whether attendee, presenter, or staff—can feel supported. In order to ensure a welcoming event, here is what we expect from all who participate.

  • That the presenter and the presenter’s work be treated with respect by attendees and that all attendees treat each other with respect and a generosity of spirit.
  • That attendees will refrain from harassment of any sort including (but not limited to) comments or questions of a racist, homophobic, sexist/sexual, or threatening nature. This includes actions that disrupt or interfere with anyone’s ability to participate. Offenders will be disconnected from the live event.

System Requirements to Join the Webinar

We will be using Zoom webinar technology.

You’ll need:

  • An internet connection: broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE)
  • Speakers: built-in, USB plug-in or wireless Bluetooth

Recommended bandwidth:

  • 600kbps (down) for high-quality video and 1.2 Mbps (down) for HD video
  • If you connect through audio only: 60-80kbps (down)

Supported operating systems:

Supported tablet and mobile devices:

  • Surface PRO 2 running Win 8.1
  • iOS and Android devices
  • Blackberry devices

Supported browsers:

  • Windows: IE 11+,  Edge 12+, Firefox 27+,  Chrome 30+
  • Mac: Safari 7+, Firefox 27+,  Chrome 30+
  • Linux: Firefox 27+,  Chrome 30+

For a detailed listing of system requirements, check Zoom’s site.