So, you're here. You're excited. You're ready to "write on!"

Okay. You know the idea behind WordSprints. Write as fast as you can! Your typing speed and your imagination are your only limitations - so put away your "inner editor" and focus on just getting the *$#@ draft written!

(By the way, don't be intimidated by the whole "typing speed" thing. You don't have to be super-fast, or even regular fast. It's all about participation. Group synergy! You win just by being here. Everyone is starting at a different point, and everyone has a different speed.)

Endurance Writing is not just for some... it's for everyone. <<sigh>>
I should really write a song about that.

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The WordSprints details are thus:

1) Sign up for the Endurance Writing Yahoo Group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/endurancewriting/. Check the Yahoo Group Calendar to see when WordSprint events have been scheduled. A conference invite will be sent out to all group members who are available on Yahoo Messenger a few minutes before the designated time (be sure your Calendar time zones are set correctly).

2) Accept the conference invitation when it comes. Exchange a few hello-how-ya-doin's with everyone else who's logged on, and then, when the buzzer goes off, you start typing furiously away! (Okay, you actually have to IMAGINE that there's a buzzer sounding--we usually just type "GO!" on the screen.)

3) Keep your conference window open (and your internet connection live)! This is important, or Yahoo will inadvertently kick you out of the conference room. NOTE: If this happens, you will have to close out of Yahoo completely and log back in before we can send you another "conference invite." If you get kicked out and need another invite, send me an IM. Just be aware that it may take a few minutes (or twenty) for me to get back to you, if we are in the middle of a sprint when you send it.

4) When the twenty minutes is up, someone will type "STOP!" on the
conference screen. If you aren't paying attention, or if your writing is going so fabulously that you are too psyched up to notice, you might miss it. I recommend an audible timer for this. Some people use their kitchen timers, but I use the online countdown timer at http://www.online-stopwatch.com/. (You have to click on the countdown arrow to make it work.) If your computer speakers are on, it gives you a nice loud jangle when the countdown is over.

5) During the breaktime after each sprint, post your word count in the conference room and marvel at your progress! Also, if you have any entertaining or memorable story quirks you want to share with the group at this time, feel free. Some suggestions: 1) Most interesting thing said/done by a story character during the sprint; 2) Funniest typo; 3) Most interesting scene setting; or even 4) Most interesting way you tried to tell a household member to 'leave you alone' while in the midst of a sprint! (For this last one, I find that shoulder gestures, mumbling, and staring with desperate, widened eyes at the screen while typing uncontrollably works well. On the other hand, so does a locked door. Or a thrown pillow. LOL.)

6) After breaktime, it starts all over again... Another sprint, another "Go!" and "Stop!" and so forth. You get the idea. It's tons of fun and (sort of like Altoids) CURIOUSLY productive.