Has A Daily Dose Of #VSS365 Improved My Writing?

A couple of months after joining Twitter and the #WritingCommunity, I came across #VSS365 (Very Short Story 365 days a year). Every day, a host provides a single word to act as a prompt for a tweet length story, a poem, a piece of dialogue etc.

When I first started participating, I was anxious that my writing would be subpar and I’d finally realize (by the amount of interactions I’d receive) that I’m not destined to be a writer.

But after the first few goes, I stopped looking at how many likes or retweets they got, and instead paid attention to how much each post has helped me improve as a writer. And not just in the actual writing (which it has also definitely helped improve), but in thinking creatively and trying different styles that I hadn’t ventured into before.

I’ve hopped from dialogue scenes:

To this:

To poetry:

I’ve really enjoyed playing about with each new prompt; pushing myself to be a little different, to think outside of my comfort zone. And some posts might get less likes than others, or might (unintentionally) offend another writer, or might be praised by many. But what I find special about it, is that it creates a platform for growth, interaction, and development.

And I can honestly say that I see the benefits from it for my own WIP. Working on my novel has become much more interesting since participating in the daily #vss365 prompts, because my mind feels freer creatively, and I find myself more willing to implement new ideas and writing styles. Also, I’m much less anxious about my ability to write, thanks to the amazing support of the writing community on Twitter.

I have connected with so many talented writers from all over the world since taking part, and I am very happy to have been exposed to a variety of styles and creativity. It’s inspiring.

If you haven’t heard of #vss365 before or have been nervous to jump in, all you have to do is search up ‘#vss365’ on Twitter, and click on ‘Latest’ to see the word prompt for that day.

Have fun!