So far, 17 articles in 17 days to 10 publications.

A Writing Challenge To Help With Writer’s Block

I’m sending an article to every publication I write in this month.

If you’re like me, you may have Publications you haven’t written for yet.

You may also have those days when you can’t decide what to write. Writing is an essential trait for a writer, even when that elusive inspiration is nowhere to be found. Whether you believe in writer's block or not, sometimes starting your next article can feel like pulling teeth out with plyers.

That’s where my publication challenge comes in handy.

I challenged myself to write and submit at least one article to every publication I belonged to over the next 3 weeks.

I realized I was a writer, editor, or owner for sixteen pubs. Some I haven’t written for in weeks. Others I haven’t written for at all.

This started with me making a point to be an active member of the communities I’m in. It also came during a rough time. Family and work-life demanded so much. I came to the laptop drained each evening and devoid of inspiration.

But guess what. Publications have writing guidelines. Topics.

My project to write for these publications gave me writing ideas.

My Progress

Since starting this, I realized one of the pubs had things I wanted to read about but had no interest in writing. So, I removed myself from that publication and had myself added to another.

I don’t have any rejections yet, but it’s okay if they come. Just submitting the article counts toward my goal. If anything gets rejected, I’ll submit it elsewhere. And I still get a story out of it.

This article is, of course, published in Feedium. If I’m wrong, I’ll just update this paragraph.

As of this draft, and not counting this article, I’ve published 17 stories over 17 days in 10 of my 16 publications.

I also have 2 drafts submitted to 2 unique publications. I have a little under a week to get 4 more articles to the remaining publications on my list.

That’s not too tall a task.

Doing this helps overcome writing difficulties. Here’s how.

Each publication has unique topics and guidelines, so it gives me four starting points for article ideas.

Writing with inspiration is fun. Writing without it is inspirational. It makes one feel like a writer. And once you get going, I guarantee your readers won’t know which lines came from which state of mind. Probably, you won’t be able to tell either.

One of the worst things you can do to a writer to do is invite them to write something and generously let them know, “You can write anything you want.”

The blank page looks even blanker that way.

But tell a writer, “This is what I’m looking for,” and the ideas begin to flow.

Tell a fiction writer to write a love story without any dialogue and I bet they give you something unique.

One of the publications I haven’t written for during this challenge is The Haven. I feel bad about this. Page Barnes runs a fabulous satirical publication over there. And one of the editors, Terry Trueman, was an early supporter and fan of my humor writing when I first started writing for them.

And quite right, I might add.

And they have clear guidelines. Here’s an excerpt.

The Haven wants to publish your humor! We’ll take all types of humor writing — essays, fake news, lists, short stories, poetry, cartoons — as long as it does not contain misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, violence or other demeaning content. The Haven especially hates ageism because the Founder is old-ish. And cranky. So stay off her lawn — The Haven.

And it’s all so true. You do not want to find yourself on Page’s lawn. You know what? I just came up with a story idea for them.

5 Steps to generating ideas.

1. Find the publications you enjoy reading and want to write for. Hopefully, you’ve already done this.
2. Read the guidelines and how to become a writer. Follow the steps listed to become a writer.
3. Using those guidelines, write an article for each publication. I’ve been writing multiple articles for some of them. Some come easier than others. Plus, one of them is my publication, and I’ve got to support it. (Hint. It’s the one below that has the most articles I wrote for.)
4. Submit. And repeat.
5. If, by chance, you get rejected, find another home for the piece. Rewrite or reformat if needed to meet the next publication’s expectations.

It’s that easy.

What’s that? You want to know which publications and what articles are out already? Can do.

I’ll also talk about each publication as I go.

Feedium. I like using Feedium for most of the content I write about this platform. Also, I didn’t realize this until just now, but I also like it because I currently have its #1 and #23 top trending articles.

Open Letters To. Probably this is my favorite publication. Also, it’s mine. 75% satirical & funny, 25% poignant & serious. I’ve learned a lot running this.

Deborah Weir and Courtney Burry, my editors, feel more like co-owners. They perpetually have the top trending articles there. Maybe I should expand that list to at least 23 so I can rank? Or get rid of them, so I can rank? Oooh. I just got another idea. An open letter to my editors…. you’re fired.

(Just kidding, you two.)

Fill In The Blanks. I’m not tagging the owner of every publication in this list, partly because without an About page it’s not always clear, but mostly because it’s tedious.

But, Elan Cassandra deserves tagging because this is such a unique publication, and because she was one of the first owners to reach out and ask me to join. (She also runs About Me, which is listed below.)

Fill In The Blanks is a madlibs style publication. You write a story with placeholders for nouns, adjectives, and so on. Other writers submit the words. The editors put them together to comedic results. It’s one of the funniest publications to craft something for.

FanFare. Another one that has a special place in my writer’s heart. This was the second publication I was distributed in, and if I’m not mistaken, every one of my articles here has had that honor. For that, I’ll tag Eric Pierce, who I’m reasonably sure is the owner there.

About Me Stories I avoided writing an “About Me” story for a while because I wasn’t sure readers would want to read it. Of my recent articles, this may be the one with the most engagement. It resonated for some reason, and without this personal challenge, I still wouldn’t have written it.

SYNERGY: Dr Mehmet Yildiz owns this one along with Illumination, and Illumination Mirror (and two other publications I haven’t submitted to.) I am proud to be an editor on this one and Mirror. I’m learning a lot from these pubs.

Each of these pubs does a fabulous job of promoting the good articles within them. I found this out before becoming editor when I submitted something to Illumination. Dr. Yildiz accepted it, but then suggested I send it here to SYNERGY instead where it might find a better audience. And he was correct.

Illumination: See SYNERGY.

Illumination’s Mirror See Illumination (Also, see what I did there?)

Writers Blokke Writers Blokke is great to send to. They accept almost everything, which can be good for the ego. It still has to be at an acceptable level. But, maybe because of the acceptance rate, it has a good readership. And there are gems in this pub which makes it a fun one to read.

In Fitness And In Health This publication was the first I was distributed in and has an article that has made almost $100 for me, and probably will hit that mark by the end of the month. Of course, I’m going to continue to write for them. Besides, I enjoy the topics.

Scott Hughey isn’t going to share any articles at the end here. He’s always careful about not doing too much self-promotion. Besides, there’s a time and a place. What a guy.