An Experiment in Publishing and Workshopping
I’ve recently become disenchanted with the traditional (Milford Rules) Writers Workshop format because I find it too negative and lacking in incentive to write more/keep writing. So, I’ve been looking for alternatives and here’s what I’ve come up with: Late last year, I wrote four good stories in as many months. It was the most consistent level of production I had enjoyed in over 30 years of writing. I found it on Wattpad – specifically in an event called a “smackdown” where 20 writers would compete in an elimination-based contest to write stories containing a pre-determined set of elements. I was only ever involved in one Smackdown, but I am proud of every one of those stories. In my case, the person running the Smackdown had some sort of computer meltdown and the final round never played out. So there was no “winner” – which was fine with me, because that’s not the main reason I was participating. I was doing it to challenge myself and to get myself back in the ...