Weekly Newsletter | Flint & Steel
Sparks №31: Will You Be Camping in April?
Your writing prompt resource to spark your creativity
Happy last few days of March!
Okay where is the time going?! Is anyone else feeling like time is just flying out the window, or is that just me?
I think because I’ve been ill with Covid for the last few weeks (doing much better now; just have a lingering cough) and with our family spring break, I feel like March just flew by.
Because I’m feeling so behind (I hate that feeling!), I need to do something to get myself back on track. So I’m going camping.
Okay, not that kind of camping (I need it to be a little warmer before I can do that!). I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in April. Are you?!
Have you heard of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? Writers from around the globe pledge to 50,000 words. But did you know there are two smaller camps held in April and July?
For these camps, you can set your writing goal at any amount. Even if you’re not writing a book, you can use this accountability challenges as a way to get back on track with any writing project: Medium articles, short stories, poetry, or that book you’ve been working on.
I set my goal at 15,000 words for the month of April. That works out to 500 words per day in April.
To get started, create a profile over at NaNoWriMo. Then go to “Projects” and “Announce a project.” When you are filling out your project information, you can click on “associate your project with an event” and then select Camp NaNo 2022.
I set up a writing group over at the NaNo website to help encourage each other along the way. Anyone is welcome to join the group. There is space for 19 more writers. To join the group, make sure you are logged into your NaNo profile. If you’re still not able to access the group, please comment on this newsletter to let me know your NaNo profile name so I can add you manually.
You’re also welcome to post accountability posts here at Flint & Steel, announcing what you are working on and throughout your journey in April. I find it pushes me along when I know others are working on the same challenge.
📣 Writing Challenge 📣
Yesterday, I announced Flint & Steel’s latest writing challenge with the prompt survival. For all the details, make sure to read over the guidelines. You have until May 2, 2022 to get those submissions. I can’t wait to start reading them!
As a reminder, the donations at my Ko-fi page go towards these writing challenges. Thank you to all who have donated this year!
Supportive Writing Group
Come on over to our writing group over on Facebook. This is a safe, private group to share your writing questions, goals, and advice with writers of all skill levels.
I hope everyone has a wonderful upcoming week!
✨ Ellie, editor Flint & Steel
🎉 Featured Writer 🎉
Elin Melaas is our Featured Writer this week!
“I discovered Medium by coincidence when I babysat kids I’m an aunt to. It came up in a Google search. Once I was inside Medium, I never left. I was a reader for the first six months. I never thought I would write something, mostly since English isn’t my native language.”
I’m always truly amazed by the number of wonderful writers here on Medium where English is not their first language. Such inspiration as someone who attempted to learn two languages (French and German) in high school and college.
Thank you Elin for sharing more about your world with us! And because of you, I may now need to try an ice bath.
Would you like to be a featured writer? Read over the guidelines to find out more about being featured.
✨Your Articles ✨
As always, take time to support your F & S writers! Stop by their articles and share your thoughts, claps and highlights.
Those marked with a✨next to their name mean an Editor’s Pick!
Elizabeth Kasujja wrote,
“Use the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon to your advantage, and use everything that happens around you as fodder for your next piece,” in “The Best Paid and Most Successful Writers Use the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon”
Great article with practical tips on making sure you don’t have writer’s block.
Elizabeth asks at the end of her piece, “Were you already aware of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? How do you plan to use it to your advantage in your writing?”
LM wrote,
“Immersing myself in iridescent delight — of all your scrumptious tickles;”
in “Joyful Noise” in response to the poetry prompt.
Oh yes! The joyful noise of a baby giggling, captured perfectly in a poem.
Penny Grubb wrote,
“Should poetry make us scared? Well yes, if the world holds fear,”
in “An Image Out of Nowhere,” in response to the poetry prompt.
Aabye-Gayle F. wrote,
“Spring is not a modest season.
It is soft, and bold, and bright.
It indulges the nose with its perfumed blooms,”
in “Spring is Not Subtle,” in response to the poetry prompt.
An ode to the wonderment of spring, in all its glory.
✨ Charlie Cole wrote,
“Someone took a chainsaw to the structural integrity of my writing and leaves it teetering on the edge,” in “When the Spark Dies.”
Charlie captured the frustration and unease of imposter syndrome, beyond the writer’s block. This would be a great writing exercise when you are facing those same feelings; write what you are experiencing when you feel blocked, using all the senses.
✨ Marilyn Flower wrote,
“Poetry taught me that if I get quiet and listen, really listen, the words begin to speak. They like to gather together in groups. If I let them, they will pick their partners. Then I can arrange those groupings in a process I call playing by ear,” in “Me and Poetry, We’ve Got a Thing Going On, Though It’s Not Exclusive,” in response to the poetry prompt.
Marilyn captured the love affair with poetry to a tee; it truly is a magical form of writing.
Will Hull wrote,
“Whether we use a brush or a quill The challenge is in trying to fulfill All we see Setting free The magic and life in a moment still,”
in “All The Colour in Light,” in response to the poetry prompt.
Allowing ourselves to be free enough to find the magic in the moment of writing.
