Teen Writers: I challenge you to write a book this summer.

hi there I'm Mel Tori Franca author of leaving wishville and capsule and I am thrilled to announce that I've partnered with the non-fiction author Emily Erickson to launch an online program for Teen Writers called exceptional Pursuits over the course of eight weeks Emily and I are going to walk you through every step of the process of writing the first draft of your fiction or non-fiction book we're also going to provide advice on how you can self-edit your work and prepare it for publication the program consists of online classes twice a week one-on-one coaching group writing Sprints and more I'll dive deeper into the program and how you can apply later but first here is a message from Emily Erickson my name is Emily Erickson and I'm the co-founder of exceptional Pursuits in between my Junior and Senior year of high school a lot of people were telling me good job because I had Straight A's and was in a lot of clubs and kind of doing good by conventional standards but I felt like something was missing there was a certain disconnect between being able to to go and complete homework which my teachers assign me and actually being able to have a crazy idea and know that I could break it down into manageable steps and then actually execute and build something in the world that people could see and respond to my discontentment was school ultimately led me to writing a book on education reform and that experience changed my life and it's an experience I'm passionate about giving to other teenagers because if you can write a book you can do anything to join exceptional Pursuits you must be 13 to 18 years old during the time of the program we accept students internationally as long as you're able to attend a majority of the online meetings despite any time zone differences beginning on the second week of the program these meetings will take place every Monday and Wednesday morning from 8 to 8 30 a.m Pacific time the first week of the program which we call kickoff week has a different schedule it's a bit more intense we're going to meet from a 8 to 10 a.m Pacific Time beginning on Monday June 19th to Thursday June 22nd to prepare for a group writing Sprint that weekend we framed the schedule so that the first week is the most labor intensive because we believe that completing a substantial portion of your project up front is important for building commitment and momentum during the program I'm going to dive deep into the process that I use to write the first drafts of nitrogen Academy my upcoming novel as well as my best-selling book capsule in under two months Mel and I will be running activities for the entire group together but each of us is leading kind of a track based on the books that we have experience writing and running the non-fiction track which I'd really like to encourage you to apply for I think as a teenager writing a non-fiction book can sound kind of scary because you might think that you don't know that much or you're not an expert on a subject and people wouldn't want to hear what you have to say that's actually not true writing an non-fiction book is an excellent opportunity to select a topic that you're interested in and learn about it whether it be stories from your own life historical events writing a biography putting together a perspective on current events or technology that's emerging tuition for the full eight-week program is 800 US Dollars which must be paid in full before the first day however we don't want financial hardship to discourage any qualified writers from applying so we are offering a limited number of partial scholarships if you're interested you can find more information about that on our website applications are due on April 15th however I was supposed to post this video about a week ago so we've pushed the deadline back until April 22nd at 11 59 PM Pacific time you can complete the application for exceptional Pursuits online it consists of multiple short answer questions that will help Emily and I get to know you better as a person and as a writer we will notify you by the end of April on whether or not you been selected to participate no payment is required until you've been accepted so it is absolutely free to apply I am so excited to be sharing my experience and strategies in a more personalized setting with Young Writers this summer Emily and I were both published as teenagers and we agree that writing books from a young age has changed how we view so many different challenges in our lives it's given us the skills to tackle much larger projects we really want this program to be about the big picture writing the first draft of a book proves that you have commitment time management skills you know how to pace yourself you're organized and so many other things it doesn't have to be hard to build those things it all comes down to breaking a big problem into very very tiny steps and tackling them one by one and we're going to take you through the whole process from start to finish and I am so excited to do it you'll be able to communicate with Emily and I directly and ask us any questions that you have and I guarantee you that by the end of the eight weeks if you put in the time and you show up to the meetings you will have the first draft of your book regardless of your previous writing experience if you're interested in applying please visit our website to learn more it is exceptionalpursuits.com you're also welcome to leave any questions that you have in the comment section below or email us at info exceptionalpursuits.com once again the extended application deadline is April 22nd at 11 59 PM Pacific Time thank you for watching this video and I hope to see you this summer that would be amazing