Burnt out on workshops but wish you had a mentor/group to keep your writing on track?

INTRODUCING: THE ACCOUNTABILITY WORKSHOP

With writing coaches Annie Hartnett and Tessa Fontaine

The vision: 10-12 writers per group, who are working on book length projects and need support to keep them on track, but not necessarily feedback at this stage. You will not be required to read anyone else’s work, nor will you get feedback on your own, although there will likely be opportunities at times to swap work. But this is not a workshop, in the traditional sense. It is an accountability workshop. We are working to keep butts in chairs, and help you work through problems that arise in your work.

The reason: The Accountability Workshop is inspired by Annie and Tessa’s own journey as accountability partners, where we helped each other wade through our respective second books. Annie’s second novel, UNLIKELY ANIMALS, just came out with Random House, and Tessa’s second novel is coming with FSG in early 2024. Annie is also the author of the novel RABBIT CAKE and Tessa is the author of the memoir THE ELECTRIC WOMAN. We wrote much of our first books when we were in the cushy embrace of our MFA program at the University of Alabama, but found ourselves at sea for our second books…until we found each other.

Meetings: 1.5 hour meetings, held every 2 weeks. Again, this is not a workshop, but a meeting to discuss progress, problems that come up in your work, and help each other with our ideas for our project, as well as help with writing routines.

Meeting times:

Monday 1-2:30 pm est

Weds 1-2:30 pm est

Email through this website to inquire about spots in one of the groups. If there are no spots available, we can put you on the waitlist until one opens up. And we will be adding new groups/times soon! Join our newsletter at: accountabilityworkshops.com to stay in touch.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT from your coaches:

Phone calls: Annie and Tessa will also be available for one-on-one phone calls as necessary – individual pep-talks, tips to work through plot problems, random questions, etc. These calls will be held on request.

Weekly Cave Group Writing sessions: Three times a week (two mid-mornings, two evenings, one weekend), we have Cave sessions. What’s a cave? A group writing session. We come together on zoom, say a quick hello, and then write alone together (cameras on or off). That additional accountability really helps!

Slack: We will continue the conversation on our group Slack channel — you can ask the group questions, share articles, ask for support.

Speaker series: This is a new offering for the accountability groups. Starting in December 2022, we will have agents, editors, and authors visit us on zoom to answer questions and tell us secrets. Past and future guests include an agent, an independent publicist, a Scrivener tutorial class, authors Clare Beams, Rufi Thorpe, Marie Helene Bertino and Sequoia Nagamatsu. We recorded all these talks so you can access them after the fact.

And most importantly! THE CONTRACT. Inspired by this Aimee Bender essay, you will also be asked to come up with a writing contract with yourself, which outlines on your own terms of how much writing/editing you are committing to -- (whether that’s 2 hours a day, or 3 writing days a week, 1000 words a day, whatever, you will be in charge of your own terms, but then we will hold you to it). Annie and Tessa will have access to this contract, and we will be keeping an eye on you.

THE NITTY-GRITTY DETAILS:

Price: $150/month

All genres welcome, although our focus is mostly on tackling longer-form projects, so perhaps this is best designed for novelists and memoirists. That said, we have short story writers and TV writers in our groups now, so if it sounds useful to you, all writers are welcome!

You can drop out at any time. We want writers to use us when they need us, and feel free to step back when they don’t. We imagine writers may find it useful long-term, and some writers may just need a month or two or three to finish a project or renew a commitment to a writing routine.

Payments will be made on the 1st of the month. We ask for a week notice if you do not plan to carry your contract into the next month, so we can fill your slot with another writer.

To sign up, email Annie through the contact form on this website or visit accountabilityworkshops.com. We look forward to meeting you!