WTF Do I Do With This? How to revise a first draft.

October 8 – November 12, 2018

Mondays at 10am PST

So you have a first draft. Now what?

The good news is you wrote a first draft. The bad news is you now have to do something with it.

Hemingway said “The first draft of anything is shit.”

But maybe we hate Hemingway.

Here are some others:

“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so later I can build castles.” ─ Shannon Hale

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” – Terry Pratchett

“When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.”
– Kurt Vonnegut

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.” – Anne Lamott

So, to summarize: The first draft of anything is shit.

If you have an awful first draft, be proud. You’ve done the work. You’ve accomplished a thing. You’ve shoveled enough sand into the sandbox that you can now make a castle. I love adorable analogies, don’t you?

This workshop is for people who have a full or nearly-full manuscript and want a solid, tangible, clear path for moving forward.

Okay, so what are we doing, specifically? Each week, we will meet online for a 1-hour call, during which I will go over the stages of revision and you will have set instructions for that week. For example: Organize the first draft, define plot and narrative, come up with a chapter outline, etc. And we’ll move all the way to sentence-level work.

The amount of time you spend on this each week will be up to you. I invite you to make a daily revision goal – “Every day I’ll spend an hour revising,” or, a weekly goal: “I will work two hours/week on this.” I just want you to touch your manuscript and attempt what we’re talking about in class so you have some lived experience and can bring questions.

At the end of this workshop, you will have done significant first steps on your manuscript revision, and will be equipped to keep going for as long as it takes to get your shit in “final” form and ready to submit to an agent, perhaps?

It may take a year before the draft is revised fully. (Is it ever “revised fully?” We’ll discuss that.) My first draft was written in 2014. I picked it back up in 2015 and began revising it in earnest in June 2016. I worked almost every damn day until October 2017. This is no joke, but you can do it, and you WILL do it, and I am excited to tell you everything I’ve learned through this process. Not only about my own book and revision, but also about publishing, agents, publicity, platform-building, and the book world as a whole.

So join us.

Video conferences will be held on Mondays at 10am PST,

October 8-November 12, 2018.

Max enrollment: 10

There are three options available to you:

Option 1: $319

Six-week revision workshop
Weekly video conferences that you can download and have forever
Private Facebook group to ask questions, share work, build accountability and community

Option 2: $389

Six-week revision workshop
Weekly video conferences that you can download and have forever
Private Facebook group to ask questions, share work, build accountability and community
Open access to my inbox for the entire workshop. Get stuck? Email me. Have a question? Do the same.

Option 3: $589

Six-week revision workshop
Weekly video conferences that you can download and have forever
Private Facebook group to ask questions, share work, build accountability and community
Open access to my inbox for the entire workshop. Get stuck? Email me. Have a question? Do the same.
My review and feedback on up to 50 pages of your manuscript.
One-hour private call to discuss my feedback and craft a plan of action for you to continue your revision process.

REFUND POLICY: I can offer a full refund up to and including September 2. I can offer a 50% refund up to and including September 15. After September 15, I cannot offer a refund. By signing up for this workshop, you agree to this refund policy. Thank you!