I miss WEP
It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.
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JUNE QUESTION: In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?
MY ANSWER: Many of us could help each other with writing-related services for low or no charge. Perhaps we could have a list of services offered by the members, similar to the list of services for self-publishing, but restricted to members only. For instance, I would like to offer my services as a book cover designer. I recently designed a cover for one of the IWSG members, and she seemed quite happy with my cover. Maybe others would like it too, but not many people know I design book covers. I would like my name to be on such a list. I’m sure there are other members who could offer editing, book formatting, beta reading, web design, marketing, etc.
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My musing below also comes under the heading of possible offerings by IWSG. From 2015 until 2023, I’ve been a member of WEP blog hop. For those who don’t know, WEP was a bi-monthly event which offered its participants 6 themed challenges a year. Most participants wrote flash fiction, up to 1000 words. Others wrote poetry or non-fiction. There was also a contest each challenge, and the winner got some recognition and a minimal prize. But for me, winning the contest was never the point. The point was: WEP forced me to write 6 flash fiction stories a year, and I loved it. I also further challenged myself by writing connected stories each year, usually stories about the same protagonist. Sort of a mini-series – a different one each year.
This year, WEP closed, and I miss it. I miss writing flash fiction. I thought about joining another flash fiction challenge – there are a few in cyberspace – but most limit their word count to 500 words or 200 words or even less. None allows 1000 words, at least none that I’ve found, and I don’t think I would enjoy writing stories of 500 or 200 words. It feels more like a writing exercise than a story.
I also contemplated starting a similar blog hop myself. Not resurrect WEP as it was, no. It was a baby of my online friend, Denise Covey, and I wouldn’t poach on her turf. No, I would change the name, minimize the admin, drop the contest feature altogether, and adopt the two aspects that were dear to me: the 1000 words limit and the themed challenges. And the list of participants, of course. I could come up with the themes for each year and create beautiful badges for them. Maybe do it 4 times a year – once a quarter – instead of 6. But the technical angle daunted me. Marketing prospects terrified me. Maybe I could persuade IWSG to take the idea of such a blog hop under its umbrella. Run it on its website? If someone helped me with the technical details and the marketing, I would be happy to manage it. But most of all, I would be happy to write for it.
What about you? Would you want to write flash fiction once a quarter? Participate in such a blog hop? Did you ever write for WEP? Could you offer a service to the IWSG members for free? Tell me in the comments.
