Opening soon · A monthly writing ritual
One word.
Everyone writes.
Unsolicited Musings is a writing club built on a single monthly prompt. Everyone works in the Workshop — drafting, reading, and appreciating each other’s pieces — and each month we curate the standouts into our Magazine.
Free to join. No feeds, no follower counts, no algorithm.
No followers, no likes, no algorithm — just a prompt, a deadline, and an online space full of people writing.
How an issue works
The prompt
On the first of the month, one word goes up. It's the same for everyone — a starting line, not a subject.
You write
You have the whole month. Draft as much as you like in the Workshop, and submit up to 2 before the deadline on the last day: prose, poetry, or a Thumb Story.
Everyone reads
The window shuts and the next word goes up the same day. Pieces read blind — no bylines — while members react, leave the authors a private note, and spend their votes.
Into the Magazine
The editors curate a selection and members elect one People's Choice. Those pieces are illustrated and published in the online Magazine at the end of that second month.
What you can write
Three shapes, one prompt. Pick whichever the month asks for.
Prose
up to 2,000 words
Short fiction, essay, memoir, or something that refuses to pick a lane.
Poetry
up to 40 lines
Measured in lines rather than words, as verse writing should be.
Thumb Story
up to 160 characters
A miniature. Few words to convey meaning, small enough to thumb out on a phone.
Inside the Workshop
The room where the month happens — built for writing and reading, and nothing else.
A proper editor
Titles, subtitles, verse, epigraphs, letters, footnotes and scene breaks — a writing surface that knows what literary text looks like.
Blind while it's open
No bylines on an open issue. People read your work before your name, nobody builds a following here.
Appreciation, not scores
A set of reactions, given freely and without limit. Votes are deliberately scarce; encouragement isn't.
A note to the author
Say the quiet thing privately — a short note only the writer sees. A whisper, not a comment thread.
Sign it your way
Choose how each piece is credited: your name or a pen name. Nothing reaches the Magazine without your consent.
Your library
Drafts, submissions and saved pieces in one place — and an archive where every past issue keeps its own colour.
House rules
Few and unfussy. They exist so the writing stays the point.
- 1One word a month. It goes up on the 1st, and everyone writes to the same one.
- 2Up to 2 submissions per issue. Drafts are unlimited — the cap is only on what you send in.
- 3Three forms: prose (up to 2,000 words), poetry (up to 40 lines), or a Thumb Story (up to 160 characters).
- 4Pull a piece back to draft any time the window is still open — it closes on the last day of the month.
- 5Pieces read blind while an issue is open — bylines come back when judging closes.
- 6Appreciation over competition — no likes, no followers, no rankings, no algorithm.
- 7You decide how you're credited, piece by piece, and whether it can run in the Magazine at all.
- 8Members are 18 or older. Writing can run adult in register; respect is always the house style.
Frequently asked questions
How do I join?▶
Two ways in. Any member can invite you — they each have 5 codes to give, so ask someone who has one spare and you're straight through. Otherwise write us two lines: what you're reading right now, and a Thumb Story of up to 160 characters to a single word we hand you at random. It's the same form the club writes in, it takes a minute, and it tells us far more than a paragraph about why you'd like to join. We're growing slowly and on purpose, so a yes may take an issue or two.
What does it cost?▶
Nothing. Joining is free, and so is everything you can do here — writing, reading, submitting, and being published in the Magazine.
Do I have to write every month?▶
No. Some months the word lands and some months it doesn't; nothing is owed either way. A prompt will be there again next month.
Can I use AI to write?▶
No. This place only works if a person was actually there. Fix your commas with whatever you like — just don't hand us something you didn't write. You confirm the writing is yours every time you submit.
What happens to my writing?▶
It stays yours. Submitting lets the club read it in the Workshop and lets the editors consider it for the Magazine — nothing else. You can withdraw a piece while its issue is still open, and nothing is published under any name without your consent.
Can I write under a pen name?▶
Yes, and you choose per piece. Pen names are a first-class way to sign work, not a workaround — and nothing is published under any name without your consent.
How does a piece get into the Magazine?▶
Two ways in: the editors read the month's submissions and curate a selection, and members elect one People's Choice. Both happen with the writing read blind.
Why is there a month between the deadline and the issue?▶
Because that's the month the issue gets made in. The editors read everything blind, members spend their votes, an illustrator is commissioned for the issue, and the whole thing is set as an ePub and a PDF. You won't be waiting on all of it to hear back, though: judging closes about ten days after the deadline, and that's when the bylines come back in the Workshop. The Magazine issue itself goes out at the end of that second month.
Can I write on my phone?▶
You can read everything and write Thumb Stories from a phone — 160 characters. Prose and poetry want a bigger desk, so those open read-only on mobile and edit on a computer.
Do I have to be 18?▶
Yes. Writing here can run adult in register, so membership is 18 and over.
What language should I write in?▶
English for now, with other languages on the roadmap — no date promised. The Magazine is published in English, and in a club this size reading each other properly means starting in one language. We don't translate anything — and if that ever changed, we'd ask you before your work was translated.
How do I get in touch?▶
Write to hello@unsolicitedmusings.org and a person will read it — questions, problems, a piece you want taken down, or anything the rest of this page didn't answer.
About us
A club for people who want to write more
Unsolicited Musings is a small writing collective built around one habit: a prompt word each month, and the discipline of actually finishing something before it ends. It began as a private ritual in WhatsApp and eventually turned into this, a slightly larger project with the goal to invite other voices and offer a space to write more, side by side.
It’s now two distinct rooms. The Workshop is where everyone writes — drafts, submissions, and the reading and appreciating that happens between them. The Magazine is what we carry out of it each month: a curated handful of the pieces that we think deserve a wider read, open to anyone.
There are no followers here, no likes, and no algorithm deciding who gets seen. It’s all about progress over perfection — just get writing.
The way in
There’s no application form to labour over — two lines and we’ll know whether we’d like reading you. If you know someone already inside, an invite from them skips the queue entirely.
Only here to read? Subscribe to the Magazine and we’ll email you when an issue is out — or take the RSS feed.
Already a member? Sign in