As the 4th quarter of the year begins it is worth saying congratulations to our growing community on the 2nd anniversary of the writing contest. A little idea conceived during the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown took off on the 23rd of August and grew so fast that 2 years literally flew past in a blink!
To date, we have published over 700 stories from about 50 different writers. With the support of friends, we paid out over N2 million in cash prizes. We also have a burgeoning audience with a combined social media following of over 10,000 and the community is still growing. If you are reading this please say CONGRATULATIONS!
Now there will always be breaks and sometimes they can even be extended owing to one circumstance or the other but what matters most is that we keep pushing. Yes, because writing is one vocation that is voluntary. Nobody chose this path for us and as arduous as it may be, we just love doing it.
I want to say that we did accomplish something great during the break through the writing retreat. My appreciation goes to all the participants, I learnt so much from reading your contributions. I wasn’t surprised at the quality of contributions because writers are often gifted with intuition. Yes, it’s no boast when we say this. I also want to say a special thank you to Daniel for putting the whole exercise together. A post to reference that educative session is on the way.
So as the year winds down I welcome you to a special anniversary edition of our regular Talkshop. This time we have the honour of hosting the erudite Professor Chike Okoye who will give us a pep talk as we dive into another quarter of exciting quill wielding. Try to be there!