New Year, Novel Draft: Start the Year Off Right!
with Paz Pardo
New year’s resolutions are great, but successfully completing a novel-in-process takes more than a sentence uttered over a glass of bubbly. Whether you’ve got a project that’s been gathering dust in a drawer, or have fifty thousand brand-new words (perhaps from National Novel Writing Month!) and need to build a sustainable writing practice in your normal life, this course will give you direction and accountability as you head into the new year.
In a private, half-hour long Zoom consultation, I’ll give you actionable notes on up to fifty thousand words you’ve already written. Throughout the course, I’ll provide thorough written feedback on three thousand new or revised words each week. The course will include two optional Zoom sessions to exchange tips and tricks for what is working in our writing practice and kvetch about what’s not. Weekly check-ins on the Wet.Ink platform’s message board will allow us to all be each other’s accountability buddies.
You will leave the course with a plan for finishing the draft you’re working on, and momentum to start the new year off writing.
Who This Course is For:
This course is fiction writers working on completing or revising a novel, and who want to set themselves up to have a polished draft in the new year. Whether it’s your first novel or your tenth, all levels are welcome.
Learning and Writing Goals
Learning Goals:
- Develop a writing practice that fits your life
- Craft a realistic plan to finish the draft you are working on based on professional feedback
- Gather an arsenal of tactics and tricks to get past the blocks and complications that are a part of any large writing project
Writing Goals:
- Write or revise up to 12,000 words on your novel in progress.
- Create a plan and set a routine to complete and/or refine your draft in the new year.
Zoom Schedule
We will meet for two optional Zoom sessions on Wednesday, December 18th from 8-10 PM Eastern and Saturday, January 4th from 1-3 PM Eastern. During the first week, you will also schedule a private Zoom call with me to discuss your novel project.
Weekly Syllabus
Week One: Jumping in
This week, you’ll kick off the course with a private Zoom feedback session on what you’ve already written with me, and introduce your project and process to your classmates on Wet.Ink.
Week Two: First Three Thousand Words
This week, you’ll submit three thousand new or revised words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk about planning out writing, whether that’s outlining toward the end of a first draft or for the revision of already existing work.
Week Three: Second Three Thousand Words & optional Zoom check in
You’ll submit another three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll discuss tactics to build writing time into your life and what to do when life gets in the way of writing. We’ll have our first optional Zoom check in session.
Week Four: Third Three Thousand Words
You’ll submit another three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll talk tips and tricks for tackling writer’s block.
Week Five: Fourth Three Thousand Words and optional Zoom wrap-up
You’ll submit your last three thousand words for feedback from me. On Wet.Ink, we’ll share our plans for continuing the work after the course ends. We’ll have a final optional Zoom check-in session to wrap up the class.
$395.00Enroll Now
Student Feedback for Paz Pardo:
Paz has provided me with some of the best feedback I’ve ever received on my writing. Even in early stages of a project she is able to identify key unanswered questions that inspired me and drove me forward in my subsequent drafts. Her comments are focused, identifying the most important areas to address, instead of providing a laundry list of comments. Finally, Paz has this gift of offering both love and encouragement with her direct, honest and insightful feedback. Working with her is always rigorous, exhilarating and full of joy. George Bazett