If you’ve visited the site lately you might have caught that we’ve adopted a new logo, thanks to Mel. Yay!

Here’s the latest and greatest from your hard-working Weasel Wranglers™:

• The Events calendar is complete. That calendar lists all the events and write-ins through the end of 2024. It’s your one and only source of truth for what’s happening in our community. Keep an eye on it; we may add a few special events as the weeks unfold, including potentially an in-person write-in along the lakeshore. In particular, we’re excited to see many familiar, smiling faces at DOKN on Nov. 9 from 10a to 6p at the bookstore. And oh! You can subscribe to the calendar; just visit it in a monthly view and click the “subscribe” button at the bottom of the page.
• U can haz merch! Our merchandise store is now online. We use CustomCat (from Detroit) for printing and fulfillment. Initial orders (those placed last week) will print and ship early next week, because we’re a new account. However, we expect all orders to be delivered before DOKN. And rumor has it, stickers might be on the way, too.
• The seasonal flyer is now available. Remember, there are Fantasy Quest points involved when you post flyers in libraries, bookstores, and related places. Just email us a photo of the flyer and the name of the venue to get credit.
• The seasonal survey is now live! This survey is optional, but it helps us think about programming. This initial survey (optionally) allows for identifiable info so we can plan things properly. In December, we’ll send a de-identified survey that asks about your experiences this year and your suggestions for the year to come.
• The Winter Authors’ Conference is now live. You must register through Eventbrite. No cost to attend (donations welcome, though) — the emphasis this time is around self-editing strategies. Check out the link for the detailed agenda. It’ll be held on Sat, Dec. 7, from 9a to 4p.
• The tracker for Fantasy Quest is now live. All event-related activity is managed by emails or by sign-in lists. Productivity is assessed through TrackBear. So, apart from emailing us with some of the items (flyer placement, author events), participants don’t need to do anything. Every Monday in November (plus the first Monday in December), Jason will post the leaderboard. Winners get prizes and will be honored at the Spring Authors’ Conference — along with the 2023 winners.

Lots of things “are live” at this point. Miraculous, eh?

We welcome your participation in TNT ’24. To get started:

1. Join our Discord server. It’s where all the real-time conversation and virtual programming happens. Introduce yourself in the #introductions channel, pick a role (news, writing, or social) to control how “much” you see, post your TNT goal in #writing-goals, and get help from a Weasel Wrangler (@kessalia or @jegillikin) if you need help getting acclimated to Discord.
2. Read the TOS. It’ll help you better understand our values and the rules of the road.
3. Join our TrackBear leaderboard. Use invite code bb0b947d-7259-4349-aea0-f921f201c3e8 to join the WMAA leaderboard, after you create one or more projects to represent your plans for TNT.
4. Find events to attend. The Events calendar on the website is your one source-of-truth for happenings in our community.
5. Take the regional survey. It helps us plan for your needs.
6. Get your early points counted for the Fantasy Quest program — which is a friendly-but-competitive way of gamifying our odds of achieving our goals.
7. Consider donating to the cause. Every dollar donated supports WMAA. Pick WMAA from the drop-down list; we’re a program of the Lakeshore Literary Foundation, a 501c3 public charity based in Wyoming, Mich.

Gosh. Looking at our shiny new calendar, it occurred to me — November draws nigh. Are you ready?