Do you already have that sinking feeling, as if 2024 will turn out no better than all your other writing years?
Do you already suspect that you’ll start January with all guns blazing, then run out of ammo and spiral into lonely despondency?
Do you dread slamming headlong into creative brick walls, thanks to lack of motivation, the scourge of procrastination or your seemingly endless array of fears?
Are you actively looking for something that will make January 2024 way more productive than January 2023?
I’ve come up with something that might help.
You’ll be glad to hear it’s also free.
Come and join my January Jumpstart Writing Collective.
So what is this fresh new thing?
The January Jumpstart Writing Collective is month-wide event, in which a bunch of creatives of all stripes check in on each other as often they can, to share their progress and their war stories and, most importantly of all, to gee each other along. Solidarity!
Furthermore, this bunch of creatives will include me.
Why? Because I haven’t written a word of fiction since the summer and I need to start writing again.
I know, I know. Long story.
Anyway. Here's the very simple idea.
There is no sign-up process. You can leave at any time.
There is no challenge to be ejected from, here, if you don’t attain a certain level.
I want this to be a laidback and welcome conduit for your creativity, rather than a stressful source of pressure.
Each of us January Jumpstart Writing Collective participants simply decide what we want to achieve every day with our writing and creativity in January.
Then we each try to achieve those aims.
Our daily targets can progress during the month. They can become more ambitious as we hone our creative muscles.
If we mess up one day, we don’t beat ourselves up. We just receive condolences from everyone else and get back on the horse.
Throughout the month, we all keep in touch via the main hub of my Patreon feed, to—
Wait a goddamn minute, Arnopp! Is this some pesky ruse to get me to join your Patreon?
No!
I mean, clearly, like any other Patreon creator, I do want to grow my Patreon and I’d be painfully disengenuous to say otherwise. But the main driver of the JJWC is to get us all writing again, me included.
When I said the January Jumpstart Writing Collective was free, I meant every word.
See, anyone can join my Patreon as a free member and stay free forever.
At this level, they’ll be notified whenever I make a post visible to ‘all members’, paid and free.
Each of the January Jumpstart Writing Collective posts will all be for ‘all members’. There will be other posts for paid patrons only, on other topics, but JJWC content will be open to all, including the ability to comment on the posts.
Sure, paid members will have the added perk of a dedicated JJWC forum in our wondrous Community Chat section on the Patreon app, in which participants can compare progress on a more spontaneous and granular level, as if we’re chatting on WhatsApp. But I will make near-daily posts for all on the main feed, in which I share my own daily fails and wins and ask everyone else to share their own.
Several of my patrons are writers and/or creatives of some kind, and some have already stated that they’re well up for the Collective.
So let’s do this! Let’s get writing again!
Let’s make stuff up out of thin air, based on our utterly unique creative DNA!
And let’s start tomorrow. New Year’s Day, Monday 1 January.
Sign up to my Patreon as a free member, in order to be notified when I make the first post of the year over there, and outline a little more how I see the January Jumpstart Writing Collective going.
Not sure yet? Swing over to my Patreon tomorrow afternoon, read my post and see if you fancy joining the Collective when you know more about the rules, such as they are.
Any questions? Reply to the email version of this post or ask below in comments!
Happy New Year!
Best,
Jason
P.S. So… why haven’t I based the January Jumpstart Writing Challenge on Substack?
Welllll… for a while now I’d been thinking of shifting my writing blog content from Substack to Patreon. (Beyond the JJWC, by the way, I will most likely continue to post free blogs about writing, as well as content for paid members only.)
Substack never entirely chimed with me.
Is it a private newsletter? Is it a public blog? Which is it?
Also, lately, Substack’s founders said that they would not de-platform Nazis.
Hopefully I don’t need to go any further to explain why Substack no longer feels like a good place to be based.
Retreat! Retreat!
We really need to run far away from the idea that all views have the freedom to be expressed, as if some kind of balance needs to be maintained.
Nope, some views are just wrong and it’s time for them to no longer be humoured or facilitated.
This will be my final post here.
Hope to see you soon, though!
If you’re not up for the JJWC, then consider signing up to my main newsletter, The Necronoppicon, which is primarily for readers but will also contain some content for writers. You even get a free book when you join!
Main image by lookstudio on Freepik
My content for newer writers now takes video form at my new YouTube channel Write Like Hell and free Skool community form at The Phantasia Lounge.
You can also join my Patreon as a free or paid member.