Signal Boost: The Writeoff · 6:21am Mar 6th, 2020
Many of you have heard me sing the praises of the Fimfiction-adjacent Writeoff, run by a wonderful guy by the nick of RogerDodger. Well, sit tight, because I'm about to do it again. 
The Writeoff is the reason why I'm here at all. It's the reason why my writing doesn't suck (well, as much as it would otherwise). It's why I go to brony conventions, and don't feel alone when I do. It has made me happy in so many ways. I made lots of friends there, learned to hone my skills, read some incredible fanfiction I'd never have seen otherwise, and became part of a community that meant a great deal to me.
I miss it a great deal, but you don't have to! I'm asking you, whoever you are, to take the plunge and get involved. I guarantee you'll be glad you did. 
This weekend is an open-ended FiM short story writing contest, and if you've never participated before, now is the perfect time. The writing prompt is a silly in-joke "Ot", which can mean virtually anything you want it to: occupational therapy; Ordo Templi; overtime; Octavia's ti—um... okay, maybe not that one (unless you're creative about it), because it's a T-rated event this week, but you get the picture. 
How do you participate? It's easy! Go to writeoff.me and sign up for an account, which takes less than five minutes. Then you have until early Tuesday morning to write a two thousand word minimum short story on a topic that must be related to FiM and whatever "Ot" means to you. (Maximum word count is eight thousand, by the way.) You can submit what you've written through the online system.
Then comes the best part. Everypony reads each other's stories (names are anonymous during voting) and provides invaluable feedback! It's not required for you to read or give feedback, but many participants do. I'm not kidding when I say the feedback is invaluable: some of the writers are experts, and you can get a lot of good insight even from people who don't do much writing.
The whole experience is a great way to force you to write something in the first place, encourage you to read and learn new skills, and get prereader feedback so you can fix the flaws in your story and then post it here on Fimfiction. You'll make friends in the process and have a fun time, too.
Even if you don't finish a story, you can still participate in the reading and voting. There's even an art competition where you take one or more submissions and use them as artistic inspiration!
I really can't stress enough how much fun this is and how personally rewarding it can be to participate. Go ahead and take a chance, don't be shy. There are plenty of supportive friends in the Writeoff who will help you to learn and grow as a writer and human being pony (okay, maybe both). 
So what are you waiting for? Get over there and check it out already!
As much as I love the Writeoff (and still have some ideas there that I need to port here,) I still feel obligated to read and review every submission, and I just don't have the time to do that anymore.
Thanks for the shout, Trick!
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FoME, by the power vested in me by Horizon when he made me an assistant admin on the FimFiction group, I hearby absolve you of any obligations—implicit or otherwise—to read and review any more than... let’s say one other story. One in; one out. As it were.
So let it be written. So let it be done.