All for One - the power of community

Writing is a solitary business. You exist for long periods of time in your own imagination, agonise over the details of your creation, edit to within an inch of your page margins, and then...well, generally, you're on your own.

However, being part of a writing community, whether it's in cyberspace or in a face-to-face group, offers many benefits. These can include:
- A space to share experiences and support. Pretty much anything that has ever happened to a writer has already happened to another one. 
- An opportunity to give and receive constructive feedback. 
- A forum to exchange golden nuggets of opportunity (competition deadlines, useful resources, submission windows, etc.).
- A chance to showcase your work. Think: 'scared face in a safe place'.

Of course, one must choose wisely. As the late, great comedian and free-thinker, Bill Hicks, once said, "There are some serious pickets of humanity out there."

A Word with You Press - based in Moscow, Idaho (better read than dead) - combines a physical location with an online presence and an international reach. I've been part of their universe since 2011, following a trail of words until I became one of the team.

Led by author, raconteur and editor-in-chief, Thornton Sully, AWwYP has diversified and developed to run online writing competitions (which they insist on calling contests), running workshops in-situ, publishing books, offering editorial and publication services, and offering a sales portal for books. Because you can never buy too many books, right? 

The A Word with You Press avowed mission statement is:

Putting Gravitas on a Lo-Carb Diet.

If you visit the site, you'll see what I mean. And now a word from our sponsors...with US grammar...

A Word with You Press is always looking for ways to have fun on the internet and to meet and inspire new writers.  We do this with regular contests with unusual prompts and sometimes even more unusual prizes. (although our last contest prize was a straight and simple $500).

We have come up with a great contest for Valentine's Day. Jerry Rubin once wrote that the word "love" had lost all value because "Cars love Shell." Help us give the word's true meaning and passion once more. Write a love story between four and five hundred words, or a poem of up to 300 words, and somewhere in your story use the phrase: "but it was only a rumor."

Prizes for the winner and runner-ups.

It's a great chance for writers in your group to hone their skills, write to a deadline within certain parameters, get their work published online, and get valuable feedback not just from the editorial staff but from other writers who regularly enter our contests. And maybe even get bragging rights as a winner!

Here is a link to our current contest:

http://www.awordwithyoupress.com/2014/01/15/roses-and-chocolates-and-thorns-oh-my-our-first-contest-of-2014/

Will you help our on-line community grow by passing this email and link along to those in your own writing group?

Please do pass this on, and share it with all manner of social media.

And a happy Valentine's Day to you!