The 10,000-WORD Challenge IS BACK!

10 Days to a Dazzling Opening

NEXT CHALLENGE COMING FALL 2024

10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS | 10 DAYS, 10,000 WORDS
 

ENOUGH HEARING AND TALKING About writing approaches, strategies, processes.

Let’s DO IT TOGETHER.

 

After teaching novel- and memoir-writing for years, I’ve learned that the best way to help writers get results isn’t to tell them what to do but to show them the way.

 
 

Hi, I’m Mary Adkins!

NOVELIST, FORMER LAWYER, MOM

 
 
 
 
 
 

…and AUTHOR of the NOVELS…

 
 

My novels are published by HarperCollins and available in 13 countries across the world.

these days, I teach writing to aspiring novelists & MEMOIRISTS through a program I created called the Book Incubator.

But long before I was published, I was a miserable lawyer squeezing in writing classes wherever I could.

 

For 6 years, I wrestled my first novel, writing it over and over again, unable to get an agent. I was stuck in a loop of writing classes in which we spouted overused adages at each other like, “Show, don’t tell!” and “Start in scene!”

Finally, I stopped trying to build a book out of writing advice and feedback.

I learned to trust my own creative instincts and found my way to a process that worked…and it led to the publication of 3 novels in 3 years. (My publisher is HarperCollins.)

Join me as we build out the first 10,000 words of your novel or memoir over 10 days, starting October 23rd.

I’ll help you craft the major elements of your opening, getting more done in 10 days than you have in your last 5 writing classes, combined. Together, we will:

  • Develop your idea from scratch

  • Find the points of tension that build a hook-y story from page one

  • Define the heart of your story that will carry it to 70,000+ words 

 
 
 

Finish your book’s first 10K words by November 1st to kick off National Novel Writing Month with a BANG.

 

TO catch IT live, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS JOIN

The 10,000-Word Challenge:

10 Days to a Dazzling Opening

 
 

 
 

NEXT EVENT STARTS: TBD 2024

 

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

NOTHING.

It’s FREE—just SHOW UP.

 

Welcome to my new band, the Oxford Commas.

You’re on vocals.

JOIN the challenge BELOW

WE CAN’T WAIT TO GET TO KNOW YOU AND YOUR BOOK IDEA.