Essay Club: November'24
Loop #2
Loop #2 of Essay Club begins! Below you’ll find meeting times, who’s working on what, some classic essays to check out, and a message board. Let’s use this post through the month to share updates and exchange feedback. You’ll also find a link to this page in all the calendar events.
I’ve tagged you all in this post, but consider subscribing to the “Essay Club” section in your account settings to ensure you get these each month.
Meeting times:
Look out for calendar invites. Either bring a draft for live feedback, or use the hour as a time for focused drafting. The group voted for Fridays as the recurring weekly slot, but we’ll have some calls on Tuesdays too. There are 12 of us in this loop, and let’s welcome
, , and Hugo ( to the group!Friday, 11/1 at 3pm ET;
Friday, 11/8 at 3pm ET;
Tuesday, 11/12 at 7pm ET;
I will be out this week, so let’s exchange async (here) from the 18th-22nd
Tuesday, 11/26 at 7pm ET;
Friday, 11/29 at 3pm ET.
Published in October ‘24:
This module is where I’ll keep a running list of who published last loop. You’ll see a number next to each name which denotes a streak. You get +1.00 for reaching the goal you set out on time, +0.75 if you’re late, and +0.50 if you veered from your goal but still published an essay. If you miss a month, your counter resets (TBD if this is back to 0 or cut in half). It was neat to see how this format can work for different kinds of essay projects (chapters of a book, parts in a series, and standalone essays at various cadences).
Chris Coffman (1): Nicole’s Voice;
Randall Bennington (1): Axiom of the Mind;
Becky Isjwara (1): The Corporate Letdown;
Sam Woods (0.75): The Best Prompts are Conversational Archetypes;
Erin Nolan (0.75): Elements of Expressive Journaling;
Justin Mather (0.75): Searching for the Great Valley;
Charlie D. Becker (0.5): Statistics are people, too.;
Michael Dean (0.5): Essay Writing as Personal Sovereignty.
Our publishing score: 62% (8 of 13 published).
Our weighted score: 48% (accounts for not hitting original goal on time).
I like this group metric because there are now stakes to not publish. Don’t let the hivemind down! Plus, If we hit 100% I’m taking everyone to Disneyland (this was a lie our middle school band teacher told us every semester—we never went to Disneyland).
Publishing in November ‘24:
(Everything below this point is locked for the members of Essay Club. It includes a list of what everyone is working on, recommended reading, and a message board.)