I’m Jim Bessey, owner and editor for So Write Us. This site is new, but I’ve been headed here for years–with a lot of help from my friends.
Fact is, our little gang of aspiring writers has been engaged in friendly competition for about five years now. Originally, I hosted The On-Board Author Challenge on Helium’s Contests forum section. Later on, with tons of help from writer Glory Lennon, we moved into new accommodations as Helium’s Challenge Writers.
Altogether, we’ve hosted a total of THIRTY-SEVEN Author Challenges since 2007 — with nearly that many different winners.
I’ve met dozens of wonderful writers along the way, both online and in the physical world. Among us, we’ve lost friends to unexpected death at least twice. Others just drifted away quietly.
And yet, year after year, a core group of us has kept writing and kept in touch. We look out for each other, share secrets and successes, and socialize just for the pleasure of it. I’ve done two major collaborative projects with the incomparable Raymond Alexander Kukkee. One paid ok money; the other one was pretty solid.
Until earlier this year, we held our writers’ competitions just for fun.
Tell you what, though–it was a lot of work for all involved. Glory did most of it, for last year or so. We had some small prizes available, for those who wanted them. We paid our winners in praise and social links. Which was fine.
But I finally came to realize, just a few months ago, that real writing competition deserves real cash rewards.
So, with some encouragement from the Challenge Writers gang, I located and purchased a suitable domain name, found a great theme from StudioPress, and sat down to design a way for all of us–and anyone else who wants to join us–to compete for prizes we can spend.
I composed the first news release about this venture in late September. If you have ideas or feedback, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Stay tuned to see how it all works out!
Want to be sure you are notified when So Write’s contests begin, and when new ones are launched? Subscribe, and I’ll make sure you don’t miss a thing.
I remember your writing challenges, even though I never participated. Congratulations on your new site. Angie
Thanks very much for stopping by, Angie!
Congrats Jim. I see you are on a list of 25 bloggers to watch!
Thanks very much for noticing, JoAnn!
I certainly hope to offer something worth the watching.
Hi Jim, I asked if I could join your site and you sent me a confirmation email to me. I clicked on it but can’t find my password. Sorry to be a pain. I’m a Heliumite and know you from there. You said my name was familiar, you may remember me from there. Regards, Fiona.
Thanks, Fiona,
I’ve sent you a reply directly, via email. Let me know if you don’t receive it right away.
Just read your article re the non Google research tool. (Never thought of that!). That led me here and I subscribed as it all sounds great. Thank you
Thank you very much, Leila.
And welcome! I hope you’ll join our next little contest — it won’t take much work at all. If you have ideas or requests for future contests, please let me know.
Have you done the sort of writing where you find yourself wading deep into the unknown? I’ve always been hesitant to do that, and this has given me a whole new sense of adventure.