David - A Word about WoW to all participants

To the class,

It did my heart good to see your smiling faces for our first session yesterday. Thank you for joining!

I am eager to hear how your assignments go this week. To summarize what I'm asking you for this week:

1) Fully commit to a Digital Detox. Limit your consumption of news and social media as much as you possibly can. Make it a game. Instead, carry a notebook and pen and write down thoughts and observations. Instead of worrying about "all de trouble in de world" think instead about the fate of your characters hanging in the balance. Plan to tell our class about how the detox is going.

2) Share your written elevator pitch with the class on the Victoria Writing School Forum. Login and Start a Discussion, and make sure to select Way of the Writer. Cut and paste a few notes about what you're writing during this class, where the conflict lies and why the story matters to you (which makes it matter to us).

3) Decide what you'll plan to produce by the deadline at the end of class. One chapter, three chapters, an outline, a poem, a story, a more polished manuscript. Give yourself a challenge that's hard but not impossible.

4) Take your Main Character (and it might be you) out to a quiet dinner alone. Learn as much as you can about your character during this time together. Once you know what really motivates your character, you don't have to worry about plot because the character will tell you what comes next.

Please chime in with thoughts or questions - on the Forum where everyone can see it.

Wishing you a discovery filled week and see you soon,

David