Link of the Month: Write 1/Sub 1

Among the things which I credit as having helped me to develop a stable writing routine, the online "Write 1/Sub 1" community is high up on the list.

"Write 1/Sub 1" is based on a philosophy attributed to Ray Bradbury of writing and submitting a short story every week. Several years ago, some writers developed a shared blog to experiment with carrying through that philosophy though with the option to have a monthly, rather than weekly, commitment. It's also a routine which could be used by those writing poetry rather than solely short fiction.

I first came to interact with W1S1ers through the forum devoted to the topic on Absolute Write's Water Cooler. (Two links for the price of one this week!) They're a friendly and supportive group of people and include a number of writers who are at a similar stage of their writing career as me. In fact, since W1S1 writers tend to have a fair amount of story "inventory" I've ended up sharing Tables of Contents with many of these writers whom I've grown to become friends with.

Deciding to follow the W1S1 spirit, particularly if you're up for the weekly routine, encourages you to write regularly and to get your stories out on submission. This doesn't mean you should shirk going through multiple drafts if a story requires that and no one's going to kick you out of the club if you miss a week (or a month) or ten. But like many of the other things we've discussed on this blog and that I talk about in "Write Every Day", W1S1 can be a part of your support structure for your writing career.

If you're working at developing a routine of writing short fiction or poetry and especially if you're having some difficulty getting over the initial hurdles of submission and publication, I would definitely encourage you to join in the discussion at the blog, the forum, or both places. I think you'll find it well worth your time.