This festival with the snappy title comes along every August to celebrate our guests by hosting fiction, non-fiction, poetry, music and other works from a diverse set of guests.

Why should I, you’re thinking!

All I can offer you is a chance at potentially reaching people who read SloWord. I do have regulars who suscribe, and also casual visitors who choose to retain control over their reading of this site. I will send out links to Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon and other social media sites.

This is not sponsored by anyone, and this website, has remained steadfastly free from all ads, popups and annoying exhortations to “subscribe”, in order to allow you, the reader, unfettered access to the wonders of the written word.

While there is no revenue, currently, from your participation, there is also no fee!

In other words, you get, possibly, a few more eyeballs than your usual quota, reach a few more people and possibly gain a tad more visibility – all absolutely free!

What a delightful offer! Free from any trace of filthy lucre!

Send me a note using the Contact page, if you have questions, or if you are convinced you should!

Hmm, great question!

In the past, guests have submitted poetry, short stories (some of which are eerie and some quite, quite murderous) and there’s been a few non-fiction essays.

I’d like to leave it up to your imagination. I am giving some suggestions below.

• Memoir
• Photo catalogue
• Travelogue
• Fiction (short stories, please stay within a reasonable limit for length – think under 5000 words)
• Essays on art, architecture, music, crafts, social media – I do have grave, extremely grave, reservations about “politics” and “religion”. An essay on socks, especially colorful ones ahhhh! Please!
• Recipes – hey okra!
• Music – I’d prefer your personal compositions, not covers.
• Sports
• Me?
• Reviews (Movies or Books – especially if that book is the one I wrote, you know… that one, yeah)
• Pets – even cats. Yeah, I know, I know!
• If you’ve run out of options and absolutely must, send in some poetry <sighs deeply>

(Long term readers of SloWord will know that I have this faux hate for poetry. It’s a long standing joke, driven by the comments I’ve got on the poetry I’ve shown to people! There’s some here on this website, if you wish to read!)

Here’s the submission process.

1. Create your masterpiece.
2. Develop a short bio, telling readers about you. Make sure you add in any previous work, your blogs/websites with links to each.
3. Save to a Word (.docx / .doc) or .rtf format.
4. Use the contact page to send me a note.
5. I will respond with my email id.
6. Email me the piece and bio.
7. I will cast a typographical eye over it. I may offer some editorial suggestions. Think of it as a beta read, free!
8. I will finish the upload and schedule for publication and let you know when it is going out.

It’s fairly simple, no?

Ah, what is life without rules, eh?

1. All submissions must be your own original work and free from the plague, you know, plagiarism.
2. All submissions must have not been previously published, on social media, websites or any other medium open to the public eye.
3. You will always retain copyright to your work.
4. You will hold off on republishing this anywhere for a period of 30 days. You are highly encouraged to link to the work as published on Sloword.
5. If you write in a language other than English, a translation / explanation or notes would be very much appreciated by all and sundry.
6. There is no bar on type of work. Poetry, essays, humour, travelogues, fiction, recipes, et al. You pick, you write, we accept, we publish.
7. Sloword, the man, not the blog, will offer mild editing, milder feedback and very mild abuse if you’re careless, carefree and/or full of cat love and hate okra.
8. Submit early for publication is usually on a first come and first served basis, aka FIFO.
9. Contest is open to residents of Earth.
10. Editor, and site owner, me, reserves the right to refuse any submission, and provide no reasons for refusal.

And that’s about it!

The submission window varies depending on my mood, travel plans, other considerations such as expected influx, boredom levels <insert reason of choice>.

Beyond the submission window, I also accept submissions all through the month of August. However, these posts may see a delayed response and publication dates.

All posts received within the month of August are deemed to be part of The Irregular SloWord BirthMonth Festival and are thus governed by the terms and conditions that govern the festival.

Check dates in the poster here for latest dates.

If you don’t see the poster, click here!