The Cafe Aphra November Challenge: A Review
I love a challenge. And so, it seems, do many others. Over 500,000* people took part in NaNoWriMo last month and, even more excitingly, many were those that took part in our Café Aphra November Writing Challenge. To recap, we decided to hold our own writing task whereby you, the writer, set your own goals, targets or aim and work towards it with the support of others online who were doing the same. There was an instant camaraderie from the unified act of writing. Within the first few days of cold November, our Facebook ‘Likes’ doubled and we had people from all over the world – Europe, the USA and the Middle East – joining in. People chatted to each other, asked for advice, gave support. It was exactly what we had hoped to achieve – the seed of a community of writers. Writing is a solitary activity. Only you are writing those words onto that page or screen and this can cause a degree of loneliness. Some writers thrive on this, others struggle. During my first year of full-time wri...