I plan to feature two articles each Thursday - one in the morning, and one in the late afternoon. I am including a schedule of the next four Thursday Themes. Want to get featured? Post an article to the Writing Essential Thursday morning before 9 a.m. EST to be considered for the morning/day time feature, and by Thursday afternoon 4 p.m. EST to be considered for the late afternoon/evening feature. Articles following the Thursday Theme will be more likely to be featured.
Each Thursday, I will post two short articles introducing the featured pieces.
Thursday Themes:
June 21 - Summer
Tell a story of hot August nights, of picnics and barbeques, of the July you skinny dipped with your boyfriend for the first time, of a family's scary, hairy road trip. Any summer story will do! Or post an article about writing in the summer, ways to keep motivated and focused when the heat index is off the charts, your wife wants that three week trip to Cape Cod, and the rug rats are tearing through the house.
June 28 - Space: The Final Frontier
The drive to explore, the desire to know what's "out there," is one of our finest human characteristics. Write a story or an article about pushing the envelope, about doing something you never thought you could accomplish, about your goals and dreams. Tell stories - real life or sci fi - about space, ponder what's Out There, discuss the ways we, as writers, must push ourselves in ways sharp and uncomfortable.
July 5 - A Matter of Principle
I'm looking for stories and articles that explore ethics. Ideas: Post a tale of the time you stood up to a bully, the story of how you decided to finally go through with that divorce, a sketch of a lawyer faced with defending a man he knows is guilty of murder, an essay on the place and nature of truth in fiction.
July 12 - The Edge of Night
Dark stories and articles, stories of fear and trepidation, tales of physical darkness, of wrestling with figurative darkness. Vampires, ghosts, creepy-crawlies, IRS agents - explore you inner fears or tell us why writing can help us face the night!
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Comments: 25
Ruth, there will be MANY stories from history that will fit ALL of these topics. : ) I'm hoping to see some creative applications of my themes, and tried to pick some fun ideas that would help foster discussion and the motion of that pen to paper.
I am a huge fan of yours Birdie, and I look forward to enjoying your writing on a regular basis.
Greg, thanks for the vote of confidence. I am excited that Gather finally has a place for those of us who can't stop writing.
DawnSelena, I am starting the themes next Thursday. Today is my intro, which I featured so that folks could get a feel for what Thursdays in the Writing channel will be like. I will feature a writer this afternoon, but there won't be a set theme for today. Thanks for posting your stories to the new Writing essential!
I just want to make sure everyone knows, too, that any writing that fits the group is welcome on Thursdays, just that I'll be choosing features from the theme list. : )
My articles discussing the featured writers will link to their other stories and work as well as contain a mini-review of the piece chosen.
You can absolutely post older work on theme days. No problem at all! Just repost, if it's something that you've posted to Gather in the past. Since the writing group is so new, and so many folks have already posted some incredible peices before its inception, I have no problem with re-introducing pieces.
And of course you are one! We all are! (Well, those of us interested in this group, anyway...)
I really suffer from a feeling of isolation as a writer/poet who has always lived in small towns in the west where culture is practically non-existant and writers who really write live elsewhere. I've tried on-line groups off and on but few meet the friendship and support that I envision happening with other writers.
I experienced it a bit in Albuquerque, where I finally heard about Southwest Writers Workshop and began to "listen at the feet" of such as Lois Duncan, Bill Buchanan, and Tony Hillerman. It was a wonderful year for me and I submitted and published and sold more than any other period in my life. The free 4 hour mini-workshops one Saturday morning per month would have cost so much anywhere else.
But then my family moved for work and I've never found such a nitch again. I'm surrounded by people and events and yet I'm lonely in a crowd.
So that's my comment. My second question is: is there a word limit for articles on Gather and more specifically on Writing Essential?
Thanks for listening.
I will be reading and commenting on all Thursday submissions. :) I very much look forward to your work - any SW writer is a friend of mine. I love living in NM, and plan on attending some of those amazing workshops this summer.
There is no word limit on articles. Of course, longer ones will take longer to read, LOL. But no worries, post what you like, and as long as it fits the writing channel, it's in.
If you click here, you can see if you belong to the Writing Essential group. On the left-hand column is a button where you can join the group.
I think your choice of topics is interesting and will be checking on Thursdays to read!