✨ Welcome Our Newest Writers ✨
Jules Starley, Jordan Richardson
Calls for Submissions
I welcome writers to share their own freewriting exercises, writing prompts, and writing contest alerts here at Flint and Steel. You can write short-form or long-form posts.
You can find submission guidelines on our Be a Writer page.
✍ Freewriting Friday
In the latest Freewriting Friday post, we are exploring how our lives have changed because of Covid.
📣 Around Medium: Calls for Submissions, Writing Prompts, and Challenges 📣
Check out last week’s newsletter for more writing prompts and challenges.
Tips
As always, review each publication’s guidelines for their prompts. Many prompts do not have a set deadline.
Make sure when you are responding to a prompt, you credit where your inspiration came from, like a link to the prompt article.
Many of these prompts could fall under nonfiction, poetry, and fiction so don’t limit yourself. There is no right or wrong. Use these prompts as a springboard to your writing.
⌚ = time-sensitive writing prompt!
⌚ Robert Ralph, with New Writers Welcome, posted their search for a new editor in “New Editor Required — New Writers Welcome.” Deadline to apply is April 10, 2022.
Marilyn Flower, with Middle-Pause, asks a fun question, “What Academy are you, and what Awards are you giving out? Not just for those who’ve touched your life, but for yourself as well,” in “What Academy Are You, and What Awards Are You Giving Out?”
Christine Graves, with Promptly Written, posted a nice selection of writing prompts in “Weekly Prompts March 26-April 1, 2022.”
Trista Signe Ainsworth, with Thank You Notes, posted this week’s theme, “Have you experienced a time in your life where you had trouble seeing eye to eye with someone? What offerings of peace or kindness did you make? Are you grateful for these life lessons?” in “Your Sweet Offering.”
Daniel R. Fincher, with Five-Minute Fiction, posted a fiction prompt, “Whether you envision a peaceful utopian solution or can only see the inevitability of chaos and war, let us see what you see. You could choose a scene that helps illustrate values or ideals at work or one that conveys a stark contrast to society as we know it today,” in “FMF Story Prompt: Is Confrontation Necessary for a Healthy Society?”
Nancy Blackman, with Refresh the Soul, is asking to see your gratitude lists in “Let’s See Your Audacious or Minimal Listicles of Gratitude: Don’t Be Shy.”
Subscribe to the Sparks Newsletter
If you would like to subscribe to the Sparks newsletter, visit the newsletter page. You can also find past newsletters for more writing inspiration.
— Ellie Jacobson, editor
📣 Attention Medium publication editors 📣
Have a writing prompt, challenge, or a call for submission you want included in an upcoming Sparks Newsletter? Feel free to leave a comment in the latest newsletter, email me at [email protected], or tag me in your prompt article and I’ll include the info in the next newsletter. Newsletters go out weekly on Monday.
Please include a link to the article that summarizes the prompt/challenge/call for submission and if there is a deadline. I will link to the article and to your publication in the newsletter. I also tweet the newsletter throughout the week for added exposure.
💖 Thank you to all the Flint & Steel writers 💖
Sahil Patel, Shirley Jones Luke, Samantha Jensen, MA, MAEd, Trista Signe Ainsworth, MIGHTY MISCELLANY, L Burton, Heathere CW, Kaori Mitsui, Penelope Mayfield, Pierce McIntyre, Pene Hodge, Yean Foong (M.Ed.), Elin Melaas, Sarah Minnis, Mindy Morgan Avitia, JM Heatherly, Nikki, Andria Kennedy, pockett dessert, Dennett, Diana Lotti, Ronald C. Flores-Gunkle, Mulan, Amanda Laughtland, Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles, Penny Grubb, Sorina Raluca Babau, Prashansa Chandekar, Will Hull, Ravyne Hawke, Jane Grows Garden Rooms (Jane Frost), Mimi Bordeaux, Adrienne Beaumont, Karen Schwartz, Divina Grey, Sangeetha Shankar, Ellen Andaya, Barb Dalton, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Beverly Annette Little, Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), Beverly Annette Little, Aabye-Gayle F., AliciaMarie Belchak | Master Life, Build Dreams, Danielle Hestand, Rick Allen, Jennifer Pierce, Tamil, Amy Rosie, Jennifer McDougall, Susan Poole, Adrienne Parkhurst, Chelsea Marie — Charlie Cole — Katie Michaelson — Sandra B — Buse ermen — E. Katherine Kottaras — Bingz Huang — Winston — Stephanie Stephenson — Marilyn Flower — Kris Bedenian — Kathy K — Nick Stockton — VerityAlways — Makena Darya — Umme Salma — Călina Mureșan — Anne Bonfert — Jennifer Dunne, K-kun Writes!, M Cher, CARMEN F MICSA, Annette Liron, Sam Finlayson, Ian Hanson, LM, Elizabeth Kasujja, Sandi Parsons, Veronica Haunani Fitzhugh, BichoDoMato
. . . and our 189 followers! 💖
✍ Written by Ellie Jacobson, @2022 all rights reserved.
✨ I’m a freelance writer and editor from Minnesota, writing my first novel, a psychological suspense novel. Are you a writer? Check out Sparks, my newsletter filled with writing prompts to spark your creativity.
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