Mindful Writing Challenge - January 2014

The Mindful Writing Challenge  started in January 2011 with a blog and an invite: "Why would you want to join in? - Because choosing something to write about every day will help you to connect with yourselves, with others, and with the world. It will help you to love everything you see - the light and the dark, the happy and the sad, the beautiful and the ugly. You don't have to be a 'writer' to get involved. The process of paying attention is what's important."

The result: more than 350 people across the world paying more attention to what was around them, and writing mindful notes, also called "small stones". Which induced an ongoing twitter stream: twitter/smallstone.

Mindful Writing Month
Now the next month of mindful writing month is coming closer, with an announcement and an invite to join. The Mindful Writing Challenge will start on January first, it's a great way to enter the new year on a fresh note. Here's the very short version of the invitation:

Mindful Writing Month - The Very Quick Version:  

1. Pay proper attention to one thing every day during January. 

2. Write it down (this is a small stone). 

3. Get daily support & inspiration.

For more, visit the blog paget: Mindful Writing Challenge January 2014

The 2013 storySouth Million Writers Award: Finalists + Notable Stories

2013 storySouth Million Writers Award: Final Voting is open!

Great stories are being published online. The storySouth Million Writers Award for best online fiction of the year will help all internet-based journals and magazines gain exposure and attent. The purpose of the 2013 storySouth Million Writers Award is to honor and promote the best fiction published in online literary journals and magazines during 2012. The award process includes several steps, the first steps was nominations from editors and readers.

The Million Writers Award Finalists are now online, and voting is open, it will end December 31st. The voting will determine the top 3 selections from 2012, to be announced in January. Together with the Finalists, the list of all 50 notable stories of 2012 is online on the same page.

For even more stories, visit the Editor Nominations List: more than 70 online magazines nominated their best stories, creating a wonderful mixed list - great to explore new magazines, new authors and new stories.

There's also a Reader nominations List, but sadly some readers and writers misread the guidelines, thninking that this already is the voting stage and so several stories pop up again and again and again,

The reason for the Million Writers Award is that most of the major literary prizes for short fiction (such as the Best American Short Stories series and the O. Henry Awards) have traditionally ignored web-published fiction. This award aims to show that world-class fiction is being published online and to promote this fiction to the larger reading and literary community.

Guidelines The award is for any fictional short story of at least a 1,000 words first published in an online publication during 2012. To help promote online stories, the Million Writers Award accepts nominations from readers, writers, and editors. There is no entry fee. For more details, visit the Award Rules.

Prize
Each year, the Million Writers Award offers prizes to the authors of the winning story, a runner-up, and an honorable mention. These prizes are possible thanks to your generous support. Please click on the donate link below to offer your support. Donors have the option of being listed on the Million Writers Award Page or remaining anonymous.