2024 Personal Essay Writing Challenge: Next Steps
Here are the next steps for the first ever Personal Essay Writing Challenge. Use July to fix up your first drafts and send in your favorite personal essay.
I hope everyone enjoyed participating in the first ever Personal Essay Writing Challenge. I admit that I was a little intimidated to try a new type of writing, but it was a lot of fun and helped me unlock a few memories. Plus, it was great to read many of the essays in the comments.
Now, it's time to share the next steps, which could result in a publication opportunity on WritersDigest.com.
Step 1: Write the Personal Essays
That's what we've been doing the past week. I've provided seven writing prompts, and you've been writing personal essays based on those prompts. Step one complete!
Step 2: Revise the Personal Essays
Use the month of July to revise and tweak what you've written for the challenge. Maybe try combining a couple essays into one essay, or insert dialogue, description, or whatever else you wish to try.
Step 3: Pick One Essay and Send It In
You have until July 31, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (Atlanta, GA, time) to pick one of your personal essays (of 2,500 words or fewer) and send it to me via email at rbrewer@aimmedia.com with the subject line: 2024 Personal Essay Writing Challenge
A Few More Details
It's really pretty simple, but here are a few more details to anticipate questions before they're asked:
- Deadline for submitting is July 31, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. (Atlanta, GA, time)
- Email to rbrewer@aimmedia.com
- Use the subject line: 2024 Personal Essay Writing Challenge (super important, because my email inbox is always super busy)
- Submit only one personal essay for this challenge
- Personal essay can be submitted in the text of the email or as a PDF attachment, but I would prefer a Word .docx file
- You can submit a personal essay even if you did not share any writing in the comments
- Personal essay should be 2,500 words or fewer (length will not factor into the results; an amazing 100-word essay could have a better result than a 2,400-word essay that should've been 1,200 words)
- You are encouraged to include a title for personal essay, along with your name and contact information
- You are also encouraged to indicate which prompt(s) inspired your personal essay
- I will read the essays in August and try to choose a winning essay (and maybe highlight some finalists) before we start the next poetry challenge in November
What If I Have Additional Questions?
The best place to put questions is in the comments of this post (below). And I've included some advice on commenting below.
If you're unable to do that, you can send me an email at rbrewer@aimmedia.com, but be remember that my inbox is a busy place. So again, if you're able, commenting on each post is the best strategy (in most cases).
Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new account, verify your account on this site below (one-time thing), and then comment away. It's free, easy, and the comments (for the most part) don't require manual approval (but I'll be checking every so often, just in case).
Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
