About the Pledge

Originally conceived as the Pledge To Publish, it is now just the Pledge. It is our region's year-round writing group. Ground rules (such few as exist) are set up by the participants of that year. I anticipate that we will encourage people to write down their writing goals, whatever they may be; and we will try to help each other achieve these while

• socializing (hey, we all have writing as a common interest)
• doing some writing exercises (to help us grow as writers)
• sharing information (e.g., experiences with query letters, agents and publishing houses)
• and maybe even writing some short stories (would be cool to publish these just so we could each have a copy)
• some critiquing of each other's stories might also occur, though there are other resources online that might be better for that (e.g., critters, critique circle and urbis)

What do you think? What ideas do you have for the Pledge? Are you interested in participating? In previous years we have had a balance between remote jabber meetings and live outings. What do you think would work for you?

What if I am not seeking publication?

You can still participate in those activities that suit your own goals. This is the Illinois::Naperville region's year-round writing/critiquing group and we'll be more flexible this year in what people are pledging to do.

We'll also continue to have Pledge outings (both fun and creative) and writing exercises.

Other NaNoWriMo-like events

• Year-round: National Novel Publishing Year - National Novel Writing Year - NaNoWriYe 2008
• December: National Novel Finishing Month
• March: National Novel Editing Month
• April: Script Frenzy and April Fools Novels
• July: JulNoWriMo 50k challenge
• November: The big kahuna: National Novel Writing Month

Origin of the Pledge (2006)

The Pledge originally was the Pledge to Publish, for everyone who had a lot of fun in NaNo but who was interested in joining a supportive group to take their books to the next step. Begun after the 2006 NaNo, the Pledge attempted to help people commit to and follow through with the following steps (note: folks didn't have to commit to every step or even to seek publication of their novel to participate):

1. Finish the story
2. Rewrite the novel!
3. Critique each others works (see section on this below)
4. Edit the novel
5. Find writer's organizations/Join writer's organizations
6. Research publishing houses to query
7. Write and send out query letters
8. When a response is received, submit the manuscript!

The Pledge in 2007