At the end of the two weeks, collect them. Put them in a decorated banker’s box. Pick a cool wrapping paper at the Dollar store and cover the box. Put a big sign in 180 point print on the side saying Extreme Writing Books. Put the box on the side shelf – visible to everyone.
Why go through the work of creating the box? Because in a month you are going to do it again but they don’t know that yet. In the meantime you are waiting for a student, noticing the box, to say, “Aren’t we ever going to do Extreme Writing again?” YES! Mental mike drop. Gotcha!
Very casually you say, “Well I guess we could.” Look contemplative. Say, “Maybe on Monday,” or whatever is two days away. They should believe that you have carefully planned every single minute of their education, but you think you can squeeze it in the day after tomorrow – because you are kind and they asked.
This won’t work all year, because by then they will know it recurs every once in a while, but for the first one or two times it’s a charm. Nothing like students who believe that somehow they are “forcing you” into doing something they want.
TIP: Make it the first two weeks of one month, the middle weeks of another one, and the last two weeks of a third one. Don’t always start on a Monday. Unpredictability and a sense of fun is what you are going for.
So at the end of the Year, I (the student) will have written 8 books.
