The Month-Long Novelist Agreement and Statement of Understanding
(as taken from here).
I hereby pledge my intent to write a 50,000-word novel in one month’s time.
By invoking an absurd, month-long deadline on such an enormous undertaking,
I understand that notions of “craft,” “brilliance,” and “competency” are
to be chucked right out the window, where they will remain, ignored, until
they are retrieved for the editing process. I understand that I am a talented
person, capable of heroic acts of creativity, and I will give myself enough time
over the course of the next month to allow my innate gifts to come to the surface,
unmolested by self-doubt, self-criticism, and other acts of self-bullying.
During the month ahead, I realize I will produce clunky dialogue, clichéd
characters, and deeply flawed plots. I agree that all of these things will
be left in my rough draft, to be corrected and/or excised at a later point. I
understand my right to withhold my manuscript from all readers until I deem
it completed. I also acknowledge my right as author to substantially inflate
both the quality of the rough draft and the rigors of the writing process should
such inflation prove useful in garnering me respect and attention, or freedom
from participation in onerous household chores.
I acknowledge that the month-long, 50,000-word deadline I set for
myself is absolute and unchangeable, and that any failure to meet the deadline,
or any effort on my part to move the deadline once the adventure has
begun, will invite well-deserved mockery from friends and family. I also
acknowledge that, upon successful completion of the stated noveling objective,
I am entitled to a period of gleeful celebration and revelry, the duration
and intensity of which may preclude me from participating fully in workplace
activities for days, if not weeks, afterward.
signed: Shannon Conmy date: January 11, 2015
novel start date: January 26, 2015 novel deadline: February 28, 2015
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