Second Annual Tour de Writing!!!

It's always good to set goals. My goal this summer was to re-organize, re-vamp, and rejuvenate. To return in the fall well rested, and ready to write.

Well, smack me upside the head--I had forgotten about the TOUR de WRITING.

You might ask, how could you possibly forget the ultra fun and ultra convoluted competition that you, Heather, created last year in order to squeeze as much writing as possible out of the month of July?

Well, I just don't know. :)

But it's here, it's July, it's a month before WriteOnCon, time to launch the Tour de Writing.

Competitive writing's not just for NaNo anymore!!

Can I get a *Woo-Hoo* from everyone who knows what the heck I'm talking about?

For everyone else, here's the run-down:

1. I love the Tour de France. Could watch it all day long. Have, in fact. I also love motivated writing. Writing with others. Competitively. Last year, I merged the two, and voila, The Tour de Writing.

2. All you need to do is write. And keep track of your word count from this day forward. If you are drafting, then every word counts. If you are revising, then every word in that section counts. If you are confused, join the club. :)

3. ANYONE can join in, AT ANY TIME. All are welcome.

4. You get bonus points for writing well with others.

Utilize Tina's The Practice Room, and get 500 bonus points every single time.

Participate in (or organize) a hashtag #TourdeWriting challenge on Twitter, and earn another bonus 250 points. Every time. (For example, you might tweet "writing for an hour on the 30, who's with me? #TourdeWriting" and then write for an hour, then see who wrote the most...)

5. Sign in on Mondays, sign out on Fridays. Mondays you talk about your goals for the week, Fridays, you tell me how many words you've written or revised, and how many times you wrote using The Practice Room and Twitter. I spend the weekend tallying, and then hand out jerseys and updates on Monday. This goes on for five weeks.

6. Writers with the most points at the end win PRIZES. :)

If you are still confused (let's be honest--how could you not be?) take a look at last year's initial post.

The Jersey Breakdown:

In the Tour de France, riders earn jerseys, and wear them until another rider bests them.

I will give out these same jerseys each week, and we'll see who is still wearing them at the finish line on Friday, August 12th.

Green Jersey: Awarded to the writer with the most sprint points. These are drafters. Sprinters. Writers who are writing new words down the line.

Polka-dot Jersey: King of the Mountain! For revising, of course. If you are dedicating your time to revising, then you are definitely riding up that mountain. Count up each word in each section you revise, and that is your word count for the week.

White Jersey: Combination of drafting and revising. If you are one of those who draft a bit, and revise a bit as you go, or if you are drafting a project, and revising another project, then this is your jersey.

Yellow Jersey: The maillot jaune. The jersey of all jerseys. This is the BIG WINNER. The front writer. The writer with the most words, period end.

Let's take a look at the winners from last year. The reigning champions. The writers to beat:

The GRAND PRIZE 2010 WINNER of the YELLOW JERSEY was TOM with 61,844 points!

Krystey Belle won the GREEN JERSEY for most DRAFTED words, with a total of 57,053 points.

Patricia won the 2010 POLKA DOT Jersey, with a total of 56,353 points!

And the winner of the 2010 WHITE JERSEY, signifying highest points in revising and drafting was Taffy, with 46,606!!

Congrats to last years winners, and to all who competed. I know that I wrote more last July than I would have without this race to the finish.

Everyone who wants to enter, please tell me, in the comments of this post, whether you are drafting or revising, and what your goals are, for the week, or for the whole Tour de Writing. Also, please leave me your blog link, so I can add a blog roll dedicated to the Tour.

My goals:

I am going after the White Jersey. I am drafting and revising a YA dystopia. My goal is to get to... 50,000 points by the end of the Tour. Ouch. That seems like a ton. :) Especially since I will be on the road for two whole weeks of the Tour. Well, I'll just have to bring my laptop. :) No excuses.

Everybody ready? 

On your mark...

Get set...

WRITE!!