ONE WEEK LEFT
before the PRIZE GIVEAWAY!
You may have noticed that I've joined an obscene number of reading challenges for 2009. In my searching, though, I haven't found any manageable writing challenges. I don't mean contests, per se, but ongoing challenges to keep the words flowing, even if the words are "watermelon watermelon watermelon."
It's easy to fall behind in writing to the point you get out of practice all together. My idea, then, like Julia Cameron's "Morning Pages," is to keep us all writing.
I am hosting a challenge akin to some of the reading challenges, ongoing and designed to foster inspiration and community. It's very easy - 1000 words a month. At the end of the year, you'll have a total of 12,000 words, which is not even half a NaNo entry. See how simple? I hope you'll spread the word!
Rules
1. Declare your intentions to join the challenge by putting up a post on your blog with this information. (You can just copy the code, if you want.) Use it as the permalink with which you sign up in Mr. Linky (below). If you don't have a blog, just put your name in Mr. Linky and either put your email address in the comments or send it to me at AerinBlogs AT aol DOT com.
2. Write a minimum of 1000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction per month, from January through December of 2009.
3. Post an update about your fiction on your blog, or on the Challenge blog (coming soon.) So, you can publish your writing if you want feedback, or you can just put up a post about the 1000 words you've written in the past month. (Moderator has the right to sniff out impostors, but mostly she trusts the honor system.)
4. Your 1000 words per month can be in any form, but they must be created for this challenge. So, you could write two new non-sequential 500 word snippets for your previously begun WIP, or several hundred haikus, or a variety of short stories. You can use writing prompts. Fan-fic counts. Revisions count only if the original words were written as part of this challenge (so it doesn't count to revise your 2008 NaNo entry.) Creative non-fiction absolutely counts. Facebook missives and email correspondence do not count.
5. Rules may be further explained, at any time, and entries are at Moderator's discretion. All works remain your own copyright, but you grant me first electronic publishing rights.
Prizes
I will randomly give away one Bylines for every 20 people who join the challenge by January 31, 2009. (Extra entries if you post about this challenge on your blog, then comment back here that you did so.)
At the end of the year, we'll have open voting for Favorite Bit, Most Improved, Best Updates, etc, and I'll give away cool writer-y prizes. I may also throw some in during the year for giggles and to see who's still with me.
BONUS: If you sign up for this challenge by January 14, your entry to the Ascension Clarity of Night contest counts as all 1000 of your words for January!
Contact me if you have questions, concerns....comments, recipes, advice.....horoscopes, jewelry, chocolate.......
UPDATES
1. If you don't have a blog, just put your name in Mr. Linky and either put your email address in the comments or send it to me at AerinBlogs AT aol DOT com.
2. You're not required to post your actual writing if you don't want feedback, but you do have to do something (post on your blog, post on my blog, email me) to update me once a month.
3. Creative non-fiction absolutely counts. Facebook missives and email correspondence do not count.
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