Student Woofer Rules

Is there an age requirement to be a Student Woofer?  No, students of every age are encouraged to be Woofers, but we can only offer Community Service awards to High School Students; 9th - 12th grades.

How many hours of Community Service can I earn with Write To Woof?  Student Woofers can earn up to ten (10) hours of Community Service. 

Do I have to complete the whole 50k word count to be eligible?  No, but in order to be awarded your Community Service hours, you must submit at least 20k words.

Is there a fund raising requirement for Student Woofers?  Yes, in order for you to collect your ten (10) hours of Community Service, you will also need to raise a minimum of $50.

How do I get people to donate or sponsor my writing efforts?  Visit our Bones & Toys page, there you will find a link to a pledge flyer that you can send out to everyone in your e-mail address book, or you can print it and mail it, or personally deliver it to friends and family. 

Please get your parent's permission before you attempt to get donations by going 'door-to-door'.

Is there a fee to contribute?
There's no sign-up fee, but if your parents are able to contribute something toward hosting, administrative, and party planning costs, we would be appreciative. The amount is up to your parents.  See our Donations page for more details.

 When can I sign up?  Anytime! The sooner, the better ... enthusiasm grows with each new contributor.  Watch the Woofer Roster page to check our growth!

Remember to jump on the Forum and send your barks and howls of encouragement to your fellow Woofers.  We all could use a little ear-scruffing once in a while.

When do I start writing?  At 12:00:01 am on July 1. [your time]

How will my school know that I earned my Community Service hours?  Once your book has been submitted to us for word count validation and the funds have been collected from your donors, we will provide you with a Certificate of Honor to commemorate your success.  We will also send a list of all successful Student Woofers to your school so they can record your service hours as complete!

How do you win? Are there judges? What are the prizes?  The way to win Write To Woof is by writing 50k words by midnight on July 31. There will be many, many winners. There are no "Best Book" or "Quickest-Written Book" awards given out. All winners will get an official 'Winner' web icon [to add to your website or FaceBook/MySpace page] and certificates will be distributed at the Tail End Party.  Awards will be given to our "Top Fund Raisers", though.

The real winners here are the dogs and other animals we'll be helping through our writing efforts.  The rest is just ego gratification for us humans ... Oh, and an excuse to have a party!

Can I handwrite my book?  Sorry, Student Woofers must submit their word counts electronically.  It's the only way we can fairly award the service hours.  We don't want students just "buying" their hours.

Can I write my book in a language other than English?  Of course!  Writing in a different language other than English can be exciting, and it doesn't alter the word counts!

What if I start and don't finish the entire 50,000 words?  That's ok. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?  And yes, you can still come to the Tail End Party.  We don't criticize for valiant attempts.

What type of book can I write?  If it wags your tail, write it!  We discourage against writing a research-heavy non-fiction piece, because it's difficult to research and write 50k words in 31 days; but almost anything else is up for grabs ... General Nonfiction, Fiction, Autobiography, Biography, Collection of Speeches, How-To, Tell-All, Play, Screenplay ... 

The world is your bone ... chew on what's interesting to you, and write about it.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun, so enjoy the process!!

 

 

 

 

From behind a wooden crate we saw a long black-muzzled nose poking round at us. We took him out, soft, wobbly, tearful; set him down on his four, as yet not quite simultaneous legs, and regarded him. He wandered a little round our legs, neither wagging his tail nor licking at our hands; then he looked up, and my companion said: "He's an angel!"

~ John Galsworthy

 

Help Us Sniff Out Literacy!

 

Write On!

Attention all Woofers!

Writing begin on Tuesday, July 1st.  Watch your email box for tips & tricks to aid in your writing and fundraising.

Go to our FORUM to learn more!

IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN US!  

Woofer Registration saves dogs and wins you prizes!

 

Student Woofer Registration Form

My Name:    

My Email:    

My School:   

My Grade:    

My Home:     [2-letter USA State abbreviation, please]

 

Student Woofer Participating

High Schools

Check the list below to see if your high school is participating in our Student Woofer Community Service Project.  Check back frequently as new schools will be added as we get closer to July 1st.

Participating High Schools

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Word Count Validation

What do I do with my manuscript to become a Write To Woof winner?

At anytime during your writing, all Woofers are encouraged to have their books' word count verified weekly and added to the Woofer Roster page. Simply follow the Word Count Verify instructions below, and click 'Submit'.  This is a great way for all of us to stay connected, giving us the ability to commiserate and congratulate with fellow Woofers throughout the month. 

Uploading this information by July 31, midnight, for your completed book makes your Write To Woof victory official, gets you listed on our  Woofer Roster page, and gives you to the secret password so that you can collect your winner's certificate, if you can't make the Tail End Party.

To enter the Woofer Hall of Fame, first make sure that you have written a manuscript that is 50,000 words or longer. Upload your entire book, using it's file name, into the box below. If you would like to scramble your book before uploading it to our site, you can find instructions below.   Then click the 'Submit' button, and prepare for your accolades.

Upload Instructions:
If you are using Microsoft Word it is very easy to scramble your novel in a way that will not affect its word count.

  1. Open the file and make a new copy of your novel using 'Save As...'

  2. Open the Find and Replace dialog box (Edit -> Replace).

  3. Click the "More" button to expand the box.

  4. Check the "Use Wildcards" checkbox.

  5. In the "Find What" field, put this: [a-zA-Z0-9] (include the square brackets, no spaces before or after)

  6. In the "Replace With" field, put this: a

  7. Click "Replace All"

  8. Save the scrambled file as a new text file (don't overwrite your original), and upload away!

The procedure for Open Office is essentially the same, except that Open Office refers to 'Regular Expressions' instead of 'Wildcards'.

You can get the same effect in a more cumbersome way by just doing a find-and-replace on every letter in the alphabet, one letter at a time. Open the find-and-replace interface on your word processing program and tell it to replace every "b" in your story with an "a," and every "c" with an "a," then every "d" with an "a." And so on.

If you don't want to go through the trouble of scrambling your book, fear not ... We at Write To Woof promise not to borrow, steal or otherwise compromise your ownership of your material or the copyright for your writing.

Word Count

Validation Form

 

To get your manuscripts to us quickly for word count validation, click the link below.  This will open a new e-mail window.  Simply type your name in the text area and attach your manuscript as you would normally.  Then click SEND. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about this process.  Thank you!

Click Here

 

 

 

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