Velvet Verbosity| Home of the 100 Word Writing Prompt and Challenge

100 Words

Welcome to the 100 Word Challenge Writing Prompt.
It’s weekly, it’s challenging, it’s fun!
Yes. You can play.

Here you are! If you’re reading this, chances are pretty good that you were Googling (can you believe that’s a verb?) for word challenges or writing prompts. And hey, Google isn’t the dominating force in search engines without good reason! They know what they’re doing and I think you should trust them and hang out a while. Read on!

(Click here to go to the home page of the Velvet Verbosity)

So what is this 100 Word Challenge and Writing Prompt Anyway?

The 100 Word Challenge is a weekly writing prompt exercise, the challenge being to keep your submission to exactly 100 words. Not as easy as you think! I post the previous week’s round-up and the new challenge at VelvetVerbosity.com.

Relax though, this isn’t school folks. No need to flashback to giant red F’s on term papers. This is all voluntary and all in FUN. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, a blogger, a published author, or just someone who stumbled on this here page and want to take my challenge, the 100 Word writing challenge will exercise your writing muscles. Writing exactly 100 words on a given topic…think about it.

Ok, saying I want to take your challenge, what are the rules?

I hate rules. However, I also see the wisdom in some kind of structure. The weekly challenge starts on Wednesday and entries are due by midnight (whatever time zone you’re in) the following Sunday. I’ll pick a favorite or two, and post that one or two entry in full on my blog, as well as provide links to the all other entries, and present the new challenge on Wednesday. Write your 100 word piece on your blog (don’t worry, you can play without a blog too) with a link back to the original Challenge post for the week you are participating

***SPECIAL BULLETIN - This structure is subject to change at the whim of my frantic life and mind. If you want REAL structure, I’m afraid you’ll have to go back to school.

There are only two (official) rules, though what the consequences are for breaking them I have no idea.

Write 100 words, no more and no less.
Write 100 words based on the given one word writing prompt.

Be as creative as you want. Poetry or prose. Funny or sad. Serious or light. It’s up to you to let the topic inspire you. Use creative fonts and images too if that strikes your fancy. I’ll post all entries on this 100 Words page and announce and feature the weekly selection on Tuesday.

Tell your friends, spread the 100 Words!

How do I play?

Find the current week’s challenge post on the VelvetVerbosity Home Page. 100 Word posts are titled “100 Words on ________” and the current word prompt is at the bottom of the post in bold red font.
Comment with the link to your 100 Word blog post; OR
Cut-n-paste the entire 100 Word piece in a comment. This is particularly useful to those of you without your own blog. OR
Email me at velvetverbosity at velvetverbosity dot com (if you spam me, I will hunt you down and make you eat banana sandwiches with ketchup for 30 days straight).

Are there any prizes?

Right now you get some *bling* for your blog. See that gorgeous blog bling icon above? You too can have one of these shiny baubles for your sidebar if you would like to participate regularly OR if you are chosen for the 100 Word Weekly Selection. I will send you the the 100 Word Challenge Participant image for your blog or you can just lift it from here(and of course, being fully versed in blogging etiquette as you are, you will link back to this page). With enough participation I’m hoping to offer tangible, hold-in-your-hand, prizes in the future, so spread the word, the 100 WORDS! Once we have at least 30 participants I’ll start issuing goodies…like chocolate perhaps?

How do you come up with each week’s challenge?

It’s a super secret, incredibly complex method that might be too much for you to handle all at once. But here goes. I take a random book off my shelf, close my eyes, open said book, and point. When I open my eyes, whatever closest word would be amenable as a writing prompt is that week’s challenge. Got that? “Open, point, and choose”.

What if I don’t want to take your dumb ole’ challenge?

Then you should go back to mixing your potato chips with your beer and calling it a meal. D’oh! Just don’t take it! I promise, I ~~will~~ won’t take it personally.

100 Word Challenge Archives

Random entry by “Rob”:

If you’re lucky and tragedy has cut deep enough, a moment will come when you know that you must sever everything everyone said and wrote about how to live and what to do, and *you know* that we are children of the divine, we have this moment only, and tomorrow, *tomorrow*, it is all over. It’s a cataclysmic, calm moment, like a massive stone plunged from high into water, where afterwards the whole pond of time waves gently the bright reflections of Fall colors. Then the gospel of love, the oneness of self and other, you and me, simply is.

Past Participants

14 Comments so far

Rob February 18th, 2008 1:44 am

If you’re lucky and tragedy has cut deep enough, a moment will come when you know that you must sever everything everyone said and wrote about how to live and what to do, and *you know* that we are children of the divine, we have this moment only, and tomorrow, *tomorrow*, it is all over. It’s a cataclysmic, calm moment, like a massive stone plunged from high into water, where afterwards the whole pond of time waves gently the bright reflections of Fall colors. Then the gospel of love, the oneness of self and other, you and me, simply is.
MadameMeow March 28th, 2008 5:57 am

I saw this through Secret Agent Mama, and plan on participating next go-round!! Awesome idea!
Mr Lady April 1st, 2008 4:32 am

Dude, I am so in.
VelvetVerbosity April 1st, 2008 6:36 pm

Hi Madame Meow and Mr. Lady - welcome to the 100 Word Challenge. A new challenge will be posted by 9pm EST this Tuesday (oh! That’s today!).

I look forward to your submissions!
Sarah April 5th, 2008 4:30 am

Okay, I’m in!! I’ll do this on my writing blog as opposed to my mommy blog…seems more appropriate, no? Looking forward to next weeks challenge!
Douglas Brunton May 1st, 2008 6:47 pm

Game on…look forward to the challenge
conversemomma May 30th, 2008 1:01 am

Looking forward to Tuesday. I’m totally into this.
Richard August 14th, 2008 6:53 am

Do I get a special prize? http://100wordblog.wordpress.com/
MRMacrum August 25th, 2008 9:12 pm

I have been blogging for what, close to 4 years now. I started the blog as a way to channel my love of writing into a convenient and dependable storage device I did not have to maintain. I could care less if folks dropped by. Then last year I actually began to read other blogs. My “me first” attitude began to embrace the other “me first’s” out there in the http://WWW. Look hard enough and even oddballs like me have kindred spirits wandering around out there.

Anyway, in my quest to become a better writer, I have begun to enter contests. The prizes or recognition mean little to me. My prize is meeting the challenge and being content with my effort. That is all I want. Look for me to enter something in the near future. The challenge of keeping it at 100 words is gonna be a tough one for me.

BTW - I like your attitude. I run my blog content in much the same manner.
Ashley Walker September 3rd, 2008 8:08 am

If a ninja is like a puma, your face is like a train. Quitting a job is like paying the tab at a roadside diner in Nebraska and leaving with no regrets, knowing you’ll never be visiting that place again. One time, when shooting a dying cow, I smelled the most beautiful scent right before the bullet let go. I think it was the cow’s soul slipping past me (she was dying you see). I wish I had some cornbread and one of those Mountain Dew’s out of the cool glass bottle that slid out of the machine. John Mayer
thenightblog October 16th, 2008 4:23 am

oh god it’s spam central
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