Sage Challenge

2026 January Sage Challenge

New Beginnings

The New Year is traditionally a time to reflect on our lives and figure out what challenges are ahead, or what changes we want to make. Do we like our living environment? Our jobs? Is our health on track or should we get a membership at a health spa?

Are we happy with the progress of our writing careers? Do we feel comfortable with our progress, or is it time to shake things up a bit by taking some workshops? Is it time to start a new book or a new series? Do you have a drawer full of perfectly good first draft stories that need to be edited, finished and released?

January’s Sage Challenge: Write up to 800 words on something involving beginnings or starting over in any genre. Deadline is January 25th. Send your story or article to: info@swwriters.com.

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To read the stories entered from the December challenge click on Astronomical Inspiration.

To read stories from previous Sage Challenges scroll down the page!


Read the following before submitting:

  • You must be an active SWW member to participate.
  • Payment is in bylines and clips.
  • Unless otherwise stated, the deadline is the 20th of the month prior to the next issue.
  • SAGE Challenges will vary from month to month, and differ as to subject and word count requirements.
  • Submissions may be edited for accuracy, readability and length. Submissions must be tasteful; free from profanity, explicit sex or violence, political commentary, etc.
  • Send all submissions as either standard text in an email or in a Word document in 12 pt. size. Single spaced. Do not get fancy with formatting or fonts. To ensure proper author credit, your name or pen name must appear within the document you submit. Submissions with no name will not be considered.
  • Polish your work. Submissions should be professional in appearance and quality of writing, fully edited and ready for publication.
  • By submitting your work to SWW it is assumed that the author has given SWW permission to publish it on this website and in future publications.
  • The publication of entries submitted is subject to the discretion of the SWW editorial staff.

Send submissions in .doc, .docx, or .txt file format with “Sage Challenge” in the subject line to info@swwriters.com.

Sage Challenge Results: