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We are seeking a wide variety of content. We highly value unique perspectives or novel thought processes with a diversity of voices and experiences as well as variations in content lengths. These types of pieces will have a better chance of being published. Please visit our Writer’s Guidelines and submit to: content@mops.org
Deadline: SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2020
Theme: Do Your Work
Doing your work happens in big and small, but always significant ways. It’s about persevering through the daily grind of essential but mundane tasks; and it’s also about making brave choices to do new things. Doing your work looks different for each of us, but everyone’s work will require some grit and courage. Maybe it’s choosing forgiveness, healing from past trauma, or making amends to those you’ve hurt. Maybe it’s sharing the secret you’ve been carrying for years, or unlearning harmful patterns of behavior. And when it comes to mothering … God gave those kids to you, Mama! You’ve been appointed and no one else can mother them like you. You are made of brave spirit. You’ll figure it out because you always have, and you have God and your MOPS sisters by your side.
FORMAT OPTIONS:
- Essay or narrative piece (word count: 600-800)
- Informative or research article (word count: 400-800)
- How-to article (word count: 400-800)
- Satire/humor piece (word count: 400-800)
- Opinion or inspirational piece (word count: 400-800)
- Round-up article (word count: 400-800)
- Poetry or fiction shorts (word count: 300-800)
WRITING PROMPTS:
- How has comparison affected your ability to “do your work”? Sometimes we look around and wish that we could do other women’s work instead of our own. How have you had to let go of comparison and accept what God has put in your hands?
- What are five things you’ve learned from your therapist or spiritual director as you have sought to do your own work of healing?
- What is your work? What is God’s work? When is it time to stop striving and surrender?
- What has it looked like for you to harness courage in your life?
- What is no longer serving you in your life that you have chosen to leave behind?
- How has doing your work looked different in 2020?
- What have you learned about the complicated interplay between work and rest?
- How has the work of caretaking enriched your life?
- Write about someone in entertainment, sports, or media who you see doing the work. How has their life been meaningful to you?
- Write about a holiday when everything went wrong. How did you recover? How did you keep perspective?
- Write about ways readers can reframe holiday expectations when they’re facing a “new normal” (for whatever reason, this holiday season doesn’t look or feel like others)?
- What is something in your life that has been worth the work?
- Working hard and working out of anxiety are not the same thing, but we don’t often recognize that in ourselves. Talk about how you’ve transitioned away from working out of anxiety.
- Make it work! Write about a time you made it work. What did it cost you? Was it worth it?
- How do you keep the holidays from feeling like work?
- What is the hardest work for you during the holiday season? (For example, being present, creating boundaries, accepting limits, experiencing wonder, etc.)
- What are some resources that have helped you get your work done more efficiently and effectively?
- Write about different types of work in a woman’s life: vocational, emotional, physical, relational. Considering discussing how all these types of work are also spiritual.