WHAT IS BIW?

Jeffrey A. Carver said, "Practice, Practice, Practice writing. Writng is a craft that requires both talent and acquired skills. You learn by doing, by making mistakes and then seeing where you went wrong."

Book-in-a-Week (BIW) is the practice part.

BIW writers are connected through a list created at Yahoo. The main purpose of the group is to write, but we also exchange information, publishing news and kudos. Anything writing related.

The Monday of the first FULL week of the month (usually) we begin BIW at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). The dates are planned for the year making it is easy to mark your calendar and plan ahead.

BIW writers decide on their own goals and submit them to the list the week prior to BIW. During BIW, writers write as much as they can and post their daily totals to the list. To stay motivated we recommend checking in everyday whether you write or not. We’re here to help with the support and accountability. The group works on the honour system.

No editing, no going back over what’s been written. Write, write, write. What is important is getting the words down, creating a first draft. Editing and revising comes later. Allow yourself to write quickly and without worry. Get your ideas down first.

Some members actually finish a book in one week and for others the only time they write is during BIW, thereby giving BIW a double meaning.

Writers can work on whatever they wish--a story, an article, book length fiction. It should be in the beginning stages rather than something you have already written and want to polish. You can even select something from work or school, like a research paper, as long as it is writing related.

At the end of each day writers post their page total to the list. Just the number of pages written, not the actual pages. If you had problems writing, share what happened and why. If you did really well, share that, too. List members are always supportive. Discussing the problems and successes helps.

The BIWs are scheduled a year in advance. Most of the traffic on the list is generated during this week but it doesn’t end there. You are welcome to stay and be as active as you like. We have some regulars who participate every month and some who only participate a few times a year. Check out “When” in the navigation bar to find out when the next BIW will occur. 

We have members from all over the world: The US, Canada, India, Ireland, Australia, France and Taiwan. This BIW list unites writers from all walks of life, published and unpublished.

We hope you’ll join us.

The Staff at BIW

P.S. Be sure to check out the FAQ’s for more details.