Barry and I spent the winter of 2005 writing little short stories of 100 words or less and sending them to each other for notes. We had become enamored of the idea of embracing constraints as a challenge rather than a limitation and more importantly, it was fun. While that project faded away after a year, the spark to create and share did not and we continued to play with the idea of reaching out with this concept to other young writers. By March of 2007, we were ready to put our collaborative idea of marrying the creative arts with dynamic web design to unleash a free online writing workshop for young writers who are excited to say yes, I’m willing to write a 100-word short story and put it out there for peer comments.
Two years later, with a combination of 335 stories, 158 writers, and 384 notes, Scrawlers is growing and we’re glad you’re a part of it. We’re excited so many young writers have chosen to take part in our workshop experience and we hope you’ve gotten something positive out of the experience. Our next step in the life of Scrawlers has arrived and we believe we have another reason for you to stick with us and keep writing.
Today we launch our new web design for Scrawlers.com. Barry’s worked hard to create a simplified layout that focuses on the content you and your peers create. Stories are easier to read, using features like favoriting authors and stories are effortless, and your Bookshelf is filled with more helpful information than ever before. Plus, we just think it looks nice. You’ll also see a tab for you to click and give us feedback on the new design, including your ability to weigh in on other features we can add.
We hope our new web design inspires you to write new stories and comment on the work of your peers even more. We appreciate all of your feedback, participation, and creativity over the past two years and here’s to the future.
Thank you,
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