Coming to this site, June 14-15, 2014 (nominate your stories here!)
Today is the last day of StoryADay May 2014!!
Even if you haven’t written a single story yet this month why not write and finish a story today? Writing and finishing one story in a single day is quite an achievement. You’ll be proud, I promise.
To those who have been writing every day: wow! You are awesome and every other writer on the planet envies you. Well done!
Things You Have Done This Month
- Overcome your fears
- Gathered story sparks
- Made Time To Write
- Written to prompts
- Worked on different plot archetypes
- Tried out different points Of view
- Focused on character
- Worked on dialogue
- Read stories by, and boosted the confidence of, your fellow writers.
- Learned how to host a writing sprint
- Saved your StoryADay
- Learned the importance of a writing routine
- Studied valuable revision techniques
- Remembered that even a bad day writing beats almost any other kind of day
Q: Can you improve as a writer by writing a lot? CLUE: There’s a reason this challenge is in a month named “May”…
STORYFEST REMINDER
Don’t forget to submit or nominate stories for StoryFest by June 10 (and yes, there will be more details, a link to a form and another reminder, in the next few days). Then start planning to tell the world to visit StoryADay.org on June 1-15 for StoryFest!
(Seriously. This is your party. I don’t have email addresses for all the people you’d like to invite. You’ll have to do it!)
WHAT NEXT?
I’ll still be writing away, bring you interviews with writers, the Tuesday Reading Room, the Write On Wednesday writing prompt and regular Kick-In-The-Pants articles on Thursdays, with the newsletter serving as a regular digest of articles.
Take a moment today (or maybe tomorrow) to recap. Write an End of StoryADay report for yourself detailing any or all of the following:
- how you felt at the start,
- what you did,
- what you failed to do,
- how you kept going,
- what you learned,
- what you’re proud of
- how you plan to use the lessons learned this month to keep moving on your journey to literary superstardom (no wait, fulfillment. I meant to say ‘fulfillment’).
If you do write a recap and would like to share it, please post a link to it in the comments or simply send me a link in an email. I’d love to read about your experience.
Then get back to writing, polishing and submitting your short stories.
Further Reading
- For help on developing the craft of writing, I suggest checking out DIYMFA.com.
- For accountability and camaraderie in the year-round world of writing and submitting short stories, I refer you to Write1Sub1.
(Both of these sites have been started by former StoryADay writers since their first StADa experiences. I’m so proud!)
COME BACK EACH WEEK AND WRITE ON WEDNESDAY
Every Wednesday throughout the year I post a Write On Wednesday prompt. (If you are subscribed to the Daily Prompt email list you’ll receive these Wednesday prompts in your inbox).
The ‘rules’ for the Write on Wednesday prompt are: write a rough and ready story to the prompt within 24 hours, post it IN THE COMMENTS and comment on someone else’s. You don’t have to write it on Wednesday, but you’ll probably get the most feedback if you do.
Don’t miss out. Subscribe now!
AND FINALLY
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has talked about StoryADay, taken part, read stories, left comments, sent me an email, or written in secret. It is an absolute honor to have been your ringmaster again this year and I will be bereft … until we do it all again next time!!
StoryADay 2014 recap: I seldom think of myself as a writer because I’ve seldom been paid for those efforts, but in May, my ability to write a story every day and have fun with it even if it didn’t turn out well reiterated to me that writing is my best talent. I’m not sure what I’ll do next, but one thing is incredibly clear: I need to find a way to help my focus so I can complete a great many writing projects. I have no grand illusions about becoming a famous or even mildly successful writer, but I do think I’d feel a lot better about a great many things if I could finish some manuscripts.
Julie, this is my second year of StoryADay, and it has been even better than the first (though more hectic due to outside issues). It’s a wonderful challenge whether you write on a computer, iPad, or (in my case) hotel stationery. Thanks for being a terrific ringmaster.
I’m so pleased for you, Cecilia!
I’m thinking of setting up a monthly accountability group for people who want to keep the momentum going. Stay tuned for that!
And well done!!
I am so pleased I stumbled on this site. Over the month of May I wrote a substantial number of stories and came almost to completion on a 70k+ novel I have been working on for four years. Thank you so much for all the fantastic prompts and guest prompts. I will be back next time. 🙂