It’s Birthday Week here at Five Minute Friday!
Five years ago this week, I was sitting on my bed late Thursday night with a piece of leftover Oreo ice cream cake that my sister had made for my birthday. My laptop screen flashed the usual flurry of tweets during the weekly Five Minute Friday Twitter party, but something was different this time.
It was my first time acting as hostess of the amazing Five Minute Friday community founded by Lisa-Jo Baker. I felt honored and humbled and elated and in over my head all at the same time.
And five years later, I still feel the same way.
It has been such a joy and privilege to serve this community, to find new ways to build community, to share in each other’s joys and sorrows, and to offer blogging tips and writing advice along the way.
So, in honor of my fifth anniversary hosting FMF, this week’s writing prompt is: FIVE
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Ready to write with us? Set your timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.Â
Around this time every year, I look back on the past 12 months and reflect on the highs and lows. This time I’m casting my mind back as far as five years ago, and I find gratitude mixed in with the sharp realization that there’s so much more I could have done, and so much more I could still do.
I’d love to be able to serve this community full-time, but current life circumstances don’t allow it . . . but maybe someday!
I have so many ideas of resources and other things I’d love to create and provide, of ways to gather people together to encourage one another and build each other up.
But instead of focusing on how far I’ve fallen short of my own expectations, let’s take a peak at five highlights from the past five years:
1. The TWO FMF Retreats we had (in 2015 and 2017, in Nashville and Kansas City, MO, respectively).
2. The annual 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Challenge that so many writers have participated in each October
3. The release of three resources for writers: The Start-Up Guide for Online Christian Writers, Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me), and The Five-Minute Writing Prompt Journal
4. The weekly Twitter parties at #fmfparty on Thursday evenings and the growing FMF Facebook group
5. The Lord’s unending faithful provision and sustaining grace to preserve this community and to give us the ability and opportunity to write! All glory to Him.
What about you? Whether you’ve been around the whole time or not, what have been some highlights for you with regard to your writing life and your involvement in the Five Minute Friday community?
And of course I can’t let the timer beep without saying a HUGE THANK YOU to each and every one of you for being part of this community and for making this work so enjoyable and fulfilling. You make it all worth it! 😉
STOP.
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Before we go . . . We can’t have a Birthday Bash without gifts and special treats, right?!
First of all, remember back in February when I made a big fuss about the FREE FlourishWriters Conference?
Well, it’s back for a one-week Encore Presentation!!
Over the course of 7 days, 33 authors, editors, literary agents, and other publishing professionals offer inspiring and practical tips to dream, write, and publish the story inside you.
If you choose to sign up, you will receive an email each day for seven days (beginning August 12th) to view that day’s presentations and interviews. The conference is open from August 12th through August 20th, 2019, but you can sign up NOW!
GET YOUR FREE TICKET
to the online FlourishWriters Conference
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Secondly, how about a Birthday Bundle including all three resources mentioned above?
SAVE $10 OFF THE DIGITAL FMF BUNDLE NOW
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE YOUR BUNDLE
In this bundle you’ll receive digital copies of:
- The Five-Minute Writing Prompt Journal (PDF)
- Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me) (PDF)
- Start-Up Guide for Online Christian Writers (PDF)
In The Five-Minute Writing Prompt Journal, you’ll receive 52 one-word writing prompts to inspire your creativity and help you create a regular writing habit. (Click here if you prefer to purchase a paperback copy only.)
In the Start-Up Guide for Online Christian Writers, you’ll gain insights into the next steps available to you in order to progress as a Christian writer.
In Influence: Building a Platform that Elevates Jesus (Not Me), you’ll be guided through a biblical thought process on how to use the gifts you’ve been given and share the message God has laid on your heart without seeming puffed up or prideful. (Click here if you prefer to purchase the paperback copy only.)
Take the next step in your writing journey today!
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And last but not least, how about some freebies?
Here are a few we’ve offered over the years in case you missed some along the way:
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12 Self-Editing Techniques to Sharpen Your Craft
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5 Writing Prompts to Help You Tell Your Story
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Writing Playlist for Christian Writers
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Thanks for celebrating with us! Here’s to another great five years depending on the Lord and His strength!
Join the Five Minute Friday link-up with your own five minutes of free writing below, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:Â
So this is a celebration,
one hell of a long dark year
of cells going through mutation,
and I guess I still am here.
Nothing is as I had planned;
can grace grow in broken places?
Sometimes, yeah, I need a hand
to see God in the dismal traces.
Were there a lamp unto my feet,
a light to somehow shine ahead
to make the road seem fair complete,
instead of ending when I’m dead.
It seems a hopeless futile loss,
as it must have looked unto the Cross.
Thank you for hosting. I have not been a member here for long but I have found it to be a great community. Thanks for all you to to help keep it that way.
Congratulations on five years of hosting FMF! And thank you for doing such an amazing job of making it such an encouraging and helpful community! It’s hard to believe I’ve been going almost four years now, and I’m not sure I would still be going without this community. I have learned so much and made so many great friendships. A highlight for me will always be the “On Being A Writer” course when I was brand new to it all. The welcome and encouragement I received were so unexpected and I’m still in contact with some of the people I connected with back then.
Happy 5th Anniversary Kate! I want you to know how much you and this community you’ve created mean to me! I so appreciate your encouragement and advice. Thank you for sharing your time, expertise, and experience with me. Keep this prompts coming!😊 Cindy
Congratulations, Kate! Here’s to the next five!