Welcome, Germies, to this month’s writing challenge! This challenge will begin today and will end May 31st. However, you are welcome to come back anytime to complete the challenge and share it below in the comments section.
This month we’re doing things a bit differently. This month, every person who completes the challenge will have their work shared and featured on Germ. This challenge is all about taking the time out of your day to sit down and simply write.
The overall challenge is to sit down and write twaddle for 15 minutes on the designated topic. Your twaddle can result in any form of creative writing, whether it be a poem or a short story.
twaddle (noun): trivial or foolish speech or writing; nonsense
To explain more about twaddle and its importance, here’s an excerpt from an article by our very own Jennifer Niven:
“One of the greatest things I’ve learned about writing is that you have to let yourself write garbage because even garbage is better than a blank page — at least it gives you something to edit and work from. And, almost always, when I allow myself to just fill up a page with any old kind of writing– not stopping to edit and fuss and tweak it to death in that precious, early stage — I will work myself into the flow of it so that suddenly the writing will become better and smoother and more natural as I go along. Eventually I’ll hit my stride.”
Writing Challenge:
Topic: Adventure
-Step 1: You have 15 minutes to type as much as you can of whatever comes into your head. During this span of 15 minutes, there is absolutely NO editing. No matter what, just keep typing. Don’t fix errors, don’t take anything away. Just keep pouring out the thoughts, words, or parts of a story that come to mind. Hopefully the longer you type, the stronger sense of direction you’ll have for your piece.
If you’re like me and can’t help but editing as you go, you may consider closing your eyes or turning away from your screen as you type. Some suggest even changing your font color to white during this phase of the challenge. Basically, do whatever you have to do not overthink your twaddle. Resist the urge!
-Step 2: Make a copy of your work in order to keep your entire brainstorming session intact. (This will be presented under your finished product for a fun comparison to see how your piece has transformed.)
-Step 3: Now is the time when you can finally edit your twaddle. You can add stuff and/or take stuff away to create a cohesive work out of your initial brainstorming. Whether you use all of your twaddle or merely a small part of it for your finished product is up to you. (This step is not timed.)
-Step 4: Submit your finished piece with your original brainstorming session pasted below in the same document. See below for more information on how to submit.
Submitting:
Submitting for this challenge is easy. Simply email your piece to [email protected]. Put “May Writing Challenge” as the subject of your email, and include your name, age, and country in the body of your message. If you have any questions at all, or if you’re having problems submitting, feel free to email me at [email protected].
Everyone who completes the challenge will be responded to so they know that their entry has been received.
To prevent the possibility of our emails ending up in your spam folder, be sure to add [email protected] to your contacts list.
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