Have any of you ever heard of Storybird? It's a fun website that allows you to write your own stories based on beautiful art by professional artists. I learned about Storybird via Russell Stannard at the IATEFL conference in the UK last month. 

 

I just created my first Storybird story called "Like Mother, Like Son." On Storybird, just like on MyEC, there is a monthly writing challenge. I submitted my story to the Storybird May challenge (Mother's Day theme). Unfortunately, this challenge is only open to residents in U.S, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, or New Zealand. However, I would still like to invite YOU to a Mother's Day Story challenge. If we get enough submissions, we'll have a vote for the best story!

 

 

Here are the instructions: 

1. Go to Storybird.com and create an account. It's free. Check your email for confirmation.

2. Choose an artist. Create a story with "mother" as your theme. 

3. Publish your story. (Make sure it is public so that we can read it.) You will be able to embed your story after it is approved. (This takes 24-36 hours. When you click on your story you will eventually see a share button that says "Embed".)

4. If you don't want to wait for your story to have the embed code, send the story to yourself via email.

5. Copy the link in the email and share the link in the comments below.

6. Create a blog post called: Writing Challenge #31: Mother's Day Story. Share the link to your story (or embed it) and describe the experience. Why did you choose this artist? What was the most difficult part of using Storybird? 

7. Rate the stories you read. 

 

Note: If you cannot use Storybird for some reason, feel free to write a true or fictional story or poem on the theme of "mothers".  

 

My Example:
Like Mother, Like Son by TEFLTara on Storybird

Here is a short tutorial about how to create a Storybird for this month's writing challenge. You can also watch the full Storybird tour

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  • @Syubi

    I'm glad you are challenging the end of the story! :) Please write a new ending for me. 

    PS-Here is a little secret. The story "Like Mother, Like Son" is inspired by a true story from my own life. Last year, around this time, we disconnected our TV service. Our hockey team (The Vancouver Canucks) was out of the playoffs and summer was coming. We totally forgot about the World Cup! I asked MyEC football/soccer fans to keep me in the loop about all things World Cup. They did an excellent job! I talked about this experience at the IATEFL conference in the UK last month.

    Anyway...to make a long story short, the Vancouver Canucks made it to the second round in this year's playoffs. My husband could no long live without TV! He got tired of watching the games on the computer. And so...we now have TV again. Can you guess what my small son is doing? (In the last year he has become an amazing artist! Check out this arial view of a racetrack. I hope he'll keep drawing even though we have television.)

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  • Woah!! So this is the site where those magical stories came out. I love your story Tara but I was expecting more to read :S I mean, that is not likely an end for your story. So when I can't click the next arrow, I felt disappointed. I still want to read moooore. Anyway, it is an awesome site ^^

    Mwah, thanks for the story and the beautiful images in the story Tara. I enjoyed reading it ^^

  • Yes, you can participate! You just can submit to the official Storybird contest if you live outside of those countries. But you can be in our MyEC contest! 

     

    In order to have a contest we need at least 10 stories. Let's see what you can do! 

  • These "mom" stories are so good! I'm so happy that some of you tried out Storybird. Please be sure to invite your friends to Writing Challenge #31!
  • Really very nice! I can't imagine it would be a great story ... fantastic! you're a great teacher,Tara! It is one of my dreams ... like a comic story, sure my students will love it. but I need the time, thanks for creating this challenge!

     

    -Nadiyah-

  • http://storybird.com/books/moms-star/

    I just finished my story and can't wait to share it with you all. It was fun to creat such a 'picture story' with all the fantastic drawings.  The most difficult part was I needed to choose the right pictures for my writing. I would like to thank all the artists for sharing all the amazing pictures. And, I hope to see your story soon!!!

  • Hi Tara! I loved this challenge and decided to write my story... check it out http://my.englishclub.com/profiles/blogs/writing-challenge-31-mothe...

    Cheers!

  • Well, mine is just an example. I did enter it in the official Storybird contest, just for fun. I'm not sure who the judges are. :)
  • I read yours too Tara.  "Like Mother, Like Son."   and it made smile. How do i vote for your story?

    I give it a 10 star-vote for Mother's Day story. I gave it a heart too.

  • I signed up for Storybird. I am checking all the wonderful artwork and pages of the artists on Storybird. I like the idea of writing own stories based on the art of professional artists. I am a teacher myself,  an artist-writer- blogger by hobby, and i like arts and photography too. The pages look like covers for children's book. I like the colorful pages. I hope to find more links like this.Thank you for sharing.
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