PENuary is Officially HERE!

Happy New Year!

And Happy PENuary!

The official prompt list is now live. We start with the word snarling.

Participation in the PENuary writing challenge is simple. 

Write for a minimum of 20 minutes inspired by the one-word prompt.

You can write fiction, non-fiction or poetry. Write a sonnet or a short story. Heck, write a grocery list! What you write doesn't matter, so long as you write for 20 minutes.

Set the timer and go.

When finished, share on social media. You can share a portion of your day's work, the whole piece you wrote, or even how the experience of writing was for you today. 

Please retweet, share, and comment (kindly) on each other's work. Encourage other writers! And remember to use the official hashtags:

#PENuary

#Write20for31

#Penuary2018

Write. Share. Repeat.

If you’d like more information about PENuary, please check out the official PENuary website or the PENuary Facebook page.

PENuary Warm Up: Writing Prompt of the Day

Photo by John Jennings via Unsplash

Ah, December.

The month of colder weather, shorter days, shopping, holiday lights and roads congested with traffic. The time of family get-togethers, office parties, and ugly sweaters.

And also a month when we writers look forward to a second opportunity for literary abandon!

In my house, we're gearing up for PENuary as much as for Santa.

Okay, I'm the only writer in my house, but my family is preparing to eat meals out or that come in a box for a month (and I haven't told them yet, but laundry probably isn't going to happen either ;-).

PENuary will see me not only focusing on the daily writing prompts and my commitment to a minimum of 20 minutes of writing per day, but I'll also be commenting on and sharing other writers' work and cheerleading the writing community as we commit to a new year of more consistent writing habits.

One of the great things about PENuary is that you don't need to prepare for it. No research required. No outlines or planning.

You simply show up and write.

So how about some practice?

Here's a one-word prompt inspired by the nail polish I'm currently sporting for the holiday season:

GLITTER

Of course, you can take the word in different directions. That's one of the beauties of a prompt. My interpretation of glitter will not be the same as yours.

I'm particularly interested to see how horror writers interpret the prompt of the day.

Don't forget to share at least a portion of your work for the day—a sentence, paragraph or another snippet—here on my blog, on the PENuary official Facebook page, and/or on your own social media outlets. Make sure you use the official hashtags so we can all follow your work:

#PENuary

#Write20for31

#Penuary2018