Blogging reflections
Some of the Best Articles I Read This Week (#19)
All the challenges!
Hello! Time for another curated list of articles (you can see last week’s list here).
Recently, it feels like I’ve mentioned one writing challenge after another. There have been so many cool ideas shared by fellow writers on Medium — and I’ve no doubt only seen a fraction of them!
All the same, enough challenges have now caught my attention to make the basis of a good theme for today’s list. Each of the following story announces or otherwise suggests a writing challenge that you can take part in.
Dive in, create, and enjoy.
First, here’s one I just love, and it works for both poets and prose writers. In this article, Amanda Laughtland challenges us to write a poem or short fiction piece in just one sentence:
Next, introducing the six-word photo story challenge by Mary Chang Story Writer. The name is pretty self-explanatory; you take a photo, and write a 6-word story linked to it. There’s a new theme every month or so, too (check out my entry for the May/June theme here).
Now, a ten-word story challenge that I have mentioned more than once. This comes from Sheri Jacobs. It’s a very challenging task, but I’ve seen some incredible responses in recent weeks:
Ten is very short; perhaps 50 is more your scene (did I just write an accidental 10-word story there? Lol…) The following article by Reuben Salsa explains how the 50-word challenge is supported by publication The Bad Influence. The same length was also recommended by Chelsea Marie in these prompts, and is sometimes called a minisaga).
Or, push this limit just a fraction with a similar but rather extended version: the 55-word story from Kevin L. Knights…?
And perhaps at the other end of the length spectrum, how about writing 100 entire stories (of any length)? This is the challenge set by Zane Dickens. If you are playing on hard mode, you do this in just 100 days… but it can be just as much fun if you set your own pace.
The next one is more of an ice breaker than a writing challenge, but I think you’ll find it a good prompt all the same. Here, Lucy Socha asks us to share 2 truths and a lie in an article, and then invite readers to guess which is which:
I hope you take the time to try out some of these challenges. Each one can really stretch your creativity. I will try to do at least a couple of them in the coming week.
And are there other good Medium writing challenges that I missed? Let me know in the comments!