Video: Writer Emergency Pack

This is extremely cool!

I moderated a panel at the recent Austin Film Festival in which John August was one of the guests (we discussed the movie he wrote Big Fish) and John showed me one of these Writer Emergency Packs. It appeals to me on multiple levels, not only because the tips and ideas on the cards can help you get unstuck, there is something nice about having something tangible in your hands to futz around with. As writers, we live so much in our heads. How nice to have an actual physical object we can carry around.

John blogged about it yesterday here, providing a detailed history of the Writer Emergency Pack’s journey to existence. It’s already well over fully funded on Kickstarter, but you can go there to reserve your own Writer Emergency Pack. Plus they’re doing something that really speaks to me as a teacher:

Give One, Get One

Our goal is to get these packs into the hands of as many writers as possible — both the backers of the project and young writers just learning their craft. That’s why we are committing to donate one deck for each backer deck we send out.

We’re based in Los Angeles, so our initial outreach will be with programs we can visit to see what works. Ultimately, we want to send these packs all over the world. We’ve identified several youth writing programs we’d like to work with — but we want your suggestions as well.

If you know of a creative writing program you’d like to recommend, tell us about it in the Comments section. Links and instructor names are especially helpful. Most important is your personal experience about why this particular program is so good.

As we learn more about how the Writer Emergency Packs are working for students, we’ll be updating the Education page on writeremergency.com with tips and suggestions for using these decks with classes and after school programs.

This is just a win-win all the way around: Great idea, well executed, excellent deal, writer oriented and a charitable angle to boot.

So spread the word. And head over to the Kickstarter site to reserve your own Pack.