I have a crazy idea.... | Teigr Books & Designs.

June 30, 2026

I have a crazy idea....

I've found and used a whole lot of Writing Platforms in my time, but the best ones inevitably die on me. WeBook, Authonomy, Zoetrope... all of these had problems with staffing, running costs, various technical issues... but they were a formative part of my writing apprenticeship.

I made many friends in these places, and some of them have not only stayed friends with me, but they have also gone on to be successful writers.

Mr E Sheep, I'm looking at you...

Anyway. Inspired by these places, I started my own Webzine called "Welcome to Wherever" (yes, inspired by the song) and it has a historical record! Welcome To Wherever... | Duotrope is still mentioned on Duotrope. I was interviewed by more than one writer for their blogs, eg: Soooz Says Stuff: Meet, Mandy Ward Author and the creator of the new WebZine:"Welcome to Wherever." , As a "4 the love" Webzine, it only lasted 2 years.

It was a big influence on my career, though, and gave me a huge insight into the publishing business.

NaNoWriMo now that kick-started my writing career completely.

Now any writer my age (and a few that are younger) will know what I'm talking about, but just as a recap:

" National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is a challenge to everyone who has ever wanted to write a novel but doesn't know how to start. The challenge is: write at least 1,667 words every day in November. Do this, and on December 1, you'll have 50,000 words on the page and a first draft of your novel. " - NaNoWriMo 2.0 - Home

NaNo helped me to create 2 out of 3 Secret of Arking Down Novels, almost all of The Tower & The Eye series and started a whole load of great ideas that haven't yet made it out onto a printed page. I loved hunkering down behind my Keyboard every November, with a rough sketch of an idea on a Word file and just putting words on the page.
The only reason I didn't "win" every year is that I have children and they need feeding, clothing and looking after - all of which ate into my writing time considerably.

And yes, I would be very grumpy when pulled away from my keyboard to do these piffling tasks....

Anyway...

As the link I mentioned above says, the original NaNo had similar problems to the writing sites that I often used, and died a spectacular death.

By contrast, Welcome to Wherever was a blip on the writing world spectrum.

But I loved it, and I have often considered restarting it.

And this is where my crazy idea comes in...

I'd like to know if ANYONE would be interested in a writing competition like NaNo during January. I don't have any details to give out at the moment, but I was also considering a short story competition with an anthology.

I'll be posting this on all my socials to see if there's any interest... so please comment when you see it!