Exciting Announcement about Finish the Sentence Friday Improvements and a New Host!

Hey friends. I know you’re confused about why I’m publishing on a Tuesday when I’ve been such a slacker reliable weekly writer of Finish the Sentence Friday. I have a super duper exciting announcement about Finish the Sentence Friday improvements and a new host!

I know! I’m bouncing too! But, like all super duper exciting announcements and moving speeches, this, too, must start with some background.

Oh! We were in Colorado last week. Check out Tux at the Balancing Rock at Garden of the Gods.

And now, for the background story that is the intro to the exciting announcement.

When Tucker was just over three years old and in Preschool Autism Class, I found myself with a few things.

1. Time on my hands that I hadn’t had. Like, more time than maybe ever.
   I’d quit my job when he was four days old, and hadn’t expected that he’d be occupied for most of the day at such a young age. Until then, I’d always worked, and then stayed at home with him at home as an infant and toddler.
2. Confusion and worry about where we “fit.” He didn’t have an autism diagnosis (his delays are similar but not fully on the spectrum), and he wasn’t hitting typical milestones.
   I really wanted to find a community of other parents who were in “The Middle World,” where autism was a part of our lives through ABA therapy, peers, school, and wondering, but autism wasn’t a perfect puzzle piece for us. (Get it? The puzzle piece?)
3. A desire to share our story in hopes of finding others with similar ones. I started writing a memoir, got several thousands of words into it and then Googled how to find a publisher for a memoir. It didn’t go well.
   I wrote about the evolution of a blogger from a memoirist, and then wrote part two because it’s that complicated (it’s not complicated). I later shared how to start a blog, because I wish I knew back then.
4. I started a blog. This blog.

Why am I strolling down memory lane and talking about Tucker when he was still small enough to be pick-upable?

Back in my early days of blogging, I realized other people blog, too. Like, a whole huge bunch of people. And I wanted in on the party! I joined some groups.

The Bloppy Blogger Facebook group and the group called Women Who Write and Blog became places where I met some of my dearest friends.

I joined a link-up party called TALU, which no longer exists, and met a bunch of really wonderful writers including Kenya Johnson of Sporadically Yours and The Christopher Chronicles.

A few weeks later, I found Finish the Sentence Friday. That week, the hosts were:

Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic
Mommy, for Real
JenJen’s Soapbox of Parodies
Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine with My Morning Quiet Time

My first Finish the Sentence Friday post was about my most embarrassing moments.

I’m a little blurry on the details but at some point, Jen was replaced with Dawn, who I can’t find now. Or maybe, Jen was just a co-host that week? Stephanie from Mommy For Real wasn’t yet a full co-host, but became one later on, as did I.

Eventually, the other hosts dropped out, and it was just me.

Many people offered to co-host but I couldn’t choose so I decided to have different co-hosts each week. The sentence-thinker-upper got to co-host, and it’s been that way for um, well… huh. A while now, anyway.

Until today – which is why I’m posting an Exciting Announcement about Finish the Sentence Friday Improvements and a New Host!

Last night, Kenya and I were texting, and she gave me an idea. Today, she texted again, saying her idea was bigger.

In between, we were texting about shopping, life, and wine, because it’s important to text about life and wine.

 Anyway, she mentioned that if I liked her new idea, she’d be open to co-hosting each week.

I wasn’t sure I wanted an always co-host.

But then, she gave me her super awesome idea.

And I loved it.
Loved loved love love it.

So here’s the deal. Finish the Sentence Friday will go on as always BUT it won’t always be the finishing of a sentence (although you’ll get prompts).

Kenya and I will co-host each week and you can co-host as a sentence (or prompt) thinker-upper. Join our Facebook group to submit ideas.

The details:

Week one each month will be a standard Finish the Sentence Friday prompt, where we give you a prompt, and you write to the sentence as exactly or as loosely as you’d like to.

Week two each month will be a Listicle. Write a list based on the prompt we give you.

Week three each month will be a stream of consciousness. Write for five minutes, and share it. Kenya used to participate in this prompt and I’ve been in writing groups with Jena (THEY ARE AMAZING) that do it for 10 minutes. There’s much to be said about the free-write. You often find something you weren’t prepared to “talk about.” Free therapy, anybody?

Week four each month will be a photo share Friday, where you share a photo and the story behind it.

For the few months that have a fifth Friday in them, we’ll do a “Throwback Friday” post, where you can link an old post that needs some new love.

Brilliant, right? I mean, I didn’t think of this. Kenya did. She also made this helpful graphic.

Upcoming prompts (each prompt opens up on Thursday night at 10pm eastern. The link-up stays open through late Sunday evening each week):

Friday, Jan. 12 is Listicle Friday: 10 Favorite Things. Write a list about your favorite things.

Friday, Jan. 19 is Stream of Consciousness. A five minute free-write about Winter.

Friday, Jan. 26 is Photo Share. Share a photo and the story behind it.

Hope to see you there!