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Participate in a Blogfest Today!


I have only recently found out about Blogfests, and took part in my first one last week, organized by DL Hammons.

Thanks in large part to his tutorial (a great explanation on how things work in the Blogfest-world) and other web-research, I realized what a Blogfest is:

It is when a blogger throws a virtual party and everyone is invited. There could be giveaways at the end of it, it could simply involve promoting certain books, or it could be my favorite: the Blogfest that invites bloggers to write a short piece/excerpt in their blogs and link to the host blogger. All participating bloggers must register through a form on the host blog, and all bloggers then read each other’s submissions and comment, which is completely optional.

From so far as I have seen, comments are mostly kind, even effusive, but you can ask for honest critique and might get that too (in very kind words again, of course!).

A few upcoming blogfests in which I am thinking of taking part in are:




BlogFeast…food blogfest hosted by Angela M. on 23rd September.
This one involves food: ” scene where food is central or just happens to be in the scene. It could be a poem about food. Heck, it could even be about a character named after food…”

Happy Birthday Blogfest hosted by Michele Emrath on 24th September.

“Who said birthdays are fun? They can be creepy or dangerous or dramatic or even fatal. Write a short story in (why limit the word count? Gimme what’chya got!) involving a birthday in any form and something mysterious, dangerous, dramatic, creepy, or deadly. “

Mash-up Blogfest hosted by Steph Sinkhorn on 1st October
“The Mash-Up Blogfest is a ‘fest inspired by musical mash-ups likethis or this or this – taking two different songs and weaving them together in a humorous or pleasing way. Participants will “mash up” two genres that are not normally written together into one delightfully weird piece of flash fiction. Or poetry, if you’re so inclined.”

They’re People Too Blogfest hosted by Tessa Conte on 2nd October.

“Pick a more or less abstract concept… hate, love, weather, clouds, death, life, anything you can think of.
Write a monologue/dialogue/scene featuring said personified concept as the MC.”
Bad News Blogfest hosted by Francine also on 2nd October.
“At some time or another, I expect all of you have had to convey bad news to someone else, maybe to do with a pet, a relative, maybe even lover. Hence, this “Bad News Blogfest” is not about personal misery, it is to be about a character receiving bad news!”
At First Sight Blogfest hosted by Jacee Drake on 7th October
“Post an entry describing in about 500 words the moment your MC meets someone of importance for the first time. Could be friend, lover, enemy, long-lost parent, sibling… whoever is important to them – at that point in their life – and the emotion and reaction to the encounter your MC goes through.”

Hook Line and Sinker Blogfest hosted by Justin W. Parente on October 11th

Visit his link to learn the rules.
First Page Blogfest hosted by Elle Strauss on October 16th
This is all about the first page of your work. Post it to get comments.

Past Blogfests I had fun with:


Guess That Character Blogfest, hosted by Jennifer Daiker on 19th and 20th August. This was my entry.

What I like about Guess that Character is that the initial post will not describe the character’s appearance, just put him/her in a scene, and let you hear his voice or watch his actions.

The next day is the day of the big reveal, where you post a photograph that closely approximates, in your opinion, the character you wrote on the first day. Interesting!

The Rainy Day Blogfest
, hosted by Christine H on 25th August. This was my entry.

The Rainy Day Blogfest would give me a chance to indulge in my love of rain, and I’m sure everyone would come up with absolutely rain-drenched posts.

Word Paint Blogfest hosted by Dawn Embers on 27th August. This was my entry.

This is all about description, so I think something from the old writing notebooks should do the trick, because I have tons of those!

Fairy Tale Blogfest
hosted by Emily White on 30th August. This was my entry.

This is best described in the host’s own words:

Write in no more than 1000 words a story based on a fairy tale in a genre OTHER than fantasy. You can do horror, suspense, sci-fi, thriller, etc. (romance is okay, but you need to add another genre with it, otherwise you’ll just end up with a fantasy romance), and the plot has to be closely related to the original tale.

Fight, Fight, Fight Blogfest, hosted by J.C. Martin on 31st august. This was my entry.

This one involves a fight-scene, and since I have not done too many of those, it will be a challenge.

September’s Back-to-School Daze Blogfest, hosted by Roh Morgan on 15th September

“Write a scene that takes place on a campus. It can be in a classroom, on the football field, in a locker room… (grin – but nothing explicit, please!) – just as long as the setting is on school grounds. That’s it. Keep it short – 999 words is a nice length, but if you go a LITTLE over, I won’t slap your knuckles with a ruler. “

Shh..it’s a Secret Blogfest , hosted by Summer Ross on 17th September


“In 700 words or less give us at least one secret in a story: murder, mystery, funny, romantic, poetry, or story snippet…doesn’t matter but the word “Secret” must be included in the story or poem to count.”

I Got You Blogfest, hosted by Salarsen on 15th September

“Choose a blogger you want to give some love and write a post about them. “


I was too bogged down to participate in this one, but it would have been fun!

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Half the fun of participating is reading the other entries and commenting. In my case, it is making mental notes on what some author did well, and what another did not, thus helping me with my own growth. Since I live in Asia, I make it very clear that I’m not participating for the gifts, so the hosts do not feel like they have to mail me a gift all the way from the States.

The visitors of course add to your blog stats, and that can’t be a bad thing either! I wish more Asian blogs would start hosting Blogfests, because the concept is sound, and everyone wins in the end!

I find that some authors are reluctant to post from their WIPs, but since I’m planning to write from scratch for all three, that won’t be a problem. Yes, I can’t use the pieces again for a flash fiction submission or contest, but at least I’ll have some great writing practice, and some good fun doing it.

I’ll keep updating this post as I find new Blogfests, and probably do a re-post on my other blog Daily (w)rite. So mark your calendars and have yourself a feast of Blogfests!

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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9 Comments

  • Thanks for posting a list. Emily's is also my first blogfest, but I'm hoping to do more – I've discovered a lot of great blogs from the other contestants!

  • Summer Ross says:

    I think its great that you have put them all together on a seperate page! Thanks for posting my blogfest up, I really appreciate it. Have agreat week and thanks for joining in all the fun

  • sounds great fun 🙂

  • Palindrome says:

    Emily's will be my first blogfest. I'm excited. It's something I've always wanted to do and now, not only do I have a great prompt, but I could win something! I love winning. 😀

  • Jen says:

    Thank you for such an awesome shout-out and for joining in on the fun!

  • Damyanti says:

    Hi J. C.,

    Thanks, and feels great to be participating!

  • Hi Damyanti!

    Thank you for participating in my blogfest! You have 4 entries in my giveaway! Don't worry, it's an emailable gift voucher so you are just as eligible as anyone else!

    Great to see a fellow Malaysian writer! We should talk shop one day over some roti canai! 😉

  • Damyanti says:

    Thanks for your look-in, and yeah,Blogfests are awesome..I just hope I don't get addicted!

    The other blog is mostly random, sometimes writing-related, sometimes not, and of course you're welcome to visit both!

  • Oh says:

    I had to stop by and say "hello" because you were kind enough to stop at my blog and even left a comment!

    Hmmm…blogfests! sounds awesome, haven't done one in ages and in fact, am thinking about doing more blogging since, with this wonderful summer season, which I adore, I have spent more time outdoors than indoors (except for work, of course!)

    I'm going to stop by and have a look at your Daily write. Yup, I'm a writer and always interested in hearing what other writers are doing and what they are dealing with…
    thanks again! Cheers!