Tag Archives: writing challenge

NaNoWriMo 2020 – End of Week 1 Check In

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Week 1 of my NaNoWriMo efforts were not too shabby, and I thought I would check-in with others who might have joined in the writing challenge.

I wrote 11,782 words in Week 1, which were divided amongst the following projects because, as I stated here, I am a NaNo Rebel (again) this year:

  • My Historical Romance Novel – 6199 words.  Completing my first draft is my main writing goal at the moment, so the majority of my words and concentration have gone into this project.
  • The Dreamer: An Andromache Jones Mystery Novella – 3581 words.   I uploaded another three chapters of this project to Wattpad during Week 1, and again hope that I might get this story completed by the end of the month.
  • Oath Broken – 0 new words written 😦  But I have been doing a little prep for writing on this one.
  • The Goddess Retreat – 0 new words – With hindsight, I don’t expect to have the time to get any writing done on this project at all…Sigh 😦
  • Free Write Sessions – 2002 words.  I enjoy the freedom of a Free Write Session, where I can write whatever story I like. I do try and fit one in every day, but time doesn’t always allow for it.  However, I have managed to get a handful in, and subsequently I now have a few new pieces of flash fiction and scenes from a couple of short stories complete.  Happy Days!

So that’s a quick review of my first week.  If you joined in, how are you getting on?  Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to message me over on the NaNoWriMo site if you’d prefer!

Wishing everyone who’s participating lots of good luck and best wishes for Week 2!

Sammi x

Weekend Writing Prompt #182 – Bequeath

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Bequeath

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *
Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here

Weekend Writing Prompt #181 – Histrionics

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Histrionics

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *
Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here

Weekend Writing Prompt #180 – Vault

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Vault

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *

~ Current special call: Friday the 13th ~

Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here

NaNoWriMo 2020 – my plans for this year

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With less than two weeks to go before the start of November, I decided this afternoon that it was time to announce my project for this year’s NaNoWriMo.  (For those of you who do not know what NaNoWriMo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel throughout November.  You can find more about this writing challenge over on the website.)

As I’m currently two-thirds of the way through the first draft of an historical romance, and because I have far too many WIPs which need attention, I’m going to be a rebel again this year and not focus on a single novel.  My project is called:

In Search of Completion

The plan: to complete the first draft of my historical romance, and then start tackling some of these WIPs that are calling my name, and I have a fair few to choose from.  I’m pretty sure which “other projects” I’ll be working on, with a fantasy novel, a cosy-mystery novella and a sort-of chick-lit novella on my to do list for 2020, all of which are in differing stages of completion.  If you’re interested in the latter projects, you can find them via my Wattpad profile because the two novella’s were my entries to this year’s ONC which I did not complete because this year has just been meh, and the novel is Oath Broken…

Are you joining in with NaNoWriMo this year?  What are you working on, and are you ready for November? I would love to hear about your plans and prep.

Don’t forget, if you want to be writing buddies, you can find me on the NaNoWriMo website by searching for my username: Sammi Cox

Hope to see you over there!

13 Days of Samhain – A Horror / Halloween Writing Prompt Challenge

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I spent a little while yesterday going through my draft folder for this blog and came across a mini horror / Halloween challenge I’d started planning a few years ago.  I guess I must have run out of time to post it up on the blog, and then subsequently forgot all about it.  No surprise there! 😉

Anyway, it only needed a little bit of tinkering with, and as there is still time to post it this year, I thought why not share it and if folk want to use the prompts, then great!

There are no rules for this challenge.  Write whatever you wish, as long as it is inspired by that day’s prompt.  Here’s a little graphic / badge for anyone who wants it:

And here are the 13 prompts, one for the 13 days leading up to Halloween, with day 13 falling on the 31st:

I’m thinking of joining in myself and maybe writing a series of haiku or tanka responses for the prompts…we shall see.

If anyone does join in, I wish you lots of scribbling Halloween fun!

Weekend Writing Prompt #179 – Lucid

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Lucid

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *

~ Current special call: Friday the 13th! ~

Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here

Weekend Writing Prompt #178 – Asinine

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Asinine

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *
~ Current special call: Friday the 13th ~
Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here

Weekend Writing Prompt #177 – Heather

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Heather

Challenge

 

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *
Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here

Weekend Writing Prompt #176 – Zany

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A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend.  How you use the prompt is up to you.  Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like.  Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.  If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Word Prompt

Zany

Challenge

The challenge is simple: each week you will be given an exact number of words you can use to write a poem or piece of prose.  You can use any format or style you like; go wherever your inspiration takes you.  The only rules are these:

  • your poem / prose must contain this week’s word (see note below).  The word does not have to count towards the exact word count total – it can be in the title, or the first letters of the lines of a poem can spell it out – you can be as creative as you want as long as it’s there somewhere.
  • the length of your poem / prose must match the number of words stated in this week’s challenge.  No more.  No less.
  • A note on the word: you can use any variation of the word (for example: call, calls, calling, called etc).  If you find you are struggling to use this week’s word you may substitute it for a synonym – just include a note to explain the swap.  Remember, this is supposed to be fun! 🙂

Can’t wait to read what you have come up with!

* Whispers and Echoes – an online journal of short writing – is always open to submissions *
~ Current special call: Tiny Terrors (haiku, tanka and one sentence stories) – see here for details ~
Check out the journal’s full submission guidelines here
Weekend Writing Prompt Year 1 Anthology: Outcast and Other Words – Read for free here