Writing a novel is one of the most rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful things you can do– and one of the hardest. Many writers never begin their books, or put down the work mid-way, because they lack support and guidance, both of which are necessary for success.
Our Write Your Novel in 4 Months Program breaks down the novel-writing process into a perfectly designed support framework. We’ve thought of everything, so all you have to do is show up and write, and we handle the rest!
Writing a novel is about more than having a great idea. (A great idea is wonderful, but then … well, now what do you do?)
Numerous factors go into the writing of a novel, which can make the process feel overwhelming. Project managing your time and schedule, learning and deepening your awareness of writing craft, and sustaining your own energy and motivation is a lot to juggle– all while you’re supposed to be submerging yourself in the narrative world you’re creating to write a meaningful and engaging story.
Our “all-in-one” program gives you the opportunity to focus solely on the writing by providing the accountability, guidance, and hands-on support you need to feel strong, stay the course, and complete your first important draft in 4 months.
The 20 program lessons take you through the preparation of the book, the phases of writing the novel, and all the elements of writing craft you’ll need to design the plot, storyline, characters, structure, and more. You also learn strategies for managing pitfalls and staying focused to sustain the work. Each lesson is delivered both in video and text and comes with downloadable files, readings, and resources.
The lessons will inspire and provide new ideas to all writers, from emerging to professional.
This program was created to support people with busy lives who nonetheless want to write books and for whom targeted, personal support and guidance will best maximize their time and energy.
The program writing schedule is 5 days per week, for about 1-1.5 hours per day. The schedule can be adapted and customized to any needs.
You follow your progressive calendar and accountability sheet along with your mentor and collaboratively find ways to make sure you stay on track.
Then, in 4 months, you will have 240-320 pages: a completed first draft of your novel!
Our program is offered in three tiers to suit varying budgets and writing goals.
The Compete & Essential Programs include regular mentorship meetings with a publishing professional who provides story advice, keeps you motivated and on schedule, and shares solutions, insights, and inspiration. This relationship makes all the difference when it comes to feeling the energy and drive for finishing your novel draft.
This mentor model spaces out the meetings to every other week to give writers connection and contact with their mentor, keeping the cost of the program lower, and your motivation and opportunity for support high!
This full support program ensures you’ve got your mentor by your side throughout the work to keep you buoyed and feeling strong while you write. The weekly continuity of your meetings enables your mentor to get to know you and your book and best advise you on story development and managing the workload.
You receive the lessons, accountability sheet, and 4-month progressive calendar. Ideal for the writer who is self-motivated, this version of the program enables you to use the framework to achieve your goals.
*Individual mentorship hours may be purchased on an as-needed basis at any point in the program.
Overall, you’re looking at spending 8-9 hours per week on your program or more if you take advantage of the additional suggested resources and readings.
The initial drafting of a novel—including getting started, establishing a routine, and deepening your awareness and application of craft—is for many writers the hardest step of writing the book
Having a literary professional by your side the entire time, lessons that walk you step-by-step through the often vulnerable and emotionally demanding process and that teach you all the necessary craft elements that you can put to use straight away, and a schedule that works around your life ensure you are successful.
The 4-month timeline* is both manageable—particularly important for writers with a job, a family, responsibilities, or all of the above—and just this side of ambitious. It gives you the special opportunity to prioritize your writing for this short time and to show both you and the world that your story is important, and that you can do this meaningful work, but feasibly so.
*The program length and writing schedule can be easily adapted to meet your needs. Just let us know!
$236/month
$324/month
$136/month
The first week is an important one as it’s when you plan the foundation of your book, establish your writing approach and create systems to support it, and identify how to overcome hurdles and blocks to ensure a smooth road ahead.
During your first week, you receive:
The 8 modules contain 20 lessons: 3 preparatory lessons, 16 weekly program lessons, and 1 last lesson that explores your next steps in depth. Each lesson is timed to correspond with your novel’s development.
