Photo: Flat Island by Nature Explorer
While writers of the past have often worked in complete isolation, writers in 21st-century Blogville regularly congregate online. We cyber-writers now have a new destination for meet-ups: Writers Island.
If you already participate in an online writers' community like Sunday Scribblings, haiku: one deep breath, or the (late-great) Poetry Thursday, you'll be familiar with the Writers Island format:
If you are a
writer, this is a place to express yourself. Whether you write poetry,
short stories, essays, or prose -- you are invited to join in.
Every Saturday a writing prompt will be posted here on Writers Island.
Every Tuesday at approximately 12:01 AM, U.S. East Coast Time, a post
will open for you to submit the "link only" to your contribution for
that week's prompt.
The first Writers Island prompt, "my imaginary life", will be available to receive your links next Tuesday, September 11.
Prompts + community + weekly deadlines can really spur writing output and boost creativity. Laini Taylor, one of Sunday Scribblings' co-creators, just shared an exciting example of this last Sunday:
I also have a very exciting announcement to make! When Meg and I
started this site last year, my motivation was to get myself writing
new and different things -- and it really worked! I wrote stories, and
I loved some of them. And my husband/illustrator Jim and I got
the idea to propose a collection of three of them to some publishers as
an illustrated book for young adults. Well, I am so thrilled to announce that we have just sold that book, Goblin Fruit to Arthur A. Levine Books,
an imprint of Scholastic. Yayyyyyy!!! It is comprised of two long short
stories and one novella, each of which began life as a prompt HERE. The
prompts were: "real life," "music," and "the monster." The stories are
creepy, sensual, supernatural romance for teenagers and the book will
be fully illustrated in the manner of a classic fairy tale book. So, a
BIG tip of my hat to writing prompts, and to this wonderful community
of scribblers. Yay! Thanks to all who've participated for the past 75
weeks!
Alright, you Writers Itching to Write—I recommend
you give one of these communities a try, if you haven't already. You'll
feel challenged, exhilarated and connected. If you've been suffering
from writer's block, these prompts will help dislodge it. Prefer to
draw? Sketch something based on the prompt, add some words, and
post it. Care to compose something musical? As long as there's a
writing component, it's allowed. Get creative, and enjoy!