I started and admin a small writing group on Facebook of nearly 40 writers that is geared toward taking one or two months out of the year to write nothing but short stories. In a fit of utter unoriginal creativity (joke—and apologies to Chris Baty) I decided to call it Short Story Writing Month. ShoStoWriMo for short, of course.
I started the group in 2014, in an attempt to get more short stories under my belt. Our first little but tight-knit group (about a dozen or so back then) could not decide which month to do it that year, as it was just after NaNoWriMo and those who participated in that were very tired. I had a lousy writing month in November that year and did not participate in NaNo, so I was anxious to do something, ANYTHING, to get going again. I think we eventually settled on doing it in the early part of the coming year.
We did it for a few years and then we kind of all stopped. Ya know, shit happens, the Muse and the Plot Bunneh team up and pull you away on other projects, or you just get sick or tired or overworked, or you get sick AND tired AND overworked (pointing at myself, here). Life throws you lemons and you hate lemonade. Stuff.
Well, I decided to try again this year, and I decided to try doing this soon. I have a major editing gig I'm doing at the moment that I will complete by the end of July. So I decided August would be a good month to go shorty and do ShoStoWriMo. I want to ask the publisher I edit for to give me a small job for August that will give me enough time in between to whittle out a new tale or two and finish some shorts that are on the back-burner. It may not be possible, but that is the plan. At any rate, I will be writing short stories for the month of August this year and I've invited my fellow shorties to join me on the ShoStoWriMo page.
Shorties, you say? What the hell, you say? Well, since novelists who participate in the NaNoWriMo craze (and you have to be a bit crazy to write a novel in a month) are called Wrimos, I thought it might be fun to call my comrades for Short Story Writing Month "shorties." Who knows, maybe this will become a craze too! I'd like to be known for one little positive influence on this dumpster fire of a planet before I shuffle off the mortal coil and exit stage left.
If you want to join us this August, feel free. If you want to join the official Facebook group, it can be found here:
Let's write some shorties, Shorties!
I started the group in 2014, in an attempt to get more short stories under my belt. Our first little but tight-knit group (about a dozen or so back then) could not decide which month to do it that year, as it was just after NaNoWriMo and those who participated in that were very tired. I had a lousy writing month in November that year and did not participate in NaNo, so I was anxious to do something, ANYTHING, to get going again. I think we eventually settled on doing it in the early part of the coming year.
We did it for a few years and then we kind of all stopped. Ya know, shit happens, the Muse and the Plot Bunneh team up and pull you away on other projects, or you just get sick or tired or overworked, or you get sick AND tired AND overworked (pointing at myself, here). Life throws you lemons and you hate lemonade. Stuff.
Well, I decided to try again this year, and I decided to try doing this soon. I have a major editing gig I'm doing at the moment that I will complete by the end of July. So I decided August would be a good month to go shorty and do ShoStoWriMo. I want to ask the publisher I edit for to give me a small job for August that will give me enough time in between to whittle out a new tale or two and finish some shorts that are on the back-burner. It may not be possible, but that is the plan. At any rate, I will be writing short stories for the month of August this year and I've invited my fellow shorties to join me on the ShoStoWriMo page.
Shorties, you say? What the hell, you say? Well, since novelists who participate in the NaNoWriMo craze (and you have to be a bit crazy to write a novel in a month) are called Wrimos, I thought it might be fun to call my comrades for Short Story Writing Month "shorties." Who knows, maybe this will become a craze too! I'd like to be known for one little positive influence on this dumpster fire of a planet before I shuffle off the mortal coil and exit stage left.
If you want to join us this August, feel free. If you want to join the official Facebook group, it can be found here:
Let's write some shorties, Shorties!
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