The Thousand Islands Writers Festival Storefront Writing Contest will be taking place on August 27, 2011 at various locations along King Street in downtown Brockville.

Dorothy Bush and I approached the festival committee last November with our idea (borrowed from an annual contest held in Bruton, England) and they enthusiastically embraced the idea.

So what makes this contest so different? Well, you’ll get to see the writers working feverishly at their laptops or with pen and paper whilst they sit in the storefronts and write a story of up to 2000 words between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm when everyone will stop writing and make their way to the drop location.

Everyone will receive the same prompt/theme/first line so we’ll all be writing on the same topic. The organizers will select the topic that day so no one has any advance notice of what it will be. The contestants will draw the location where they’ll be writing from a hat. There will be at least two people writing at every location. Writing is a solitary venture so being with another like-minded person hopefully will help generate some good writing vibes.

Now, we’re not done yet. Contestants will be writing under a pseudonym so if you have always fancied yourself as being the next Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Bram Stoker etc…, you’ll get your chance.

Watch this blog and the Thousand Islands Writers Festival website for updates as the contest time draws nearer.