Literary Challenges

Monthly Challenges

March

•  NaNoEdMo - National Novel Editing Month "is a free service intended to encourage writers to edit unfinished novels." Writers commit to spending at least 50 hours of the month solely on editing a project.

April

•  NaPoWriMo - "National Poetry Writing Month is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April" source. 
• The April Poem-A-Day Challenge hosted by Robert Lee Brewer involves the added challenge of submitting 5 poems for placement in the top 50 and announcement of Poetic Asides Poet Laureate for the year.

May

• Story A Day May "StoryADay.org is home to an annual Extreme Writing Challenge: Write a story every day in May." Hosted by Julie Duffy.

July

•  JulNoWriMo - "Your goal, should you choose to accept it, is to write 50,000+ words during the month of July. Do you have the courage and the drive to attempt such a feat?" Hosted by Robert Watson.

November

• November Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge - Participants are prompted each day to write a poem. At the end of the month, poets can compile a 10-20 poem chapbook and enter it for an opportunity at publication. Hosted by Robert Lee Brewer.
• NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing on November 1. The goal is to write a 50,000 word, (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30.

Seasonal Challenges

Winter

• 24-hour Short Story Contest - WritersWeekly.com hosts this contest for $5. There's space for 500 participants who write stories with good endings. No word count limit stated. The topic is published on January 21st and they host one every quarter.

Summer

• 100 Drabbles of Summer - Write 100 Drabbles (stories with exactly 100 words) between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Hosted by Charloft on LiveJournal.

Year Long Challenges

2012 Fearless Poetry Exploration Challenge - Read and review at least two books of poetry for the year. Hosted by Serena.

Write1Sub1 - "Write and submit a short story or poem every week (or month), starting the first week of January and ending the last week of December." Hosted by Ray Bradbury.