TEENS Publish is a free 8-week summer creative writing (and/or illustrating) program for aspiring writers and illustrators who are currently in 7th-12th grade. This program is led by author Molly Blaisdell (who also writes as Cece Barlow).
2020 participants: Please check the blog section further down the page for some updates that will be posted within a day or two of our meetings. If you’ll click on the title of the first one for 2020, it will open so you can see some links and information for next time.
The 2020 program wilt take place on Wednesday afternoons (2:30 to 5:00 p.m.) in June and July, and the first week of August.
This year’s program is being held over Zoom. We will be using invitations, passwords, and a waiting room to ensure that only the participants are in the Zoom meetings.
Although we will at least primarily be meeting online, this program is limited to local teens (within the Brazos Valley), and the program size is limited to 12 to 15 participants.This year, we are asking for a short writing sample (one paragraph to one page) rather than simply taking the first dozen applicants. Do not send unsolicited attachments. If interested, email Kendra for more information. We will let you know when and how to send information and writing samples. The 2020 program has started and is now full.
This year’s program is limited to fiction and poetry. A lot of the work will need to be done on your own.
Teens complete one polished piece by the end of the 8-week program. Each participant chooses whether that will be a short story, the first few chapters of a novel, or poems. Upon approval of the editor, each participant will have one polished piece published in the TEENS Publish anthology (each person is limited to 3000 words or 12 pages). After first publication, all rights revert to the authors.
Anthologies from each year are available to check out from the Young Adult (teen) Fiction section of the Ringer Library (College Station) and the Mounce Library (Bryan). Searching for Teens Publish in the library catalog will pull them up, and the call numbers all start with Y-F Teens. The 2015 title is The New Generation. The 2016 title is Words Were Spilt. The 2017 title is Chaotic Creativity. The 2018 title is An Overwhelming Surplus of Skittles. The 2019 title is Not Just Ink and Paper.
