September/October
Pirate Month Writing Prompt
Y’arrrrrgh! Shiver your family-friendly timbers
September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
A day that shall live outside infamy, trillions and trillions of people abandon their everyday speech in favor of scallywags and plunder. Talk Like a Pirate Day is the creme of the creme of made-up holidays. If you were unaware, it’s not too late to rent a parrot or get an injury requiring an eye patch.
Ask these experts:
“International Talk Like a Pirate Day is the warm glazed donut of made-up holidays.”
— Mark Suroviec, M.Ed., pirate enthusiast, purveyor of made-up holidays
“Since the invention of sliced bread and the Julian calendar, no annual holiday has gained more enthusiasm and anticipation than September 19th. It’s like Halloween and New Year’s Eve had a baby — and that baby had a wooden leg and scurvy.”
— Victor Cardenas, historian, sells pirated CD-ROMs of AOL dialup internet
“Every fall, I wallow in fear, wondering if International Talk Like a Pirate Day will become more popular than Christmas.”
— Santa Claus, holiday expert, ambivalent towards piracy
“Y’aaaarrrrgh. I be the Dread Pirate Captain Stark. I traded my 1988 Honda Accord in for a pirate ship.”
— Kristen Stark, comedian, Captain of HMS Rascal
“Pirates are OUR thing. You should have published this story in Muddyum.”
— Susan Brearley, writer, CEO of MuddyUm Worldwide Enterprises ¹
Pirate Month Writing Prompt
To honor this top-shelf pirate holiday that too few will celebrate, we declare the period of September 19th to October 19th to be Playtown Pirate Month.
Your mission? Write a pirate-themed story or a piece with a pirate as a main character.
Please share your family-friendly pirate-themed fiction, non-fiction, humor, listicle, or maybe even a sea shanty.
Not feeling creative? Borrow one of these titles.
“Pirates vs. Ninjas. Why Both Are Awesome — A Ken Burns Documentary”
“Seven Sea Shanties Sung by Sisters in Sappy Sandcastles”
“Shiver Me Identity Theft”
“41 Stew Recipes That Prevent Scurvy”
“Polly’s Story: A Parrot Mutiny”
If you don’t want to walk the plank.
- Playtown exists as a family-friendly protective bubble inside Medium. Anything that feels icky or inappropriate for a ten-year-old girl to read is prohibited.
- We do not accept stories with vulgar or offensive language — Any inappropriate words may be replaced by nonsense like carpblasted or popemobile.
- Run your draft through Spell Check, Grammarly, Snapchat, Hal9000, or other editing software before submitting.
- Please allow 48 hours for the editors (me) to review your submission. If you want to be an editor, let me know. ²
- Find the full submission guidelines here:
Playtown Rock Stars
Launching a publication is challenging, so let’s celebrate the writers who have brought repeated joy to our playground over the past few months.
Most Prolific Playtown Writers Not Named Mark Suroviec, M.Ed.:
Top Story June-August:
Most Ridiculous Shenanigans That Somehow Did Not Violate Our Submission Guidelines:
Future Playtown Pirates:
Adam Robinson — Alex Praytor —A.J. Cralle (she, her) — BichoDoMato — Patrick Eades — Victor Cardenas — Ajgoodrich — Ann James — Ben Ulansey — Tejaswini Katreddy — B.R. Shenoy — Carlo — Cristina Cattai — The Fifth Pillar — Deb Palmer — Douglas Lim — PC Hubbard — Eric Filipkowski — Fatima Zahra Zuberi — Ginger Cook — Grandma Smillew — Grimsby Hackney — Gulsun Uluer —Hollie Petit, Ph.D. — Jonathan Weaver — Jay C Wells — Jim Karwisch — John Losey — Kandis Lake — Kendra Sparkles —Kristen Stark — Kua Lina — Linda Ann Fryer — Lindy Vogel — Lu Skerdoo — Malky McEwan — Mary Chang Story Writer — Matthew Clapham — Michelle Spencer — Natalie — Santa Claus — Patrick Metzger — Philip Mann-Montreal — Philip Ogley — Rachel A Fefer — Raine Lore —Robin Wilding 💎 — Sally Prag — Shirley Laffa — Smillew Rahcuef — Selina Miyasia — Srini — Susan Christiana — Tai Le Grice — Taylor-Grace — Nathan Chen — Toni The Talker — Toya Qualls-Barnette — Eko BP — Uvebruce— Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles — Ed Caplan — Yana Bostongirl
Footnotes:
¹ All quotations were playfully created by the author in the spirit of fun and humor. Don’t worry, Susan. There are more than enough pirate shenanigans to go around.
² Please note that I will be on a family vacation from October 7th to 14th. If you submit a story during this window, publishing may be delayed.
