What does a fat orange cat have to do with drafting?

Darlin', you'd be surprised...

Hey, Runners!

I’m back for another FAQ post, and I’m excited to announce that I have a Google calendar mapped out for the year.

(Please click the link and let me know if it works. I’ve had inconsistent results with Google calendars.)

Can monthly subscribers be part of a Discord cohort?

Sorry; no. The Discord cohorts require time and commitment; not just to your project, but to your cohort. If people in a group of 20 are dropping out right and left, the remaining cohort is going to feel that absence.

As a monthly subscriber, you get the option to tap out at any time, and you are welcome to chat with other runners via the comments section of each post, but Discord chats are reserved for runners who have made the year-long commitment.

The monthly commitment is good for people who aren’t sure they’re going to want to do the full year. I get that, and I want to make space for those runners. If you start out monthly and decide you want to do the full year before October, you can contact me to pay for the remainder of the year and be assigned to a Discord cohort.

Exactly how big is this commitment?

Writing a long-form fiction project in a group of twenty is a commitment, but the Running of the WIPs is designed to avoid overwhelm. If you generally check in on your Discord cohort every few days, that’s fine. And there will be some weeks that you won’t check in at all; we all understand that. Some weeks are hard. But any material you miss while you’re gone will be waiting for you when you return, and because posts are short and there will be audio narration for all of them, you can get caught up pretty easily.

The Running of the WIPs is all about folding a long-form fiction project into your year as gently as possible, combining achievable goals with a community to cheer you on.

Question: What was the best class you ever took, and what made it so great?

Also, feel free to drop any questions you’d like answered in the comments!

---

What is the rotWIPs schedule?

The Running of the WIPs will start on Monday, September 9, 2024 and run until June 13, 2025. Runners will receive a short post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, except during the holiday break at the end of December to early January.

For a more detailed breakdown of the rotWIPs schedule, take a look at the calendar.

Please note: I always hold grace for some flexibility in my schedules in case students need or request something extra that might be of value, but I expect things will shake out pretty much to this schedule.

Three posts a week feels like a lot.

That’s not really a question but… yes, it does. However, they are short posts. A little bit, every couple of days, so you don’t get overwhelmed. We are stretching this whole process out over a year, doing a little bit at a time.

During drafting… I have to warn you… you’ll be getting a Fat Orange Cat every day.

What the hell is a Fat Orange Cat?

A Fat Orange Cat is a random thing to include in your writing while drafting. This is especially helpful for us pantsers who never know what we’re going to write until we’re writing it.