The Clarion West Write-a-thon is a summer tradition! Participants set public writing goals on their personal Write-a-thon page, then work toward them. Friends and family can pledge donations in support, like a walk-a-thon, but with writing. The Write-a-thon supports Clarion West programs year-round, including our online classes and events, free public programs, and writing workshops! 

Participating writers sign up beginning June 6. If you are signing up to participate but don't want to fundraise this year or have a public Write-a-thon page, just click on the check box, "I don't want my own fundraising goal and page" when you register. You will still get access to Write-a-thon events and the community Discord channel. If you change your mind at any time, simply let us know at writeathon@clarionwest.org.

Want a public writer/fundraising page? Set your writing goals, put up excerpts of your work, and use social media to let people know that you're writing for a good cause! There are all kinds of writing goals—from the manageable “write for five minutes a day” to the ambitious “finish a novel” or “finish six short stories.” Every writer in the Write-a-thon chooses a goal that works for them.

After the Write-a-thon kicks off on June 19, friends and family can visit the Write-a-thon site, choose a writer or writers they would like to support, and use the button on each writer’s page to sponsor them. You can see a report of who has donated to your page in support of Clarion West on your Fundraising Dashboard and send your donors thank you notes directly from your Dashboard.

Many writers send their supporters updates on their progress or show off their completed work at the end of the Write-a-thon, but it’s not required. Every participant will have access to the Write-a-thon community in Discord, exclusive classes and writing sprints, and writing prompts from our weekly partners! 

The 2022 Clarion West Write-a-thon runs from June 19 to July 30. But no worries if you get here midway through; there’s no last day to sign up as a participant, and donations are open until August 31.  

No! All you need to do is set your goals and write or read your way to a productive summer. 

The Write-a-thon is a fundraiser for Clarion West, but it’s about the writing first. You can keep or remove the "donate" button on your page. The button makes it easy for your friends and family to find your page and support you, but there is no fundraising requirement! 

Whether you want a public-facing page that encourages donations, focuses on your writing, or no public page at all — you create the Write-a-thon experience that works for you! We know you’re a writer, not a fundraiser, so we try to make fundraising as easy as possible — and perhaps even fun — with tools, tips, and ideas. You can find these, and links to classes, sprints, and other related events on the Write-a-thon schedule and in the community Discord.

If you choose to have a public page and help out with fundraising, you will have access to a personal fundraising dashboard! This dashboard will let you communicate with donors, find all the resources available during this year's Write-a-thon, and create a writing goals page to share with others. 

All donations support Clarion West and its workshops. Clarion West uses the money to run classes, workshops, panels, and other programs for emerging writers, including our Six-Week Summer Workshop. We also hold events, offer scholarships, raise awareness, and promote diverse speculative fiction in Seattle and all over the world. Clarion West is a nonprofit educational organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Federal EIN 91-1352168). 

Of course! We welcome any form of written work for the Write-a-thon. Many choose to work on novels or short stories, but you can also develop screenplays, essays, poems, songs, or any other type of writing.