Welcome, Germies, to this month’s writing challenge! This challenge will begin today and will end October 31st. However, you are welcome to come back anytime to complete the challenge and submit it below in the comments section. We will pick a few of our favorites that are submitted during this month, though, and they will be featured in our Lit section.

Writing Challenge:

–Write a short story that’s no longer than 600 words.

–Choose one of the following sentences to appear anywhere in your story:

• She looked up at the house, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.
• He stared at the photo in his hands.
• She glanced up from her book, her eyes searching for the source of the sound.
• His face relaxed and broke into a smile. “Alright then,” he said.
• “This time will be different. I promise.”

–The pronouns and verb tenses in the above sentences are flexible. For instance, you may change “she” to “he” and vice versa (or use a character’s name instead of a pronoun), and you may change verbs from past tense to present tense.

Submitting:

Submitting for this challenge is easy. Simply email your story to [email protected]. Put “October Writing Challenge” as the subject of your email, and include your name, age, and country in the body of your message. If you have any questions, or if you’re having problems submitting, feel free to email me at [email protected].

Everyone who completes the challenge will be responded to and informed as to whether or not their piece has been chosen to be featured. Since the deadline for this challenge is October 31st, do not expect an email from us until November.

To prevent the possibility of our emails ending up in your spam folder, be sure to add [email protected] to your contacts list.