While November is best known for NANOWRIMO  (a month in which you commit to writing 1,000+ words a day on a novel -- and if you're doing it feel free and  to post your work here for feedback, we have another idea for this month:

• DIGIWRIMO: Take 7 minutes only to post something here -- words, sound, gifs, images, slideshows, vids, whatever. Have fun with it. This isn't a semester school paper. We want you to post unfinished stuff. Try ideas out. And we want you to embrace this digital space (civil, respectful), give each other some feedback, share links, check out what others are doing. Use and search #digiwrimo.

So here's our idea:

Try to write as often as you can on the challenge themes. Non-fiction, fiction, essays, rants, poems, whatever. so daily word counts, no requirements, no guilt. Do it for 7 minutes. When the spirit moves you.  BUT, please participate. Even a little. Share your work. Give someone else some attention. Share a link. Use the hasthtag, #digiwrimo.

We have some graft, swag, bribes. Chocolate. Yes indeedy. We'll ship it. Your very own YWP dark chocolate bars from the elves at Nutty Stephs. (If you are new to this site; sign up and be patient, we check and manually activate all accounts to make sure everyone is real.)

Our aims: To learn from each other's different perspectives. And to get you to experiment with some ideas.

The Details:

We'll posting the themes each Monday on the front of this site each week. Go to them each day and do something different, or check in once a week. Whatever. Understand these are/will be broad ideas with suggested questions or angles to give you freedom. They are suggestions -- take the ideas where you'd like. BUT try to reveal something about yourself AND the world around you.

• MY HOME: Tell stories of where you live. Suggestions: What does your home look like? What is around it? What are the issues? What do people do? What are the problems in terms of cost, accessibility, inclusiveness? What's the big issue in your community?
• ELECTION RESPONSES: The remarkable U.S. election of 2016: NOW WHAT? All views welcome.
• MY ART: All you hear about these days is STEM STEM STEM education. But let's talk about art. Let's talk about music, visual art, photography, writing, murals, installations, dreams, plays, movies, galleries, whatever -- anything related to creativity. What do you most like to do? What's the most creative thing you've done, made, written, taught? (RE-post something you think shows your artistic, expressive side.) If you had more time, what would you be doing? What music do you like? Movies? Why? Where do you watch movies? When? Create your own questions. Revisit something you did 4 years ago and do it again, but differently.
• MY DIFFERENCES: Something we don't talk about. Really. Oh, we talk alright but we don't always necessarily listen. Talk about your race. What advantages does your race give you? What disadvantages? Tell a story about someone you know who is different. Tell a story about how you think differently about race than your friends. Or maybe you think the same. What can you do to increase your knoweldge of someone who is different either by race or economics or geography or opportunity? What about your gender identity? Tell us about your own isolation. Or the group in which you feel most part of.
• MY HOPES: It is 2041. You are alive. The world has changed. What does it look like? Create a few characters and a story around the world in 2041. Do it as a reasoned essay, a poem, digital art, fiction. Imagine the best. If you can't do that, go the other way -- paint us a darker story.

WARNING: We also will, from time to time, intersperse with semi-related or completely un-related challenges just because they are, well, fun and are suggested by people in the greater outside galaxy.

Some guidelines:

• YWP defines digital writing as any writing done in digital spaces -- often with digital media -- that is open to comments, interconnected by social media and can be read by different external audiences. So, like, everything you do here. So anything you post here, with the hashtag #digiwrimo, qualifies. 
• We'll have a different theme each week, but you can go back to previous themes.
• You do NOT have to post every day (UNlike NaNoWriMo), and you should NOT worry about posting "finished" pieces. Go with your best ideas; write quickly; use digital media. Just express. AND use the hashtag: #digiwrimo
• Please post a link to your own piece (or someone else's) on Twitter, Google Plus, FB, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever social media strikes your fancy. NOTE: A lot of the participants use Twitter (it's not bad if you avoid politics), so if you have an account there...
• Invite friends, classmates, teachers, schools, long-lost relatives. Let's see if we can get a lot of content posted here from around the U.S. and world.
• IF YOU ARE A YOUTH JOINING YWP FROM WHEREVER for the first time: Welcome. Keep in mind that when you sign up for an account, we manually check and approve each application, so it will take a few hours to activate. Be patient.
  • If you are a college student or teacher or otherwise adult-like being, and you want to participate here, we would welcome you IF you were willing to mentor some of the other community members, so be prepared to comment. AND email me after you've signed up for an account, so I know who you are: [email protected]
• IN DECEMBER, we'll curate the most interesting pieces of work and create a special digital magazine celebrating people's work. AND we will decide some winners -- wackiest posts, most intriguing posts, best commenter -- on this site AND ship you some of YWP's exclusive chocolate made by the elves at Nutty Stephs.

Have fun.
gg