It's A Wonderful Life

[dr_pretentious]

Progress on novel: 581 words.

Good deeds for the day: Conferred with Karen Junker; volunteered to write fundraising letter in hopes of resuscitating the writing conference; wrote letter; sent letter.



Hey, everybody. My name is Sarah Avery, and I'm a regular volunteer at
Writer's Weekend.

Today, I volunteered to do something really hard. I volunteered to tell you
all that, if we don't raise a sizable chunk of money this month, the
organization is going to have to fold. We love running these events, and
you have told us you love coming to them.

If you help us meet some very specific, very achievable goals, we can all
hope to keep meeting for panels and pitches, banquets and drinks, workshops
and book signings, for a long time to come. If we can't meet these goals in
the month of November, well, the past few years have been great, and we
wouldn't have missed them for anything.

Here's what we need in order to continue with the events we have scheduled
for 2007:
At least 200 people would have to join as members, and
At least 30 people would have to register for the March event on the East
Coast, and
At least 30 people would have to register for the June event in Seattle, and
All of those people would have to go to paypal.com and actually send the
actual money for those memberships and registrations.

The bottom line is, if you were hoping to come to Writer's Weekend this
year, or any year, now is the moment to register.

If you were thinking of joining as a member, now is the moment to join. A
membership only costs $20. That little $20 saves you $50 on registration
for the big event in March, and $50 on registration for the big event in
June, and $65 on the small event in February. If you were planning on
coming to all of them, that little $20 saves you $165. Even if you can't
spring for the full cost of registering now for those programs, the $20 cost
of your membership is a gigantic vote of confidence, right when it matters
most.

And if we don't make our goal, if Writer's Weekend folds, your membership
and registration money will be refunded, so there's no risk to you.

For the past couple of years, the plan has been to incorporate Writer's
Weekend as a non-profit, but if the organization is ever going to have
enough resources to make that transition, it needs your support.

Don't put it off until after Election Day. Don't put it off until the end
of National Novel Writing Month. Don't put it off until you get home from
Thanksgiving. Go to www.writersweekend.com right now, and do whatever you
can.

If together we can all pull this off, then at the next Writer's Weekend we
can raise a toast at the bar and sing Auld Lang Syne like a bunch of extras
in a Frank Capra film--because it is, in point of fact, a wonderful life.

We can save this thing. The only tricky part is doing it fast.

Many thanks,

Sarah Avery

Every time a bell rings, a writer gets her wings.

Comments

[annathepiper]

Guh. Hon, if solarbird and I didn't have several thousand dollars' worth of hospital bills looming over us waiting to pounce at any moment, I'd be registering for next June right this instant. -.-

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

We're all glad solarbird is doing all right now. You two have had a scary year.

There are 652 addresses on the email lists I sent that letter to. Some of them will be duplicates, some of them will be dead ends, some of the recipients will be broke, and some will have given up writing, but if one third of those letters move people to send in their $20, and one in ten sends in a conference registration fee, then we go on with the show.

If you felt like spreading the word to any interested people you think might not already be on the mailing list, or pester procrastinators you know who want to go, that would be much appreciated.


Universe willing, I'll see you in June.

[annathepiper]

Here's hoping. :) And I'll do my best. I keep plugging Writer's Weekend to other writers I know online!

[citabria]

I felt the urge to do some plugging for you on my own lj -- it's the most recent public entry. If you feel uncomfortable with it I'll take it down, just let me know. Otherwise, you might want to tag (or whatever they're calling it) the post to get copied on responses by email, just in case people do have questions. I have a couple of friends in mind in doing this, but you never know.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you! If anybody has questions, send them my way.

[seimaisin.livejournal.com]

Registering was one of those things I meant to do, but the email kept falling to the back of my inbox. So, there, done, even if I have no idea what travel finances are going to look like this year. Every little bit helps, I hope!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you. When I called Karen, I told her there were lots of people out there who fully intended to join and register, and they just needed to be told straight out that timing is everything this year.

I guess now we find out how many people there are in "lots".