The Lessons’ Instructor: Jenna Kalinsky, Founding Director of One Lit Place
Yes, you will yield a completed first draft of your book, which is pretty incredible.
On an even larger scale, you will also:
◊ Know you can set out to accomplish a goal of this size and achieve it.
◊ Learn about yourself and what you’re made of, where your strengths and weaknesses are, and how you can both push and nurture yourself to get the job done.
◊ Take in an unbelievable amount of writing craft—what it is, how to use it, and how to upend it for your own creative purposes.
◊ Experience how it feels to be a literary insider and part of this exciting world.
◊ See how strong and capable you are as a person.
◊ Learn how it feels to know you can soon publish your book and begin your life as an author.
Leaping into writing a novel may never be something you feel “ready” to do- often it’s something you know deep within you want, but to make a move, you must do something to kick yourself over the starting line.
The reassuring thing is if you want this for yourself and were to enroll now (yes, right now!), then you’d be in, you’d be doing it, and it would become your daily reality.
From that point, the waking up an hour earlier each day or putting your Netflix time on hold at night to write will simply become your life: a life when you’re actively doing this extraordinary thing for yourself.
When you then hit the 4-month mark, you can look back and realize how far you’ve come and what you’ve achieved.
And then, you can look down and see that you’re holding a draft of your novel.
In your first program email, you will receive a questionnaire that will help us match you to the most appropriate member of our team. In addition to our mentors being highly skilled writing coaches and editors, having worked with clients of all backgrounds and writing interests for a minimum of 10 years, they’re also published authors and hold either a MFA (or M.A.) and/or a PhD in Writing and English Literature.
It’s exciting and affirming to have their fresh perspective, their experience and guidance, and their overall support for the work you’re doing. Whether this is your first book or your 6th, they will meet you with what you need and how you need it, bringing insights, strategies, pertinent resources, and more so you feel specifically heard and understood.
You will be paired with your mentor based on your project, their availability, and any personal characteristics that may make for a lasting fruitful relationship.
The program lessons will come directly to you in comprehensive emails, which you can save and review again and again. At quarterly intervals, you will also receive a link to view the previous month’s modules on a password-protected page of our site. You will meet your mentor in our editors’ platform in a secure private team, where your accountability sheet, custom writing calendar, and any files you share with your mentor are housed. You may wish to have your mentor meetings via Zoom or over the phone.
This program is designed to be relevant and inspiring to all levels of writer. If you’re new to the craft, you will gain access into the building blocks of a novel and how to use them in the real-life context of your writing. The purpose of the program is to give you tools that will ultimately inform your book but as importantly, a framework that will usher you along through your first draft. The goal isn’t to have a publishable book by the end of the program but a foundation from which you can then adapt and refine with your mentor once it’s written. As Jodi Picoult says, “You can’t edit a blank page.” This program will give you all you need to begin your novel’s journey!
The purpose of the program is to usher you through your first draft so you give rise to risky, dynamic material without editing or concerning yourself with your novel’s future. A more seasoned writer will appreciate not having to project manage the work, having a mentor by your side who can keep you straight, engage you in higher level conversations about the development of your book and writing craft, and the chance to visit craft in the lessons where you will appreciate the more advanced insights, resources, and opportunity to reinforce your skill set by implementing (and upending) these elements in your work.
Because this program is a one-on-one experience between you and your mentor, you can sign up any time. The program begins the moment you enroll!
Your first week of the program is FREE, so you can see if it’s right for you. On the 8th day, your credit card will be charged the first month’s payment. The remaining 3 payments will follow one month apart until all 4 payments have been made.
$236/month
$324/month
$136/month
If you're not ready to begin your book- or you have already worked on it and want to continue with a coach's advice, consult, and editorial support
When your draft is done (or done-ish) hand it over for a manuscript review or editing of any level
Let's get your book out into the world! Submission materials, consultation on which stream of publishing, a website, it's all possible
A wonderful precursor to the Write Your Novel in 4 Months program is our 31-day habit-creating course to get creative and write loads of new material
